those with smaller guest lists...DJ? live musician? dancing or no?

[Disney845]

I am curious about what some of you who had, or are having, smaller guest lists <40 are doing for entertainment? Did you have a DJ or did you go with a live musician? Has anyone had the Calypso trio? Did you still dance, or not? Did anyone bring their own small CD player and just play there own music?

 

[Ember]

My guest list is looking to shape up to 30 - 35. I'm not planning on a traditional reception (I'd like to do afternoon tea rather than dinner - I hope this is possible!) and a dessert party. So there I doubt there will be any dancing... Then again, I wouldn't mind having just a few songs so I can have a "first dance" with my new husband. But we'll see.

Generally, I'm not sure how well a whole dance reception would work with so few people... I do think a live musician would be really classy and elegant for this size of crowd, though.

 

[PrincessMo]

I am having 17 people total (including the groom & myself), we rented thru disney fairytale weddings, a sound system. It will play thru speakers in the room, just like ones a dj would have, and it has a 5 cd player. I made the cd's myself. So, i plan on having alot of dancing. The small group of us going, most of us are really big dancers, so dancing was neccessary. I loved making the cd's myself, i was able to get exactly what I wanted.

Good Luck

Have A Disney Day!!!

 

[JoanneG]

We had about 30 people w/ a live musician.We thought no one was going to dance and it would be just backround music.We were wrong , everyone danced and never sat down.I think whatever you decide will be great.

 

[Jillybean626]

FH and I still have awhile before our nuptuals if front of about 50 people, but we're thinking of having a solo violinist do the melodic version of our favorite song (it's slow, don't worry) as we walk down the aisle, then a DJ do a CD of compiled songs. We want a DJ more for announcing our arrival, instructing guests than, say, to get the "crowd" moving ... I think the Disney spirit kind of does that on it's own. Everything will go fine.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Well we had 40 people and let me tell you we all danced the afternoon away in broad daylight with our DJ, Richie - he was great and we all had a blast - Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale all came too and boogied on down with us - you can see it all in our Video summary on :

Sam & Paul Wedding Summary

 

[hjc1277]

I won't know for sure until we have our planning session next week, but we're thinking of just having the jazz trio to play during the meal. We are having our reception at California Grill, so we will stop to watch the fireworks and then would go back to the jazz.

 

[ahutton]

We had 30 people in Living Seas Lounge and had a DJ and dancing - it was a lot of fun. I was worried it might be weird but it was very special.

 

[grover]

We had 16 people..a dj..and we danced away..everyone had so much fun!
Go for it!
Vanessa

 

[JDR2b777]

I am having 17 people total (including the groom & myself), we rented thru disney fairytale weddings, a sound system. It will play thru speakers in the room, just like ones a dj would have, and it has a 5 cd player. I made the cd's myself. So, i plan on having alot of dancing. The small group of us going, most of us are really big dancers, so dancing was neccessary. I loved making the cd's myself, i was able to get exactly what I wanted.

Good Luck

Have A Disney Day!!!

So how did all this go after your wedding? Was the speakers ok and everything? Did you have someone direct you with like if you wanted a father daughter dance - who spoke up and announced to have that if you didn't have a dj? How much did it cost to rent that. I have about 50 people more or less and I am not sure I want to spend 1,300 for a DJ. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. THANKS.

 

[BrideToBe82]

I went to a wedding this summer with around 30 guests and they had a dj. All of their friends/family enjoys dancing so that was the perfect choice for them. Good luck!

 

[Moonpie]

We are having 40 to 50 guests and live music. The musicians will play the spanish guitar with a flamenco/jazz rhythm. I doubt that my guests will actually dance, but they can if they want to. I also think this type of music can also make really good background/"set the atmosphere music" so I don't think it will look very odd if nobody chooses to dance. So, I don't mind either way if they get up and boogie down.

 

[SRUAlmn]

I am so glad you asked this question because this is what we have been debating too. We are estimating between 30-50 people, but our reception will be in the Napa Room at 1:00 in the afternoon. We don't really want to shell out the DJ money when we're not sure people will dance that much, but thought it might be cool to have a pianist and/or a violinist if people wanted to dance and so we could have a first dance. Then we thought about nthat not really allowing for fast music, though, but that might be ok because we're not into a lot of the faster hokey wedding dances. I think we're thinking of more of a mellow lunch kind of thing. Can you tell we're not really sure?? None of that made any sense

 

[ItGirl753]

I am really thinking hard about this one now. We're planning on a lunch reception at the Living Seas. I planned to have a dj, but now am considering a pianist. It's a lot cheaper, and we can do the whole dj thing at our home reception.

 

[Moonpie]

I am so glad you asked this question because this is what we have been debating too. We are estimating between 30-50 people, but our reception will be in the Napa Room at 1:00 in the afternoon. We don't really want to shell out the DJ money when we're not sure people will dance that much, but thought it might be cool to have a pianist and/or a violinist if people wanted to dance and so we could have a first dance. Then we thought about nthat not really allowing for fast music, though, but that might be ok because we're not into a lot of the faster hokey wedding dances. I think we're thinking of more of a mellow lunch kind of thing. Can you tell we're not really sure?? None of that made any sense

You do make sense. Our's is a lunch reception too, and I don't think people really want to get down and funky at 1:00 in the afternoon. Right? I say just pick music that has a good tempo, and an up beat...but not so much of a disco-rama tempo like "play that funky music white boy"...just classy, good music... and then that gives people the option to cut a rug without it looking awkward if nobody is on the dance floor. Did that make sense?

 

[SRUAlmn]

I say just pick music that has a good tempo, and an up beat...but not so much of a disco-rama tempo like "play that funky music white boy"...just classy, good music..

 

[Koyta]

We're going to have around 25-30 guests, I don't suspect there'll be too much dancing. We're (hopefully) going to have the Living Seas lounge, and we HAVE to have a pianist because we LOVE the clear piano!

Also, when we were there for our site visit, our SM told us that the pianst gets a 20 minute break every hour and the Living Seas lounge has a built in sound system, so during the breaks we could play CDs.

 

[DisneyFairy19]

I was at a wedding with at the most 50 people and they had a DJ and it was great.. Not everyone danced but those that did had a great time

 

[SRUAlmn]

We're going to have around 25-30 guests, I don't suspect there'll be too much dancing. We're (hopefully) going to have the Living Seas lounge, and we HAVE to have a pianist because we LOVE the clear piano!

Also, when we were there for our site visit, our SM told us that the pianst gets a 20 minute break every hour and the Living Seas lounge has a built in sound system, so during the breaks we could play CDs.

That piano is AWESOME!!!

 

[dsnyfan6/18]

we had about 35 people at our reception (2-6pm). we had a DJ and we didn't think anyone would dance. Boy we were wrong! the dance floor was full for the 4 hours, even my DH who i've NEVER seen dance before was up there the whole time. It was great! I'm so glad we made the choice to have the DJ!