How to Choose a Live Band for Your Wedding

How to choose a  LIVE BAND FOR YOUR WEDDING DAY ENTERTAINMENT

A guide on how to choose your live wedding band

Live music is becoming increasingly popular at weddings as people turn their backs on DJ’s and choose not to embrace the other forms of wedding entertainment that are starting to gain popularity.
Here are some easy to follow tips that will help you choose a live band for your wedding and ensure you avoid any unwanted wedding day disasters.

Getting Started

What can you do to find a live band for your wedding?
Generally, it will come down seeing a band in the pub or at another wedding that you like, asking friends for recommendations, or looking online.

What’s the best way?
There isn’t one. That might not sound especially helpful, but it depends on what you’re looking for. If you haven’t seen or don’t know a band then you’ll ask your friends and family, and if they’re not much help then you’ll need to look online.
You can always start looking online while asking for recommendations, it just depends how quickly you’re looking to get your live band sorted out.

If You Can See Them Live, See Them Live
If you choose a live band on the basis of seeing them yourself, obviously this one is taken care of. If you receive a recommendation or find a band online, try to see them live before you book them so you know exactly what you’re going to get. If this isn’t possible, then don’t worry so long as you can watch videos of them on YouTube or Facebook. Nearly all bands will have videos of themselves somewhere online that you can watch, while others may even have recordings you can listen to aswell.

How Will a Live Band Fit Your Wedding?
Whether you like a certain style of music, are having a themed wedding, or otherwise have specific “do’s and don’ts” for your live band, make sure you take this into consideration before you make a booking.
Tribute bands will usually have a specific set list – particularly if they’re a tribute of an act rather than of an era, while other bands or singers may play a variety of songs. If you opt for a tribute to a specific act then you’ll know what you’re going to get, so you don’t need to worry about it too much. If you want an act with a wider range, be sure to speak with them first. You don’t want a nasty surprise when your wedding musician doesn’t know the song you’d been dreaming of having as your first dance!

Clear Everything with Your Wedding Venue
While raising the issue of a live band with your wedding venue might at first lead to them trying to get you to book the in-house entertainment, you need to get past that and get them to inform you on the important stuff. Will your live band be able to use the venue’s sound and lighting equipment? Will there be an extra charge for this? If your band needs to bring additional equipment what extra expenses will you have to cover? Get this taken care of and you’ll avoid any last minute hitches. The best venues will tell you to put them in touch with your live musician and they’ll take care of it themselves; no need for you to be getting involved when you have a wedding to plan!

Freak Music is one of the UK’s leading providers of wedding music and live entertainment, allowing users to choose from a variety of genres and bands while checking out videos and sound clips prior to enquiring.