wedding fairs are they a good source of bookings

[peety]

Because of work and other commitments as a band we have previously been happy playing a limited number of gigs maybe 20 a year quite a large %age of which are weddings and have always managed to do this by word of mouth recommendations etc,.

However we have now decided we would like to gig more and as our preferrd gigs are weddings we have along with agencies been looking at wedding fairs as a way of generating more bookings, just wondering how many of you attend these and if you find them useful and or worthwhile as there seem to quite a few going on at the moment and the cost doesn't seem massiely prohibitive.

Also would be interested to know what you take as promo, dvd's, cd's cards posters, website info

i know it's a fairly general question but would be grateful of any advice or experiences of them

thanks steve

[crez5150]

[quote name='peety' post='618660' date='Oct 6 2009, 03:20 PM']Because of work and other commitments as a band we have previously been happy playing a limited number of gigs maybe 20 a year quite a large %age of which are weddings and have always managed to do this by word of mouth recommendations etc,.

However we have now decided we would like to gig more and as our preferrd gigs are weddings we have along with agencies been looking at wedding fairs as a way of generating more bookings, just wondering how many of you attend these and if you find them useful and or worthwhile as there seem to quite a few going on at the moment and the cost doesn't seem massiely prohibitive.

Also would be interested to know what you take as promo, dvd's, cd's cards posters, website info

i know it's a fairly general question but would be grateful of any advice or experiences of them

thanks steve[/quote]


We exhibit at The National Wedding Show every year......... It gets us about 50% of our bookings for the year..... So it's worth it.

But... A bobby basic stand plus a single power point is going to cost you about £2.5k. Then you have all of your marketing material, staffing, hotel costs etc..... not cheap.

[OldGit]

[quote name='peety' post='618660' date='Oct 6 2009, 03:20 PM']Because of work and other commitments as a band we have previously been happy playing a limited number of gigs maybe 20 a year quite a large %age of which are weddings and have always managed to do this by word of mouth recommendations etc,.

However we have now decided we would like to gig more and as our preferrd gigs are weddings we have along with agencies been looking at wedding fairs as a way of generating more bookings, just wondering how many of you attend these and if you find them useful and or worthwhile as there seem to quite a few going on at the moment and the cost doesn't seem massiely prohibitive.

Also would be interested to know what you take as promo, dvd's, cd's cards posters, website info

i know it's a fairly general question but would be grateful of any advice or experiences of them

thanks steve[/quote]


We get all our wedding bookings from our website but I'd be interested to know if wedding fairs work.

I have a friend who plays solo acoustic guitar and he has tried Wedding fairs with mixed results.

I'd recommend any band with a good website and limited fund to print off post card sized advertising flyers with a good picture and your website address and leaflet the cars in the car park. Or stand at the exit (on a public bit) and hand flyers to the B&G's coming out.

In terms of return on investment I guess you only need one booking from a fair to make it worth the fee.

[OldGit]

[quote name='crez5150' post='618672' date='Oct 6 2009, 03:35 PM']We exhibit at The National Wedding Show every year......... It gets us about 50% of our bookings for the year..... So it's worth it.

But... A bobby basic stand plus a single power point is going to cost you about £2.5k. Then you have all of your marketing material, staffing, hotel costs etc..... not cheap.[/quote]


£2.5k That's half a wedding fee for your band, isn't it?

[crez5150]

[quote name='OldGit' post='618681' date='Oct 6 2009, 03:39 PM']£2.5k That's half a wedding fee for your band, isn't it? [/quote]


hehehehe

[peety]

[quote name='crez5150' post='618672' date='Oct 6 2009, 03:35 PM']We exhibit at The National Wedding Show every year......... It gets us about 50% of our bookings for the year..... So it's worth it.

But... A bobby basic stand plus a single power point is going to cost you about £2.5k. Then you have all of your marketing material, staffing, hotel costs etc..... not cheap.[/quote]


Thanks for that at the moment we are looking at local stuff only have been quoted £115 + vat for a 6ft stand and we get all our promotional stuff done cheaply as one of our band members works for a printers so i'm thinking it's worth a punt.

[yorks5stringer]

Choose your venue and date carefully, we booked at one with a cowboy and it was baking hot inside( and out) and the last day of the premiership (Super Sunday)
No-one turned up, we got no bookings and we played for free (cost us £45 fee and all the CD's we produced).......

Edited October 6, 2009 by yorks5stringer

[peety]

[quote name='yorks5stringer' post='618732' date='Oct 6 2009, 04:19 PM']Choose your venue and date carefully, we booked at one with a cowboy and it was baking hot inside( and out) and the last day of the premiership (Super Sunday)
No-one turned up, we got no bookings and we played for free (cost us £45).......[/quote]

Thanks for the info that's quite interesting to know

This is with the local newspaper group that covers Wigan, Preston area and are all held at decent venues, there is one this weekend so i may go along to just suss it out before we decide whether to book for the one at the end of October.

cheers steve

[beerdragon]

We thinking of branching out into the wedding gigs. although it would involve a few changes. i found this site just to give us a insite to what other bands are charging.
[url="http://www.1311events.net/selected_wedding_bands.html"]http://www.1311events.net/selected_wedding_bands.html[/url]

[crez5150]

I knew I would end up repeating myself at some point during this thread....... Guys.... if you do get into the whole wedding thing seriously..... please please please do not undersell yourself.... Don't think of it as a pub gig..... Don't think of yourself as a band..... you are a service provider.....

[OldGit]

[quote name='peety' post='618734' date='Oct 6 2009, 04:23 PM']Thanks for the info that's quite interesting to know

This is with the local newspaper group that covers Wigan, Preston area and are all held at decent venues, there is one this weekend so i may go along to just suss it out before we decide whether to book for the one at the end of October.

cheers steve[/quote]


Flyer the cars and Brides and Grooms and you may not have to do one

[OldGit]

and read the [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5436&st=0&p=56924&#entry56924"]Thread on playing weddings[/url]
Loads of helpful info there on the massive, huge, enormous difference between weddings (and other "functions") and your average pub gig.

Oh and my thread on how to get your band website to really sell you as a wedding band
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=142&st=0&p=936&#entry936"]Wedding band website stuff[/url]

[BassBunny]

[quote name='peety' post='618734' date='Oct 6 2009, 04:23 PM']This is with the local newspaper group that covers Wigan, Preston area and are all held at decent venues, there is one this weekend so i may go along to just suss it out before we decide whether to book for the one at the end of October.

cheers steve[/quote]
Hi Steve,

If the Newspaper is anything to do with the Messenger Group, let me know......
We got well stitched up by them. Booked for a Wedding Fayre at Lancs County Cricket Club and it is the biggest one of the year for them. We were told it would be a sell-out as far as stands go and would be packed.
Man Utd then moved a home game to the same day and it was really poorly attended. We booked a 12' stand as we wanted to play during the event, but we ended up with as much room as needed. We covered our costs with a couple of bookings but in way of compensation we were promised the attendance details of that event and 3 others that the messenger held. We had to fight for them and only got 2, but fortunately my Wife used to work in Advertising and she got us 50% of the fee back.
OK rant over, now a bit of info on what we did do. In no particular order.
1) A full publicity pack of who you are, sample set list, photo's, testimonials etc. These were properly presented in a folder with business card on the front.
2) DVD, particularly if you are not playing. Wedding Couples like to see what they are getting as well as hearing what you sound like.
3) A contact sheet where you can store all the info you need, Names, Addresses, Where the event is, Date of Wedding etc of anyone who makes an enquiry.
4) If you intend playing, have someone who can talk to anyone who may want answers to questions whilst you are playing.
5) Make sure you negotiate for the list of couples who attended and contact any that didn't speak to you on the day.
6) find out if there is any competition. We made sure we were the only band at the event although there was an agency, (who we also work for) and a solo singer.
7) Find time to talk to other exhibitors. You may be able to arrange for them to put your name forward, and vice versa, if they are providing a service for a particular wedding.

There's probaly more and i will update if I think of anything important.

[peety]

[quote name='BassBunny' post='618847' date='Oct 6 2009, 06:05 PM']Hi Steve,

If the Newspaper is anything to do with the Messenger Group, let me know......
We got well stitched up by them. Booked for a Wedding Fayre at Lancs County Cricket Club and it is the biggest one of the year for them. We were told it would be a sell-out as far as stands go and would be packed.
Man Utd then moved a home game to the same day and it was really poorly attended. We booked a 12' stand as we wanted to play during the event, but we ended up with as much room as needed. We covered our costs with a couple of bookings but in way of compensation we were promised the attendance details of that event and 3 others that the messenger held. We had to fight for them and only got 2, but fortunately my Wife used to work in Advertising and she got us 50% of the fee back.
OK rant over, now a bit of info on what we did do. In no particular order.
1) A full publicity pack of who you are, sample set list, photo's, testimonials etc. These were properly presented in a folder with business card on the front.
2) DVD, particularly if you are not playing. Wedding Couples like to see what they are getting as well as hearing what you sound like.
3) A contact sheet where you can store all the info you need, Names, Addresses, Where the event is, Date of Wedding etc of anyone who makes an enquiry.
4) If you intend playing, have someone who can talk to anyone who may want answers to questions whilst you are playing.
5) Make sure you negotiate for the list of couples who attended and contact any that didn't speak to you on the day.
6) find out if there is any competition. We made sure we were the only band at the event although there was an agency, (who we also work for) and a solo singer.
7) Find time to talk to other exhibitors. You may be able to arrange for them to put your name forward, and vice versa, if they are providing a service for a particular wedding.

There's probaly more and i will update if I think of anything important.[/quote]


thanks for the info that is really useful, not sure what the newspaper group is includes wigan /lancashire evening post wigan reporter will find out and let you know. Some great tips there for the day.

I asked about other bands and there aren't any attending the ones we are considering at the moment however there is a duo and a solo singer performing and an agent who is also a DJ and handles all the work for the JJB stadium .

i think based on what i can see it is defimitely worth trying one out all this info is really good though and has given me some more food for thought

cheers steve

[bobbytodd]

i think we have been under selling ourselves we've been charging £500 to £700 for which they get band and disco.the night usually goes like this disco(well easy listening)while the folk eat. then the proper disco starts till about about 9 oclock.after which first live set.another disco followed by a audience participation game then live band again .then disco till the end

[OldGit]

[quote name='bobbytodd' post='618918' date='Oct 6 2009, 07:24 PM']i think we have been under selling ourselves we've been charging £500 to £700 for which they get band and disco.the night usually goes like this disco(well easy listening)while the folk eat. then the proper disco starts till about about 9 oclock.after which first live set.another disco followed by a audience participation game then live band again .then disco till the end[/quote]


Depends on where you are but that's a bargain for the couple. You may want to keep it like that though or offer teh disco bit as a bargin extra £100 or so. Still cheaper than DJ but you can then price it seperately andmake it clear its an add on.

We do a scout round our contacts every now and then to find out the pricing range for what we do in our area. We then aim our fee at a long way less than the top agent's fee. We still do well out of it but no one gets p15534 off at our fee either.

[jonny-lad]

[quote name='crez5150' post='618751' date='Oct 6 2009, 04:45 PM']I knew I would end up repeating myself at some point during this thread....... Guys.... if you do get into the whole wedding thing seriously..... please please please do not undersell yourself.... Don't think of it as a pub gig..... Don't think of yourself as a band..... you are a service provider.....[/quote]
+1

In terms of wedding fayres, I've done one in the past which was fairly small and probably not worth it. It was for a fairly casual gig though and I'm not involved at all in running the band so I didn't lose out, but I don't think we got any bookings from it.

Based on my one experience, if I was looking at wedding fayres for a band I'm running in future, I'd spend a lot of time researching them first and probably go to a few to see which get the most people in and where you're most likely to be successful. IMO, it's far better to take more time getting things right, well planned and maybe spending a bit more if need be so it pays off in the long run.

I don't think the one I played at was the best, but having said that, the only aim of the band was to find one that we could play at...it turned out to be a gay wedding fayre so it wasn't likely to be the biggest one around!

[bobbytodd]

so far all our wedding gigs have been booked after a gig where the couple have stood and watched us play and interact with the crowd or by people at someone else's wedding that has enjoyed the night's entertainment its only recently we've thought about doing wedding Fayre's