What to Look For When Hiring a Wedding Band

Photo from Wedding Forward

If you’re looking to hire a band to play at your wedding, you may have exactly what you want in mind, or you may be procrastinating because you’re unsure of how to broach the choosing and hiring of a band. Here are a few things to look for when hiring a wedding band that will alleviate your stress and bring your focus back to the joys of your big day. 

1. Make Sure They’ve Played Wedding Gigs Before

While every band has to start somewhere, if you are experiencing stress over other aspects of the wedding event planning and need the musical side of things to be easy, make sure that you hire a band that has played weddings before. They know the expectations of when it is appropriate to play, what songs they need to know, the general time commitment, and what is fair pay. There are bands that make most of their living playing wedding gigs who are real professionals. They are most likely your best bet if you want to keep things direct.

2. Professional Attitude

Does the band you are looking to hire have a website? Online concert footage you can watch for vetting? Social media accounts? Do they have a profile on websites that list musicians for hire? In the information age, there are so many things at your fingertips to help you make the best hiring decisions and those opportunities should not be avoided. Online materials can help you determine if the band you are interested in is professional or not. While certain bands may have a rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic, it’s probably not the greatest idea to hire the band that plays while stone-cold drunk and high if your Grandma is going to be there. 

3. Make Sure They Fit Your Budget

Many of us would like to have The Rolling Stones play at our weddings, but we don’t all have hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars to shell out for the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band on earth. Hopefully you were wise and drew up a wedding planning budget either by yourself or with a wedding planner before pursuing event hires. If not, do so before reaching out to potential bands. You need to have financial parameters in place when it comes to how much will be allocated to a band and any potential additional equipment or set up they may need. 

4. Make Sure They Fit the Venue

If you’re hiring a big band to play, you want to make sure they have enough space to set up their instruments, and the right room acoustics so that it isn’t just a cacophony of noise. The size of the wedding band must match the size of the venue. The equipment must be able to be supported at the venue with the proper energy sources, etc. A quaint wedding by the beach would be a great place for a three-piece acoustic band, and a wedding in a massive hotel might be able to accommodate a big band. You need to know for certain so that the music has the best chance of resonating pleasantly and being a beloved part of the day.