Band at the Reception: How much did you pay?

shoe_gal_84

We are paying £450 for our band. There are 3 of them (one drummer and two guitarists - one of whom sings). They are a great band local to us and play lots of old and recent covers. I haggled them down to £450 and they were the cheapest by far of all that I looked at. Some were well over £1000 and others into the £2000s! These bands also seemed to want hot food, drinks and a dressing room - no thank you!

shellsuit

vax2002 wrote: »

I think I would cringe and cringe again at a "Blues brothers tribute"

It's a good job you're not invited to their wedding then isn't it.

ampafc

Ours is costing £1400.We have seen our band play a couple of times, and they are fantastic. We could have gone for a cheaper option, but you get wahat you pay for when it comes to bands, imo.

sugarwalsh

We are paying £600 for our band. It is at 'mates rates' as I know a good wedding band can charge over £1000. I balked a bit at first, then I remembered the following - there are 5 of them in the band, they have to pay for travel, their equipment and to hire somewhere when they pracitce. They are often there LONG before the reception starts to set up and long after clearing away. I know that doesn't help you find your Irish band, but it certainly helped me come to terms with paying such prices!!

Megan

Zimm190

Oh good grief, I already felt sick at what we're paying for our band (£1600), now even more so! However, we went to see them live before we booked them and they are absolutely amazing!! They're a six-piece swing band and do modern songs in a swing style - trust me, it's amazing! They also do songs like I Wanna Be Like You from the Jungle Book, one of my favourites, and OH and I have been learning to swing dance for a couple of months.

Also, the only opinion and input my dad has offered for the wedding was that he'd love to have a swing band and he gave us a big chunk towards the cost of the wedding so I think of it as that money paying for the band. We've also had huge savings in other areas (making my own veil, for example, saved £150 at a conservative estimate) so it all balances out. It also depends on what you think is worth spending money on; we weren't having any wedding cars as I couldn't justify one minute (literally) from my house to the church in an expensive wedding car. In the end my grandparents have kindly offered to pay for this but I'd have happily gone without. Similarly with dessert at the reception; we've saved £600 by not having the venue's £6-per-head desserts and serving our wedding cake (made by a friend) instead.

£1600 is an outrageous amount though, particularly as they want it in cash on the day! Makes it easier to share out between them apparently. One of the Grandads will be in charge of the money!

GlynD

Edmund I know what you're after. You'll be lucky to get change from £1,000 for a ceilidh band for a wedding and that's the lower end of the market. Prices went sky high after the millenium. Don't be surprised to pay £1,500. Do please guarantee your band by booking it through an agency as we discussed before. Edinburgh bands are notorious for taking the booking and then forgetting all about it if a better offer comes through.

lizd87

I'm having a ceilidh at my wedding and did quite a lot of 'shopping around' for a band. The one i've booked is £700 all inc. Quotes I got ranged from £450-1000+

NoAngel

How long are you all having your bands playing for? So what time are they starting and are they playing all night or for a set time?

Idiophreak

Ours did 3 sets of 45 minutes, 4 piece band - something like £1200 cost...and worth every penny, really rocked the place. BTW, Zimm, your band sounds awesome - do you have a link?

stir_crazy

Our band is £1350, for a three piece band, we are also getting them to set up light boxes for the room, which is costing us an extra £300. They will be playing the whole night, including doing a swing section while teas/ coffees are out. the rest of the night they will be doing a selection of music from the 60's to present day. They're not the most expensive I've seen, some of them are upwards of £2000.