Are you so in love with music you can't imagine life without your ten-thousand favorite songs? Are you a little bit of a control freak? Do you obsess over song order when composing your over-mulled playlists? Most importantly, are you getting married soon?
If you answered yes to all of the above, have I got an idea for you! It may be time to consider an MP3 player as your reception DJ instead of the typical human variety.
My upcoming nuptuals are quite a while away, so I have sufficient time to plan a 4-hour playlist of songs that really speaks to me and my fiance. I've read about this concept in bridal magazines, and this is a great new trend that even acts as a money saver.
Why do such a thing, you ask?
First and foremost, it really works best for smaller parties of your nearest and dearest, who don't need gimmicky games hosted by an obnoxious DJ to entertain themselves. The company of loved ones is really the best game you can play at a wedding.
Secondly, I am a major control freak. Everytime I heard a song that I loved I penciled it down and said "I'll ask the DJ to play this." Before I knew it my desired requests were numbered by triple digits. So I decided that, rather than ask someone to play all these songs, I'll play them myself.
Finally, I have plenty of, shall we say "charismatic," family members and close friends volunteering to announce the cake-cutting while "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies plays in the backdrop, and to help emcee the other highlights of the evening (father-daughter dance, bouqet toss, etc.) all without the blah of having to do the chicken dance (I would fire the dude on the spot, by the way).
The last wedding I went to, the disc jockey asked each individual table to sing a love song before they were allowed to join the buffet line. What a humiliating maneuver! So I'm 86-ing the idea of a DJ and hiring my dad to wire the rental hall with a sufficient speaker system (which can be rented) that hooks up to my beloved Sansa.
The fine art of mix-taping must be carefully fine-tuned when producing your wedding soudtrack (if you've seen High Fidelity you know what I mean). You can't blow your wad early in the game by 
putting all your favorite songs up front; you gotta start with the gold, then take it down a bit. Then once your're mellow, you kick it back up with something solid. Of course, your hallmark songs are chosen ahead of time, but you still gotta treat this with care so you don't lose your listeners.
Because in this case, YOU are the DJ.
Special thanks to the SansaCommunity for submitting this article
