Standard Rates Vs Wedding Rates

[Dubs]

When a prospective client says that magic word, do you hike your price, and if so how much by?

[crez5150]

Only if you can justify your extra cost..... too many pub bands thinking they offer the same deal....

[leftybassman392]

IME (which to be fair is not recent) it's not as simple as that. Yes you can up the charge, but then if you do that you shouldn't expect to get away with playing your 'normal' set IMHO (unless of course your normal set *is* optimised for such things already ). A wedding is most peoples' once-in-a-lifetime occasion and will have cost them a hefty wad, and they're entitled to expect a bit more than an ordinary gig. They're likely to have special requests that you may need to learn, for example.

[crez5150]

There's a pinned thread somewhere here on weddings too.... read it!

[dand666]

It's a funny one. We are on an agency, and the lowest priced band is £1000. It seems that the majority of people who want a band at a wedding think that if a band is under the £1k mark, that they must be rubbish, so they pay more!

It's insane, but we are booked up every Saturday and most fri/suns up to Oct till we go on our cruise, so it's working.


People do like to request 1st dances, and random song choices, but that's fine. Also, you'll need to offer a DJ service and lights e.t.c

Edited May 28, 2014 by dand666

[molan]

We generally charge more for weddings and corporate events but that's mostly based on time. In general we find that we have to set up way earlier for this sort of gig, usually have to be on hand because people want to borrow the PA and often can't get out until well after we've finished playing.

The increased cost is often less per hour we are required to be at a venue than for a simple pub gig.

[discreet]

[quote name='dand666' timestamp='1401282976' post='2461999']
...you'll need to offer a DJ service and lights etc.
[/quote]

And have a large repertoire, missus. And probably be there for very long hours, so there are more expenses to consider.

[skej21]

Yup. We have two rates (which to be fair, don't differ a huge amount!). Pub gigs, we play a certain set that the venue is aware of and have hired us knowing what we play. The punters get what we've planned and we often play requests on the fly (we're not a juke box and don't know every song ever!) so requests are often 'busker' from an iPad at short notice rather than rehearsed.

With a wedding, we rehearse and play what we are asked to play. We take requests for first dance and arrange a set list prior to the day with the happy couple. This means they get what they want to hear and we rehearse these new pieces thoroughly. Also, it's not a pub gig so the pressure is on for us to be 100% sure that nothing goes wrong (that'll little bit extra money has been used on more than one occasion to cover a last minute dep's cost of one of us has fallen ill before the gig or to hire transport if the van wouldn't start!). That extra work and extra pressure/precautionary checks etc add a bit more to the booking fee, DJ hire or having to wait around whilst they use our PA (because it's cheaper than a DJ!) to play their iPod.

Edited May 28, 2014 by skej21

[SlapbassSteve]

Simple enough for us, we just charge roughly triple what we would for the same length of time normally. This covers waiting for hours on end, learning a song of the couple's choice, and fighting off the drunken bridesmaids afterwards when we just want to get home and bung the kettle and radio 4 on.

Having read dand666's post I'm thinking we should up it a bit more though!

[dand666]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1401283244' post='2462004']
And have a large repertoire, missus. And probably be there for very long hours, so there are more expenses to consider.
[/quote]

Oh yeah. Expect to be there all night. We generally arrive at most venues at 18:00. However sometimes they would like us to get there earlier, depending on the logistics of the venue (don't want us setting up when people are eating e.t.c). After the set ends, we just party with them till curfew, generally 12ish. Then pack up, and off to the next gig (we have a campervan) or off home.

Personally I love it, I get to go to a wedding every weekend, party every weekend, eat lots of food and drink lots of beer (after playing) and make some sweet cash as well.



SlapbassSteve- all I'd say, is take a look at the agencies on-line, see how much they charge and what they're offering and see if you can match it.

Edited May 28, 2014 by dand666

[crez5150]

Don't forget you will need everything PAT tested and have PLI cover. Pre-meets with the venue and clients.

[Dubs]

Cheers all, interesting mix of replies.

We get ALL our bookings through recommendations, which is great for us and keeps us busy enough to keep the love and for it not to be a pain in the arse (25-30 'covers' gigs a year - mix of pub/private party/wedding, all sorts of venues...). However, this obviously causes issues when talking money - "you played so-and-so's party for £400 the other week but you want £850 for a wedding 50 miles down the road?!?! Are you taking me for a f***ing ride..." etc. This thread should give me enough ammo to justify that we're not just "hiking" the fee cos some gullible nob is having a wedding...!

Does anyone else find this with recommendations when the gigs aren't like-for-like?

[JTUK]

We have a minimum pub rate but keep those dates to a minimum.
We wont take pubs for a saturday during the summer.
The pub is the shop window for parties etc...and we don't really want to take cold bookings
as we aren't putting extra numbers in the set for a wedding. They need to have seen us or work
VERY closely to one or two venues that refer us but in general, we aren't the keenest to
take cold bookings as the match-up between what we want and they want can be too fraught.

We do a max of 2 hrs and if it looks like we are too far apart for the client we will want them to look
elsewhere. We want £950 for local ( 30 mins ) and will want exes for anything further.
The biggest problem isn't weddings or parties, it is getting decent money from Beer Festivals
as they are the ones who think pub bands play everywhere for pub money.

At the end of the day, whatever you charge, you need to be able to cover it, as that comes back
to you quicker than anything.
Obviously, some bands can't do anything but pubs and so are stuck on that money.

The 'magic' fee for weddings seems to be around £1500 and they seem to have been hit the most
these last few years. There seems to be a level where you need to be pretty sorted all round and geared
up for weddings and corporates and you can get 'chancey' with your rates but you'll get found out soon enough.

[crez5150]

The price is the price.... If you cannot justify it then you have to ask yourself why you are charging it. You can't just say we charge 'x' amount for weddings. There has to be a reason. There are always bands willing to play for no money and people always willing to accept them. You have to work out what your price/package is and run with that.

[JTUK]

yep.... I would be sceptical myself if a pub band wanted £600 for a wedding...
but then I would also be just as sceptical about that wedding if that was all they wanted to pay.
There are always quite a few things to read between the lines.
Basically, we don't work cold...so the least surprises the better.

[BassBunny]

It's all been said I reckon and in quite a bit of detail.
I always get over the "Well you only charged £X for playing the local pub and you want £Y for my Wedding" argument by saying:
"Just give 6 Emergency Plumbers a call and ask them how much they would charge to work from 5:00pm until 2:00am the following day and we will do it for half." Sometimes a reality check is all that's needed.
Also an interesting fact, In a recent survey carried out by a leading wedding website, shortly after their weddings 72% of people wished they'd spent more on their evening entertainment.

[Guest bassman7755]

[quote name='Dubs' timestamp='1401284911' post='2462027']
However, this obviously causes issues when talking money - "you played so-and-so's party for £400 the other week but you want £850 for a wedding 50 miles down the road?!?! Are you taking me for a f***ing ride..." etc.
[/quote]

What you charge is that its worth to you to do that specific gig and they either hire you or they don't. Other peoples expectations and what you may or may not have done gigs for before are irrelevant so long your getting the work (just like in any other business), you dont owe anyone any explanations.

Edited May 28, 2014 by bassman7755

[Lozz196]

Only played one wedding, it was a mates, we used the same gear, played the same set, wore the same clothes, so charged the same rate.

[flyfisher]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1401297708' post='2462220']
What you charge is that its worth to you to do that specific gig and they either hire you or they don't. Other peoples expectations and what you may or may not have done gigs for before are irrelevant so long your getting the work (just like in any other business), you dont owe anyone any explanations.
[/quote]

That would be my take on it, though if you're in it as a business then it would be wise to have some sales material to help win the booking.

I've only played one wedding, for friends of some of the band members. It was quite a big affair but done on a small budget with all the bride and grooms friends and family helping out. A few people did the catering, someone made the bride's dress, posh cars were loaned by friends, someone else made the cake, a friend took photos while another shot a video - all held outdoors in a remote pub's garden and grounds. Oh yes, and we played for free as our contribution. It might not have been a posh, expensive 'corporate' wedding but it was the greatest fun wedding I've ever been to, and the happy couple didn't have to re-mortgage their house to pay for it all. Still, that's what friends are for eh?

[Dad3353]

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1401300283' post='2462251']
That would be my take on it, though if you're in it as a business then it would be wise to have some sales material to help win the booking.

I've only played one wedding, for friends of some of the band members. It was quite a big affair but done on a small budget with all the bride and grooms friends and family helping out. A few people did the catering, someone made the bride's dress, posh cars were loaned by friends, someone else made the cake, a friend took photos while another shot a video - all held outdoors in a remote pub's garden and grounds. Oh yes, and we played for free as our contribution. It might not have been a posh, expensive 'corporate' wedding but it was the greatest fun wedding I've ever been to, and the happy couple didn't have to re-mortgage their house to pay for it all. Still, that's what friends are for eh?
[/quote]

Exactly the same here, for a buddy with a PA business. Outdoors, all went well, but we were somewhat taken aback when the groom came to us discretely and asked us to turn down..! 'Twill mean nothing to you, but one has to imagine us, on a low podium, with a full 300w HK PA, outdoors. Not exactly Jericho's trumpets. The 'minimum' rig in his PA park would be 10 times that, but we're asked to turn down..! Well it made us laugh, anyway. Whatever the happy couple want..! (No, we weren't [i]that [/i]loud..!)

[JTUK]

Must admit, my heart tends to sag a little when I hear wedding booking...and even more so if a mates
as I expect it will be 'mates rates' as well.
I tend to think other bands are set up better and enjoy them more so they are generally welcome to them.
Not sure I'd agree with a mates bands idea of rather doing 4 pub dates than a wedding especially as their material
could be regarded as ideal wedding fodder but it depends what you need to do gigs for.

[lojo]

Weddings are more serious than 40th / 50th parties etc I find

At a party , the buzz is already there and a lot of times the dance floor fills with people who will dance to anything

But a wedding, it's going to be in the video they'll keep forever, the first dance etc, its all less laid back from a band perspective

Last one I did was quite a serious occasion, first dance "stand by me" twice round on the bass intro, everyone filming, ok easy line, but still more pressure than a birthday party.

For me though, cost alterations is more about how long before you play your set do have to set up the band, 1 hour or 4 etc

[White Cloud]

We charge three times as much for weddings as we do for pub gigs.......from experience we have always found that clients prefer to pay more for weddings, so we oblige.

[cameltoe]

I like to think we're a fairly standard pub band in as much as our gigging schedule and what we charge, and when wedding enquiries come in we will charge a bit more. We didn't start off charging more, but with time comes a bit of wisdom-

1) most weddings are terrible, terrible gigs where you wish you hadn't bothered. I hate to go out and just play for the money, but for weddings, that's often the case.

2) you can expect to be told to get there a good few hours earlier than you would for a pub gig, only to stand around until all the formalities have finished, (usually a good 45 minutes+ than you were told they would be) at which point you'll either be told by 'Jesper' the wedding planner, or Bridezilla, that you need to start in 10 minutes. The massive amount of gear piled up outside the marquee that you and I would call a 'PA' seems to have escaped their attention. This is despite agreeing before the wedding that it will take over an hour to set up.

3)Mother in law will despise you, and spend most of the gig either telling you to turn down, or eyeballing you from the side of the stage.

4) despite agreeing with the happy couple you will play 2x 1 hour sets with a small break in between, they will still expect you to start at 8 and finish around midnight come the big day.

5) they may want you to get there in the middle of the day to set up the PA so they can play tunes through it before you start. I actually don't mind doing this, as it cuts down on the possibility of 2) happening.

6) father of the bride will usually be responsible for payment at the end of the night, and he will typically fall into 2 categories- type 1 is the 'music fan' dad who wants to be your friend, talks to you whilst setting up (inevitably slowing this process down) tells you all about his really nice Yamaha guitar, spends a lot of time dancing right in front of you during the gig (on the verge of air guitar- you can almost see him twitching) and running up straight after the gig to pay you and chat about how great you were. These guys are ok, and will usually stay with you (often helping to load gear into the van) until you drive home. They will continue to tell you 'honestly guys, that was fantastic' until you until you leave. Type no.2 is the Scarlet Pimpernell, who you see fleeting glimpses of during the evening but will not approach you or dance. He then pulls a Lord Lucan as soon as you've finished and no one can track him down, delaying your departure quite significantly. We have left weddings empty handed before because of the Scarlett Pimpernell dad, and had to hire Columbo to track down our payment.

6) they will ask you to learn a cover that you hate, and playing it will make you feel like you've sold your soul to the devil.

So, yes, we charge a bit more when it comes to weddings.

I also feel that a wedding is a one-off, where as a pub is likely to give you repeat bookings for several years if they like you, so even though you charge the pub less, ultimately you may get 4 gigs a year for the next few years from your landlord. It's like a trade price thingy.

[blamelouis]

I did a stand in for a three piece at a wedding a few months back and they had charged £1800.
No lights, backdrop or stage gear....t-shirts and jeans.
Got handed £600 !!!!

Edited May 28, 2014 by blamelouis