DIY wedding DJ question

honestly, you would be better off renting pro equip. a large venue with lots of people requires a LOT of sound and bass that a home setup probably just can't do. also, using home equipment wont get you microphone options, which will be almost essential unless the venue is quite small. just OK and somewhat loud sound could ruin a good vibe, and you dont need a bunch of wall-huggers at your reception

any friends that are in a band? I bet they have/have access to a PA system that you could borrow for cheap or free, depending on how well you know them.

As aquaphile said - unless this is a small venue pro equipment rental might be the best choice. You'd need more than one pair of speakers if you don't want 'hot-spots' in the room.

If its a small wedding the 3390 might be a great choice with your speakers. A lot depends on how loud you want to play the music and the acoustics of the room. I have a 3390 in the bedroom setup and find it has plenty of power for any speaker I own. Unless you have a need for digital inputs the 3490 is going to have very similar power output - 120wpc vs the 3390's 80wpc.

If you know anyone that has a set of Klipsch horn loaded speakers that is willing to let you borrow them that might work since they are very sensitive and don't require lots of power to sound loud. Like I said - it depends on the size of the room and how loud you want your sounds. The laptop and 3390 idea should work well.

Had a 40th birthday 80's dance for my wife (~200 people), rented the mic, mixer and powered speakers that we needed for $100 and ran a playlist from an iPod. Worked great! Who needs to pay a DJ anymore? Did I mention it was very loud

How big is the venue? How many people? How loud do you want the music? Do you need a Mic? What does the future wife want? Are you willing to risk that everything about your wedding was "perfect" except the sound?

I self DJ'd my wedding with a pair of KRK Rokit 8's on 56" stands I built. We had ~80 people & the dance floor was approx. 25'x60'. I feel I could have pushed these 8's far more to fill a larger room. I had them up against a column wall to help boost the bass & was very impressed with the sound. I didn't get to test them at the venue prior, but did test them in a large room at work to see how they could fill a large space. I think your 70's might be a bit small to fill the space as you describe it. Do you have access to a large room to test, a garage perhaps?

In the early 80's when my cousin got married, I used my Harmon Kardon HK 330 (30 wpc!), a Harmon Kardon tapedeck and some Dynaco A25 speakers. It was a large venue 300+ seating but the dance floor was very small and they didn't expect people to stick around. it worked out pretty well if I recall.

For my wedding a couple of years ago. I rented four pro speakers on stands, mixer, wireless mics (300 - 400 seat venue). I used my own Crown power amps (550 wpc). This was to provide, sound during the ceremony (I and the clergy were mic'ed) background music between the ceremony and reception and during the reception (no dance). Source was my notebook and an portable MP3 player as backup. It was very inexpensive to rent. The only hassle is transporting the stuff. Here are some tips:

1. hook everything up before hand at your house and draw diagrams on how to hook everything up. Have your groomsman hook everything up to practice expecially if they are not familiar with how it is done.
2. bring lots of power bars and heavy duty long extension cords as you never know where the outlets are going to be
3. don't use powered speakers for the reason above. Use passive speakers (ie you need a power amp) as this will allow you simplier wiring and speaker placement
4. bring gaffers tape to hold down the wiring so it doesn't become a tripping hazard.
5. have a backup for your source and ideally your mixer
6. ideally, the simpler the setup the better ie don't rent a 36 channel mixer.

it kinda sucked though

i had diy dj at my wedding