Hi Steph! I actually found out that doing a welcome dinner will add about another $2k to my costs, which doesn't work for me. So what we are going to do is just have the welcome cocktail hour along with the bonfire. The welcome cocktail is free for us (for up to 50 people) because we took advantage of a promotion going on earlier this year. As far as DJ goes, I felt the same way you did: didn't want to be fiddling with an ipod and I really wanted to have a nice party. So I hired DJ Mannia. The base DJ service is about $900 if I remember correctly. A bit pricey, but having a fun, stree-free party is important for me. Hope this helps!