
Having spoken to many couples and families who are thinking about booking live music for their special day and need some advice on how to go about this, I decided to produce my guide to what to consider, what to expect and what to ask when you speak to music suppliers.
This is part 1 of 3. I hope you will find it useful. I have used my experience to write this document and I must emphasize that it is for guidance only.
All musicians have different ways of working. I have tried to keep the information as general as possible. Factual information is correct at the time of writing this document.
Why book live music?
- Live music builds your ambience better than any recording
- The quality of sound is better than recordings
- It has tremendous impact – I am fortunate to catch the “oooh lovely!” when guests arrive
What you see and what you don’t
What you see:
- The musician arrives, sets up and plays your music
What you don’t see (and what you’re paying for as part of your booking):
- The amount of practising and general preparation for your day
- Time spent sourcing music and backing tracks
- Discussion and/or venue visits to make sure everything is going to be perfect
- A proportion of the fee goes to membership of professional musicians’ organisations, insurances and national insurance, income tax etc and for maintenance of instruments and equipment
I estimate that the average time I spend preparing for each booking is 20 hours.