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By: Isabelle Melport

Which wedding DJ or wedding band is the right one to choose on your special day? Pulling off a flawless wedding reception involves logistical problems (and potential nightmares) that could drive the Napoleon nuts, and on your wedding day, you you’re your bride or groom, and your family, and her or his family) want it to go as smoothly as possible. Choosing the wedding DJ, and you’ll end up watching in horror as your cousin spins wildly inappropriate selections from the back catalogue of 2 Live Crew and Spank Rock, or the wedding band takes us through the highlights of the career Country Joe & The Fish, of which there are none. When you’re looking for the perfect wedding band or wedding DJ for your wedding then, best to keep the following tips in mind.

Match The Mood
If your wedding is a formal, white-tie sort of affair, an appropriate match is jazz or classical selections, especially Goethe’s favourite, chamber music. There are string quartets in practically every town and city in North America, just waiting for a chance to bust out Claude Debussy’s “String Quartet in G Minor, op. 10”.

If it’s not a formal event, than go with what you think you want the mood to be – the less formal your wedding, the less formal your wedding band or wedding DJ should be.

Wedding Bands
It might seem like an interesting exercise and suitable enough to get the band that was playing the night you two met at the Knitting Factory to do a set of Pixies covers at your wedding reception, but be aware that the potential to alienate many friends and many families through what essentially amounts to an in-joke is great. People want to dance, they’re not going to be concentrating on how faithful the rendition of “This Monkey’s Gone To Heaven” is, or whether that’s really a Fender Twin Reverb amplifier the guitarist is playing through.

Go with a wedding band that does what it does, that plays to the crowd, and that entertains. People of all generations have moved to the music of ABBA and KC & The Sunshine Band for one very distinct and real reason – it is a life-affirming, joyous, and holy sound.

Yes, yes, you must choose a cover band. No originals required. In fact, make sure that the wedding band doesn’t play any originals at all. A cover band will play songs from years past that remind you of the way you were; that will, by their broad appeal, unite the ages in a transcendent mass of hip-shaking and dance-floor moving. The timeless appeal of watching elderly people dance has yet to be seriously challenged, either by cinema or any other leisure activities in the modern world.

Wedding DJs?
If all a cover band is doing is playing old songs, it seems to make sense to get a wedding DJ, and here many of the experts part ways. Some point out that a DJ is one person, a full band often much more, and there is money saved this way. Also, as the DJ will be playing recordings of the originals, they will sound more accurate to your guests’ ears, none of that uncanny valley of the almost human that cover bands sometimes journey into. There is the other aspect, though – the cover band is generally fronted by a charismatic guy who’s been working crowds for years – his jokes might be Borscht-Belt , his tuxedo early Lenny Bruce (or late Wayne Newton), but the band plays well and his patter pleases Aunt Esther. And what say we for the lost art of showmanship?

No requests?
Practically all wedding bands adhere to the wedding entertainment canon – that is, a selection of standards from the world of Pop, Jazz, and to a lesser extent Rock that fulfill the necessary requirements of being known, fun, and bumping. When you’re selecting wedding bands, have a playlist of songs that you’d like to have played at your wedding, and inquire as to whether the bands will be able to fulfill that request. A good wedding band will actually ask you to make your own wedding playlist so they have time to prepare and master the unrelenting complexity and melodic genius of UB40’s version of “Baby, I love Your Way” or Katrina & The Waves’ “Walking On Sunshine.”

[b]No iPods or Mp3 players![/url]
We must rid ourselves of the great conceit of the digital age – that we are just as capable, talented and able as others thanks to miraculous tools of technology at our disposal (and available in consumer electronics depots across the world) that allow us to wield power normally reserved for high-trained professionals and top-level government scientists. Not true. Forego the folly of iPod DJing – you’re going to be getting married, you don’t want to be in charge of this or thinking about it, and also, what happens when your iPod busts in the middle of the chair dance? Oy vey. If you must, due to budget concerns, you must, but get a friend to take charge, and have a back-up on hand!