8 QUESTIONS TO ASK A WEDDING BAND BEFORE YOU BOOK THEM
Live music can make or break a reception and booking a wedding band is one of the biggest decisions in your wedding planning! It’s easy to get swept up in how good an act sounds without checking the practical details, and those details are what separate a smooth night from a stressful one.
Below are the essential questions to ask your wedding band before booking, with our honest take on each. Run through them well ahead of your big day and you’ll know exactly what you’re signing up for.
Q1.
HOW LONG DOES THE BAND PLAY FOR?
Probably the most common question we get! Most professional wedding bands play something like 2 x 60-minute or 2 x 45-minute live sets across the evening.
That doesn’t mean a live wedding band keeps going non-stop from the first dance to last orders, so ask exactly what’s included rather than assuming the music runs all night without a break.
Q2.
CAN WE CHOOSE THE SONGS THE BAND PLAY ON THE DAY?
We get asked this all the time. Our advice: give the band a clear idea of the wedding music you love and what you can’t stand, then trust them to build the set. With us, that’s easy to set out in advance through our online portal, where you list your must-plays and the tracks you’d rather never hear.
A good band reads the room and shifts direction based on what’s actually filling the dance floor, which is hard to script song by song in advance. Any experienced band member will tell you the best sets are half planned and half read on the night, which is exactly what you’ll see if you catch one of our acts at a showcase.
Q3.
WILL YOU LEARN OUR FIRST DANCE?
Some bands learn a first dance as part of the package but others charge for a bespoke request, so ask if the band includes it before you assume. Not every song suits every line-up either, so raise it early. That gives a professional band time to rehearse it properly, or to tell you honestly if it works better as a recording.
Q4.
WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN THE BAND’S LIVE SETS?
You don’t want the room to go from a brilliant live band straight into silence between sets. Adding a wedding DJ is the easy fix, and a Sax and DJ set takes it up a notch with live saxophone playing over the mix.
You don’t have to lean on a background playlist to cover the gaps, you want a DJ reading the room, taking requests and keeping people up while the band takes a breather. A good wedding DJ holds the momentum so the energy never drops.
Q5.
WHAT TIME WILL THE BAND ARRIVE, AND HOW LONG DO YOU NEED TO SET UP?
This one’s really important for your wedding day timeline. Bands need time to load in, set up and run a sound check before they perform. That usually takes around 45 minutes, which also gives the venue time to turn the room around after dinner. If you’re working with a wedding planner, loop them in on these timings early so nothing gets squeezed.
Q6.
DO YOU PROVIDE ALL YOUR OWN SOUND AND LIGHTING EQUIPMENT?
All of our bands come with full sound and lighting and are completely self-sufficient, with those costs included. It’s still a fair question to put to any act, because if you hire a band without its own sound system, the extra kit costs can land on you at the last minute.
Q7.
HAVE YOU PLAYED AT OUR VENUE BEFORE?
Not an essential question, but a useful one! A band that already knows your wedding venue will understand the space and its quirks. If they haven’t played there, a professional act should be happy to liaise with the venue and your other wedding vendors beforehand about access, sound restrictions, power, performance space and timings.
Q8.
HOW DO YOU HANDLE VENUES WITH SOUND LIMITERS OR NOISE RESTRICTIONS?
A big one, and couples often don’t think to raise it. Some venues run strict decibel limits of around 85 dB to 100+ dB, which can have a real impact on how a live band performs, so it’s worth checking that your act has worked within one before. Find out your venue’s limits early and sort your wedding entertainment around them, rather than hitting a nasty surprise a few weeks before the wedding.
READY TO BOOK YOUR WEDDING BAND?
Ask these eight questions and you’ll have a clear picture of what you’re getting from your wedding band, whether they’re playing for the wedding ceremony, wedding breakfast or the evening wedding reception.
Better still, book through us and we’ve done the legwork already. Tell us your date, your venue and the kind of night you’re after, and we’ll match a band to your wedding budget and make your wedding one your guests talk about for years.
