Making the call: band vs. DJ

Mr. Cauldron and I started out thinking we'd hire a real country band for our wedding, to play all our favorite music.  (I have no idea how I met a guy from Michigan who loves the same music I listened to in college deep in the heart of Texas, but I did.)   A true red dirt country band would fit right into our idea of getting hitched in Texas, plus we would really love the music!

Mr. C actually wanted to go so far as to invite one of his favorite bands to play for our wedding reception:

That's Micky and the Motorcars.  I like them too, but I had to remind him that as cool as that would be, our wedding is not actually a concert.  He agreed.  (That didn't stop me from looking into it anyway!  But alas, it was not meant to be.)

Then we started thinking about it a bit more, and having a country band, Micky and the Motorcars or otherwise, started to sound less ideal.  Here's why:

1) The majority of our guests won't know any of the music.  They are traveling from all over the world, and most of them haven't ever listened to country music for any period of time.
2) I know how to dance to country music (and love it!), but Mr. C doesn't.  Nor do most of our guests.
3) We like a lot of other kinds of music, too!  And some of that music is really fun at weddings.

So, we turned our attention to DJs, who were starting to sound like a better fit for our party.  Here's why:

1) They can play a wide variety of music - and by the original artists.  It won't be a concert - it will be a mix tape!
2) They can get the crowd out on the dance floor and keep them there, just by changing up the music a little.
3) Our guests are more likely to enjoy the music just as much as we will.

I was lucky to find Byrne Rock during my period of DJ internet research.  Byrne's website claims he is "the ultimate badass DJ of the world" - and he pulls that off with zero cheese factor and the perfect amount of tongue-in-cheek.  After talking with him about our needs and concerns, he seemed like a great fit.  He's also gotten solid feedback from others who hired him, and my coordinator has worked with him before and loves him (which I found out after we hired him, actually).

Though a live band was what we thought we wanted, we are so excited to have Byrne working with us!  As long as we can mix it up and Byrne stays away from pop country (which shouldn't be an issue, since it will be on the do-not-play list!), we should be all set.  We're planning to play a lot of our country favorites during the cocktail hour and dinner, and then I look forward to seeing how Byrne gets our guests up and dancing to all kinds of tunes after we open up the floor!

How did you decide - band vs. DJ?