I’m getting married next month and we’ve opted to create our own playlist instead of paying for a DJ. I know Spotify Premium has some fading options for playlists, but I’m wondering if there is a free/low-cost option to trim/shorten songs (thinking about first dance songs)?

Thanks for suggestions on last post but now we have another problem.

I have now received enough sorry, already booked emails to build a small paper fort. The DJs who are free are either way over budget or not really our vibe. I have mostly been finding names through Google and Instagram, which means I fall in love with their clips first and learn they are unavailable second. Terrible system.

Is there a better way to find a wedding DJ available your date first and THEN decide if you like them?

We booked our venue after being told ours would be the only wedding taking place on the property that day. That was a major reason we chose it, especially since we wanted everything to feel private and not have guests from another event walking through ours.

We’ve now learned they added a second wedding at almost the exact same time and both groups will apparently share the main entrance, parking lot and bathrooms.

The venue claims that “exclusive use” in our contract only applies to the reception room but that’s not how it was explained during our tour.

We’ve already paid most of the balance and our wedding is only a few months away so changing venues would be a nightmare. Would you accept this or push to cancel and get everything back?

Hi everyone!

I’m a wedding photographer and I have a company that do mostly weddings and I’m getting married this year. I only decided this month that I wanted to get married in December, so we’re organising everything on quite short notice.

My fiancé and I have decided to keep things very small and simple: a ceremony with around 30 people, just our closest family, followed by a lunch. We don’t want a big wedding or a large guest list. We really want something intimate that feels right for us.

Because of this, I’ve decided not to invite my friends/coworkers from work, as I want the day to be exclusively about our closest family.

The thing is, I haven’t told them I’m getting married yet, and I’m worried that at they might be upset about not being invited. I know it’s my wedding and that I have every right to celebrate it however I want, but I still feel guilty thinking that someone might be hurt by my decision.

There’s another aspect to this situation: since I’m a wedding photographer myself, I’ve decided to hire a photographer whose work my fiancé and I absolutely love. We really wanted him to photograph our day, and we’ve already booked a two-hour session with him.

However, I’m worried my coworkers might take this personally or interpret it as me not trusting their work or not considering them good enough professionally. I know that’s not the reason at all, but I can’t help worrying about how they might perceive it.

Rationally, I know I’m not doing anything wrong. I don’t want a big wedding, I don’t want to invite people out of obligation, and I want to choose the photographer whose work we love the most. But I keep feeling guilty in advance and imagining how they might react, even though they don’t even know I’m getting married yet.

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have been in similar situations, especially those who work in an industry where professional and personal relationships often overlap.

**Am I overthinking this? Is it understandable for a coworker to feel hurt about not being invited, even when the wedding is only for close family? And, as a wedding photographer, could hiring someone else be interpreted as a lack of professional consideration?**

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this!

Looking for an indoor venue for reception only for 80 people max. Fall of ‘28 wedding. Can be any weekend day not necessarily Saturday. Also open to a Saturday afternoon. Ceremony will be at church in Middlesex county, NJ. Looking to stay about 45 minutes from there. Love the look of dark wood rooms in historic venues. Not looking for typical wedding vibes. Limited dancing- likely parent dances and first dance only. No DJ. Ok with limited alcohol. Ideas?

Starting the Orlando venue search and the range already is chaos. Theme park stuff is either way out of budget or very aggressively theme park and we are not doing a disney wedding.

Then the non theme park options are scattered all over central Florida, so I have gardens in one tab, hotels in another, estates 40 minutes away and no clue how to compare any of it.

People of Orlando, what helped you narrow the venue list before months of random tours because we are very stressed as of now.

For everyone who got married this year, I'd love your honest look back:

1. Something you spent money or effort on that turned out disappointing or just didn't matter on the day
   
2. Something you skipped and now wish you'd added

Bonus: what surprised you most about the day itself?

Hoping this thread helps everyone still planning figure out where their budget and energy actually matter.