Advice on wedding bands from an insider!

notepadjunkie

Hello! I'm a longtime reader but new to the forum community here!

I started writing this post in reply to another thread, but then got carried away and so decided to start a new thread, which I really hope will be of use. Any comments/questions are happily received.


I've been singing with bands for almost 8 years now - as a soloist, acoustic duo, wedding and holiday park cheesy party songs, and hotel bar jazz... I'm also getting married next May, so would like to think I can offer a good idea of the wedding band world from both sides!



Unfortunately, with bands, just like most things, what you get is what you pay for - to a certain degree - and with wedding bands there is generally a minimum wage they’ll set themselves. If you get them much cheaper than £150 a person, they're either weekend warriors (who do it as a hobby along with their usual full time job) or they're under 20 (and so less experienced), or you know them and they’ve given you a discount.

For good bands, who turn up on time, have good quality equipment, great reviews, hundreds of gigs under their belts, are full-time musicians (and so better-rehearsed and arguably better/more committed), few would do a wedding for under £200 a person, most of the good ones I know go for £300 per person. Travel and occasionally accommodation costs can of course affect the price. I’m sorry to say, we’re one of the groups very hard-hit by rising fuel costs, easily racking up 500 miles each on a weekend.

A performer’s day will often involve them driving for an hour or two to a venue getting there around 4pm – sometimes 7pm if they’re lucky – then setting up and sound checking before finding something to do for the few hours before they go on stage. The lovely wedding parties will give them food and a beer (which isn’t expected but greatly appreciated), but there’s still the risk they’ll be sat bored in their car with a Maccy Ds. They’ll put on a good show and pack up around midnight, often arriving home at 1 or 2 in the morning. The performance time may total 1.5 hours, but most weddings take up a band's whole day, or at least 8 hours.

It's hard to get across just how tiring gigging can be too. It's exceptionally great fun, but it's still a job. Not only is there setting up the equipment, but being on stage and performing can really take it out of you. You have to be 100% energetic all night and give a client the best possible service. And I mean best. Musicians live for word-of-mouth work so they know they have to impress on every level.

For me, this has meant adapting to changing schedules, smiling when a drunk uncle pinches your bottom, trying not to let the fear show on your face when someone's hovering their pint over your speakers. It's fantastic fun and I love it, but it's still work, and when you consider the time it takes to rehearse sets, the hours that have gone into working at the craft, as well as buying the equipment which, for the best bands, means bringing thousands of pounds worth of gear with you, it takes a long time for a musician to get a return on their investment.

On the other hand, from a money saving side of things, if you're going for someone who's asking for a decent (min £200 per member) fee, the expense thereafter doesn't necessarily match up with the quality of the band, so don’t be fooled into thinking the quality will be better just because you’re paying through the roof.

Here are a few tips/insights on dealing with bands!

To get a quick quote from a band, make sure you have as much information to hand as possible. They'll need to know:

- The city/town where the wedding will be. This will help them work out petrol, but if you can avoid it, DON'T tell them the exact venue until after you've agreed a fee and booked them. If you let them know it's at some incredibly expensive Mayfair hotel, you might find them inclined to add a few hundred on.

- How long they'll be performing for. Standard is 2 x 45 minute sets with ipod music in-between. An extra 45 minutes will probably cost more (fingers, arms, throats start to tire!)

- DO negotiate. If the price is sky high, or not what your friends paid for them, you may want to consider the sorts of people you'll be dealing with, or at least try and haggle them down. If a 4 piece quote £1200, that sounds fair to me, though you may be able to knock a hundred or so off. Bands will have their own lower limit. It’s a big risk turning down work when the price isn’t right, but weekends are peak working hours for bands and even though £100 each is better than nothing, they’ll have to turn it down for the £250 gig that will likely come in its place. Don't be afraid to try and haggle - but be realistic!

- Getting married January - April? This is the perfect time to get married if you want a cheap band. It's often quiet season for a lot of them and many don't expect to get much work during this time, so they may be more inclined to lower their fees for you. Especially the ones who rely on gigs to pay the bills.

- Monday to Thursday weddings? Again, a PERFECT time to get married, as bands usually gig Friday to Sunday, so they'll be happy of the extra work and also are likely to go out for a lower fee if you try to work out a deal.

- Remember, the fewer the people, the lower the cost. You'd be surprised how good backing tracks are nowadays, so if you really want a feel of live music, but don't have the budget, consider getting a soloist to backing tracks. The wedding singer’s image is moving on from the 80s! Also, three piece bands where one of the musicians also sings can be a good way of getting a full band feel but for a few hundred less.

- Can’t afford a band AND a DJ? Ask your band if one of them would mind staying behind with their PA and playing your ipod through it. This would be cheaper and less hassle than hiring your own system. An extra £30 for an hour of hanging around would probably be OK with most bands.

- Get your song requests in as soon as possible. Most bands I know expect to have to learn a first dance, and they should do this for free if they’re any good. Good musicians don’t need a full rehearsal together to practise one song, so DON'T let anyone try to add a cost on for 'hiring a rehearsal room'. Try to limit your requests to two songs. Maybe a first and second dance.

- Tribute acts can be EXPENSIVE. The best tribute acts will set you back quite a bit, because they often make their money on tours of holiday resorts with the finances behind them. If you’re set on a tribute, again beware of you get what you pay for. The good ones will have done tours and performed at good venues, so if they don’t have a glowing CV they’re either just starting out, or they’re not la crème de la crème. Often your standard non-tribute singers and bands will have a few songs by one artist, so consider asking them to make sure they’re all in the setlist. Though you’d have to ask them nicely to dress up!

- Speaking of dressing up. If you’re having a themed wedding, don’t be afraid to ask the band to join in and dress up too. They’re always happy to do something different, so it would probably be a welcome break from the usual. (Bear in mind costs of outfits of course).

- Just as with all business negotiations, be as upfront as possible as soon as possible. Neither party wants to feel exploited, so if you let a band know all of your demands from the beginning, they can give you a better idea of price. This way you won't risk forking out extra money when you decide to have another hour.


A final word…

MOST PEOPLE ARE USUALLY TOO DRUNK TO REMEMBER EVERY DETAIL! Now, this is possibly the worst thing I can say as a singer, but I’m telling you this so hopefully you’ll relax and not worry too much about getting exactly the right band. Most professional bands will give a good performance, because they can play their instruments to a good standard, but this isn’t a Jools Holland showcase. It isn’t a groovy funk jam with the world’s most sought-after, expensive and talented soulsters. As long as they’re in tune and singing the right words in the right order, people probably won’t notice/remember whether the guitarist got the main solo of Sweet Child of Mine wrong - because by that point everyone will be singing it and playing air guitar anyway.

The guitarist won’t be Jimmy Hendrix, the singer won’t be Ella, but they will, however, do a good job and get people singing along to the songs they love. Few weddings have people dancing right at the beginning of the evening. They tend to get up for the second or third song and then sit down until the last song of the first set all ready and pumped up to get back on stage after the interval. You can have the best band in the world, but sometimes people just need a little more champagne to get on the floor. Having performed at a range of venues, I can tell you the key is the set-list. Make sure you see your band’s set-list (let them know any suggestions you’d like from their repertoire) and remember how people react when they hear those songs. They might not be the most fashionable or funky, and they are VERY likely to be cheesy, but that’s something that the UK still loves. Sweet Caroline, Brown Eyed Girl, Delilah. They won’t be the songs you heard in the car with your fianc! that first romantic holiday you spent together, but they really are still what people love to sing on a party night. Think about your audience and their ages and pick X Factor hits at your peril!




Sorry for the exceptionally long post, but I really hope it’s been of some use! Do let me know if you have any questions on anything, I’d be happy to help!

xxx

ellay864

As the OH of a muso I agree with a lot of what you say but would say that there are many part-time/hobby musicians who do a damn good job, are very committed, act very professionally and you shouldn't ever rule them out just because they have a day job too. They're people who do it because they love it, not for the money as you know there isn't a lot to be made in many areas when venues are clsoing down at a rate of knots. He's been out with bands going for £200 for the whole lot of them (though in all fairness not for weddings where the day is usually a lot longer) because they're happy to do smaller venues and know that landlords face a real battle, and they want to support venues that suuport live music. Their low rate reflects the fact they love playing and want to allow venues to put music on, not that they're not good musicians

notepadjunkie

Although I do agree that there are decent part-time bands out there - most full-time bands start out part-time before taking the leap of course - being a full-time musician does mean you have more time to put into your playing and therefore, in most cases, will be of a higher standard than those that don't. Pub gigs are, yes, in a different category to weddings. Often it's a different audience and the band relies on regular gigs to warrant a lower fee. I'm not saying they don't put the effort in, but weekend musicians quite simply have less of an incentive to work as their bills and rent don't depend on it. They can turn down gigs for family events or special occasions if they need. Full-time musicians can't. They can't afford to screw up any element of a gig - or how they deal with a client. They also have to charge enough to survive through non-wedding season. I don't think charging a standard fee means you're not playing for the love of it at all... these are people who've dedicated their lives to playing music and as with any job, the more hours you put in and experience you get, the more reliable you are in your work. That's not to say cheaper bands can't do a good job, but if you take all the bands in the country that are part time and charge peanuts and compare them with all the bands that charge a good basic fee, you're more likely to get a higher quality consistent service from the latter group, rather than people who just want to play their guitar.

But I do completely take your point Ellay864 - my first year of gigs were only £30 a time, until I started to think I might be worth more than £3 an hour!