Weddings

[BassBunny]

Mighty be worth publishing this as a book......
And for my 10 penneth........
Speak to the reception organisor beforehand to agree what is required, especially if you are hired through an agency. The function band I play in is a Soul Band and although we do "doff our cap" to some recent numbers, most is Stax/Atlantic/Tamla....and that is what the agency has sold and normally 2x45's.
However, the vocalist, (who plays Sax as well), has an alter ego as a solo artist, singing to backing tracks. As his Solo set contains everything from Frank Sinatra, Van Morrison to Detroit Spinners etc, we usually find thay a set from him and 2 from us works really well. Most receptions have an age group ranging from 6months to grandparents in their 80's. By doing our "Swing to Soul" show, everyone seems to be happy. They can digest the food during the swing set as well.
Might be worth looking out for some "advert" music. A while back Bunny Siglers "Let the good Times Roll" was featured in an ad, so we put it in the set and it went down a bomb.
Current favourite is Al Wilson's "The Snake" from the Lambrini advert. As it also has a Dance, all the teenager's jump straight on the floor and try and get their parents learning it.
Another nice touch is find out the B&G's names and take a congrats card for them. The personal touch does help, particularly leave a CD with the B&G if it was a good night, and this generally feeds back to the agents and more work comes your way.

[OldGit]

One of the bands I dep for records the evening on mini disk from the PA and edits it to CD for the bride and groom - and posts it on after. It's a nice touch, a nice reminder of the music, and of course, the CD has the bands information, website etc on it ....

Oh and my band also offers the option of hiring our PA, lights and our Maplins mini disco console for an hour or so after the live band stops for the Abba greatest hits bit - Two of the band stay on and do it (with no local radio wannabe DJ prattle to spoil the tunes) and we charge a small extra amount.
That negates the need to pay a DJ almost as much as the band to sit there doing nothing for most of the evening.
Seems popular.

Edited September 27, 2007 by OldGit

[stewblack]

[quote name='OldGit' post='58917' date='Sep 11 2007, 07:32 PM']so ... do two verses and the middle bit and then morph it into something else like Play that Funky Music and it will work a lot better...
OG[/quote]
Uncanny - our weddings/party band did it's second wedding gig last weekend (they've both been for mates from our local boozer so virtually the same crowd both times) and we did exactly that played Superstition in E up to end of second chorusy bit then solos then when we came out of the solos presto! and we were playing Funky Music - worked a treat, back to Superstition for a rousing finale.
Lots of good points here, I've e-mailed this thread to the band.
The one idea we had which works a treat is get the b&g to nominate a few fave songs prior to the do and we learn one each for them both and that's the final encore. Groom chose In A Rut and bride chose Superstition, first wedding it was Fireball XL5 and Brimful Of Asha !! This meant they remembered us doing their special faves at the end and were filled with love for the band.
Next wedding we've got isn't mates and we're breaking so many rules. No 1 our drummer is in Greece so we've got an old mate depping, only time for two practices with him, which suggests we'll be flying a little close to the wind, however as we are a last minute stand in for their first choice we're doing them a bit of a favour.

Edited September 28, 2007 by stewblack

[BassBunny]

[quote name='elom' post='59041' date='Sep 11 2007, 11:35 PM']Anyone got any Van Morrison tabs....

elom [/quote]
Mr Mole,
I put the tab for Moondance on another post somewhere on BassChat. Think I may have some more if you need them.......

[grapevinebass]

Tip for readers:

Never take a booking for a wedding gig on the same night as the Rugby World Cup Final when England are playing.

OK - so we did not know this was likely when we took the booking back in April, so I guess we have some excuse.

Were the crowd clapping our playing or Englands? It's hard to give your best when 75% of the audience are trying to watch the rugby on the TV on the wall.

Still, it got switched off when the game was over and before we gave up and went to the bar!

Lesson - make sure your gig is in a room without a big screen TV, or if it is take the fuse out when no-one is looking!

[OldGit]

[quote name='grapevinebass' post='79377' date='Oct 25 2007, 12:30 PM']Tip for readers:

Never take a booking for a wedding gig on the same night as the Rugby World Cup Final when England are playing.[/quote]

Ah yessssss
The person who takes your booking should make sure they have all the big stuff in the diary so when someone calls to book the band for a wedding for Easter weekend you can make sure they know it's Easter weekend (or half term, cup final weekend, the Olympics, Wimbledon finals or anything big that happens locally to you.)

You'd be surprised how many first timers don't appreciate the problems it causes parents of school age kids if they get married on a half term weekend ....

Doing this sort of thing helps the organiser of the wedding and re-enforces the feeling that you have done it all before, know what you are doing and will do all you can to help their day go smoothly.

[rootn5th]

[quote name='elom' post='56924' date='Sep 7 2007, 11:49 AM']My band has been booked to play a wedding - our first. The couple know the kind of stuff we play and said that they didn't want a typical wedding band. I'll be meeting them at our next gig anyway to discuss exactly what they want anyway but I thought I'd ask here for any tips.

So what does a pub band need to know before they play a wedding? Any advice gratefully received.

Also, they've asked if we could provide lighting. I said we'd see what we could do and get back to them but I haven't really got a clue. Hire or purchase? What are the options and the costs? I've done a bit of net searching without much success.

Thanks

elom[/quote]

My My folks.....dont you think its sad that one of the last, few remaining gig opportunities is to just play people's weddings?

[OldGit]

[quote name='rootn5th' post='107945' date='Dec 22 2007, 12:05 AM']My My folks.....dont you think its sad that one of the last, few remaining gig opportunities is to just play people's weddings?[/quote]

What do you mean? rootn5th?

There are millions of gig opportunities that are not weddings if you get out there and find or create them.

However, playing weddings can be loads of fun and rewarding in all sorts of ways.

I think its absolutely fantastic that people are still willing to have a live band at their wedding reception and don't just have a DJ or nothing at all.

[Thunderthumbs]

If you have a way of staying in touch with the Bride/Groom/organiser beforehand, then do so, on a regular basis. They will want reassurance that everything is to plan.

We recently played at a wedding over in Hull. The bride got our website details from the agent she'd booked us through (for which she paid them £200). She emailed me through our website, and from that day forward to the wedding, [b]all[/b] correspondence was done between the bride and myself. I kept her constantly assured that we'd be there at the time requested, we'd set up as and when required by them and/or the hotel, we'd play the lengths of sets she wanted at the times she wanted, etc. We learned not one but three numbers specifically for their wedding. The did the first two dances, as she wanted one but her husband wanted another (good start to a marriage!), and we did one specially for her that she'd just mentioned in passing one of her favourite songs. We did that one later on, which of course made her happier than she was to start off with.

She ended up saying it was brilliant, and that she just wished she'd have found us on her own rather than paying an agent £200 simply for passing our details on to her. His paperwork also had the wrong arrival time, etc. So it's best to work directly with whoever's organising the wedding if possible.

The key to any wedding is.....it's their wedding, not your gig. They are the ones you have to please. As long as they go home talking about you (for the right reasons of course), you've done your job.

Edited January 11, 2008 by Thunderthumbs

[coasterbass]

Had to contribute this, although it might as well start a new topic entitled "most bizarre (non-song) request"...

We've just received this in relation to our next wedding gig:

"One really important thing is that we are having a cream carpet so when you set up you'll need to do it in your socks"

[yorks5stringer]

and always carry some spare fuses, the one in our PA blew in the soundcheck just before our last wedding gig and guess what, those fuses I had always meant to get, were still in Maplins.....luckily we raided another piece of close-by equipment but we were sweating on a replacement PA arriving from 1 hour's drive away in time!
Hindsight's a 100% science..

[crez5150]

[quote name='rootn5th' post='107945' date='Dec 22 2007, 12:05 AM']My My folks.....dont you think its sad that one of the last, few remaining gig opportunities is to just play people's weddings?[/quote]


Errrr.... not for the prices we charge.....

[crez5150]

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='118796' date='Jan 11 2008, 07:16 PM']If you have a way of staying in touch with the Bride/Groom/organiser beforehand, then do so, on a regular basis. They will want reassurance that everything is to plan.

We recently played at a wedding over in Hull. The bride got our website details from the agent she'd booked us through (for which she paid them £200). She emailed me through our website, and from that day forward to the wedding, [b]all[/b] correspondence was done between the bride and myself. I kept her constantly assured that we'd be there at the time requested, we'd set up as and when required by them and/or the hotel, we'd play the lengths of sets she wanted at the times she wanted, etc. We learned not one but three numbers specifically for their wedding. The did the first two dances, as she wanted one but her husband wanted another (good start to a marriage!), and we did one specially for her that she'd just mentioned in passing one of her favourite songs. We did that one later on, which of course made her happier than she was to start off with.

She ended up saying it was brilliant, and that she just wished she'd have found us on her own rather than paying an agent £200 simply for passing our details on to her. His paperwork also had the wrong arrival time, etc. So it's best to work directly with whoever's organising the wedding if possible.

The key to any wedding is.....it's their wedding, not your gig. They are the ones you have to please. As long as they go home talking about you (for the right reasons of course), you've done your job.[/quote]

I think the morel of this story is don't use agents....

[Sibob]

We're a slightly rockier modern covers band and we get plenty of weddings. People who are getting married now are (mostly) the younger generation, IMO they don't want WetWetWet and Robson & Jerome. We're doing a wedding in August where we've been asked if we can do some Rage Against The Machine........oh yesss

Si

Edited February 20, 2008 by Sibob

[Merton]

[quote name='Sibob' post='143530' date='Feb 20 2008, 09:08 AM']We're a slightly rockier modern covers band and we get plenty of weddings. People who are getting married now are (mostly) the younger generation, IMO they don't want WetWetWet and Robson & Jerome. We're doing a wedding in August where we've asked if we can do some Rage Against The Machine........oh yesss

Si[/quote]
Very nice! One of our June weddings this year is having a Foo Fighters song for their first dance, that'll be fun

I agree with the comments from Thunderthumbs - keep in contact all the time, keeps them from fretting and also (hopefully) avoids any last minute misunderstandings.

(edited for smelling pistakes)

Edited February 20, 2008 by Merton

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Merton' post='143631' date='Feb 20 2008, 01:44 PM']I agree with the comments from Thunderthumbs - keep in contact all the time, keeps them from fretting[/quote]

A fretless will always be smoother and have that mwah factor ...

[OldGit]

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='118796' date='Jan 11 2008, 08:16 PM']She ended up saying it was brilliant, and that she just wished she'd have found us on her own rather than paying an agent £200 simply for passing our details on to her. His paperwork also had the wrong arrival time, etc. So it's best to work directly with whoever organising the wedding if possible.[/quote]

You have to make sure your website is easy to find using google, your key search terms will be your town or region. Wedding band searches are something like
wedding band Glasgow
wedding entertainers Glasgow
wedding blues brothers band Glasgow

etc

So make sure your meta-data reflects your geographical area,

Then your website has to say "we are in Glasgow" on every page. All bands will play anywhere for the right money but a bride (or bride's mother) wants to know they are dealing with a local band and not paying a load out for travel etc. so tell them where you are (on every page)
Have a strap line like:
John and the Gorbals: Fantastic Professional Glasgow Wedding Band

Hyperbole can put off some people so if you claim to be the "Best wedding band in Glasgow" you'd better put it in quotes and have a testimonial to back it up.

The whole thrust of your website (for weddings and functions) should be
"we do this all the time, we really know what we are doing, and other people think we are really good at it. You can trust us"
Not literally, of course, but with a subtle mix of quotes, testimonials, tales of past successes, etc

[Merton]

[quote name='OldGit' post='242500' date='Jul 18 2008, 10:59 AM']You have to make sure your website is easy to find using google[/quote]
You have to make sure your website works properly too

Ours is shockingly tempermental and getting worse with age; I'm going to get rid of all the flash that we paid someone to do coz it's not helping anything!

[Rayman]

[quote name='Sibob' post='143530' date='Feb 20 2008, 10:08 AM']We're a slightly rockier modern covers band and we get plenty of weddings. People who are getting married now are (mostly) the younger generation, IMO they don't want WetWetWet and Robson & Jerome. We're doing a wedding in August where we've been asked if we can do some Rage Against The Machine........oh yesss

Si[/quote]

We just keep getting weddings, and to be honest, we don't want to do them, but the money's too good to turn away.

We're doing Muse, Foos, Stereophonics, U2, Chillis, and we keep telling people we're not wedding music, but they keep booking us. I just get fed up with looking into the audience and seeing pensioners with fingers in thier ears, and children sliding across the dance floor on thier knees, while we're halfway through My Iron Lung by Radiohead. It's bizarre.

Edited July 18, 2008 by Rayman

[OldGit]

[quote name='Merton' post='242516' date='Jul 18 2008, 11:14 AM']You have to make sure your website works properly too

Ours is shockingly tempermental and getting worse with age; I'm going to get rid of all the flash that we paid someone to do coz it's not helping anything![/quote]

Good idea. Flash is a pain for all sorts of reason. Mostly to do with google but a lot of people don't like Flash websites...

Little bits of Flash are fine buut it's like flangers a little can really add interest but too much can really distract.

[OldGit]

[quote name='Rayman' post='242588' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:07 PM']We just keep getting weddings, and to be honest, we don't want to do them, but the money's too good to turn away.

We're doing Muse, Foos, Stereophonics, U2, Chillis, and we keep telling people we're not wedding music, but they keep booking us. I just get fed up with looking into the audience and seeing pensioners with fingers in thier ears, and children sliding across the dance floor on thier knees, while we're halfway through My Iron Lung by Radiohead. It's bizarre.[/quote]


Yeah sometimes you have to manage the client
We make sure they realise that it's the mothers of the bride and groom who are the ones to please, no matter what the B&G think themselves ...

And we say no if we don't fit, or treble the fee .. that seem to work quite well ...

[Merton]

Ironically "the flash we paid someone to do" is the whole fooking site. So I need a preety damn quick fix which looks nice, maybe I'll start designing it next week...

[OldGit]

[quote name='Merton' post='242622' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:34 PM']Ironically "the flash we paid someone to do" is the whole fooking site. So I need a preety damn quick fix which looks nice, maybe I'll start designing it next week...[/quote]

hummmmmm
Best have a trawl through my band websites thread then (linked from my sig)
sorry I've not edited it since the move from BW, hey, it's only been a year
Worth the read though, or so I am told.

[Merton]

[quote name='OldGit' post='242631' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:42 PM']hummmmmm
Best have a trawl through my band websites thread then (linked from my sig)
sorry I've not edited it since the move from BW, hey, it's only been a year
Worth the read though, or so I am told.[/quote]
Cheers will do. I remember it from the BW days coz you pointed out all our sites failings then but we just haven't done anything about it I'm embarrassed to say. Time for me to take executive action!!

[OldGit]

[quote name='Merton' post='242684' date='Jul 18 2008, 01:32 PM']Cheers will do. I remember it from the BW days coz you pointed out all our sites failings then but we just haven't done anything about it I'm embarrassed to say. Time for me to take executive action!![/quote]

Well only if you want people to find your website and book the band, otherwise just relax