How to Hire a Wedding Band

So you've decided what type of wedding band you want on your special day. You now need to choose the right band to do your wedding justice and secure their services. We recommend following the steps below to to make sure you have no hick-ups along the way.

Do your research

Recommendations from Friends or Family

Acting on the recommendations of those who have seen bands perform at other weddings can be an excellent way of finding a band for your wedding.

Search for Wedding Bands Online

Why limit yourself to just recommendations when so many wedding bands now advertise their services on the internet. We'd suggest trying a few keyword searches on Google to see what wedding bands you can find to hire.

Entertainment Agencies

Another way of finding wedding bands to hire is to approach an agency that specialises in providing wedding entertainment. Whilst this can be a good way of gaining access to a wide variety of bands you can expect to pay around 20% more than usual when hiring a wedding band through an agency.

Listen to their music

Make sure you've been able to listen to the music of any band you're thinking about hiring. Any good band should be able to send you a demo CD of some of their songs, or they'll have some of their songs available you to listen to on their website. These will usually be studio recordings so will be of superior quality to anything you'll hear at a live performance but nevertheless will enable you to compare bands and will give you a good idea of their ability. It's even better if you can go and see them play live, but bear in mind that most wedding bands usually only play at private functions, so opportunities will be few and far between.

Obtain quotes

Once you've found three or four bands that appeal to you, check that they're available to play on your wedding date and ask them for a quote. To do this they'll need a few details about your wedding day arrangements including location and any other details you think might be helpful. It's common for bands to play about two hours of live music for a wedding reception either split into two one hour sets or three forty minutes sets.

At this stage it's also sensible to find out whether:-

The stage area at your chosen venue is large enough to accommodate the band. The band will visit the venue beforehand to ensure its suitability. The band will require a deposit and whether this is refundable. They're able to provide a microphone for speeches, if needed. The band are able to be set up and sound checked before the start of your reception meal, if they're to be performing in the same room as the meal. The band will be able to play any of your own song choices, for your first dance for example.

Hiring Your Wedding Band

Once you've received all of the quotes it's time to make a decision on which wedding band to hire. Don't be tempted to go for the cheapest quote whilst ignoring all the other factors. Use what you've heard when listening to the bands' music to make your decision and remember, you usually get what you pay for. Let the lucky band know you want them to play at your wedding and they should then give you a contract, listing all of the particulars about the performance, for both of you to sign up to.