Wedding Breakfast / After Dinner Entertainment (suited to larger numbers of guests)
Jazz Band – 4+ musicians
Function Band – usually 4+ musicians, with singers
Ceilidh Band – for barn dancing English, Scottish, Irish folk music (a good caller is essential)
Brass and Woodwind instruments tend to cut through background noise better, whereas a string quartet is more subtle and suited to smaller numbers of guests. Most classical musicians will play acoustically, unless you specifically ask them to provide amplification. If you want musicians to play outside during a drinks reception, ask how portable they are. Most acoustic musicians are happy to pick up their music stand and move to a new spot for you, whereas anything involving electric cables is obviously far more problematic!
What will I pay?
Fees for musicians vary enormously depending on whether the musician is a professional or amateur, how far they have to travel to your wedding venue, whether you require them to change venue, how long you would like them to play for etc. etc. Most musicians have a minimum fee, usually based on a fixed hire period. If you ask them to play for half an hour at a ceremony and then come back 2 hours later for the wedding breakfast you will be charged more and this is probably not the most cost effective use of your money. It would be much better to decide “Well, I think music at the ceremony is the most important part for me, so let’s just book for that and the drinks reception for a couple of hours.”
Solo musicians often charge a higher hourly rate, but may work out cheaper in the end if you are only using them for a civil ceremony say. Groups of musicians will have a higher fixed fee, but generally, the longer you book them for, the more you get for your money. Good function bands can cost from about £950 upwards, with bands based in London charging a lot more.
How far in advance do I have to book?
Jazz Band – 4+ musicians
Function Band – usually 4+ musicians, with singers
Ceilidh Band – for barn dancing English, Scottish, Irish folk music (a good caller is essential)
Brass and Woodwind instruments tend to cut through background noise better, whereas a string quartet is more subtle and suited to smaller numbers of guests. Most classical musicians will play acoustically, unless you specifically ask them to provide amplification. If you want musicians to play outside during a drinks reception, ask how portable they are. Most acoustic musicians are happy to pick up their music stand and move to a new spot for you, whereas anything involving electric cables is obviously far more problematic!
What will I pay?
Fees for musicians vary enormously depending on whether the musician is a professional or amateur, how far they have to travel to your wedding venue, whether you require them to change venue, how long you would like them to play for etc. etc. Most musicians have a minimum fee, usually based on a fixed hire period. If you ask them to play for half an hour at a ceremony and then come back 2 hours later for the wedding breakfast you will be charged more and this is probably not the most cost effective use of your money. It would be much better to decide “Well, I think music at the ceremony is the most important part for me, so let’s just book for that and the drinks reception for a couple of hours.”
Solo musicians often charge a higher hourly rate, but may work out cheaper in the end if you are only using them for a civil ceremony say. Groups of musicians will have a higher fixed fee, but generally, the longer you book them for, the more you get for your money. Good function bands can cost from about £950 upwards, with bands based in London charging a lot more.
How far in advance do I have to book?
Popular groups and solo musicians such as Harpists can get booked up between 6 and 18 months in advance, particularly for the summer season. My recent experience is that the season is now extending from April right through to the end of October and in fact for the last 2 years, September has been our busiest month. So the sooner you can book, the more likely the musicians you have chosen, will be available for your date.
