It’s a fact that many wedding and private function bands are amateur or semi-professional and perform at perhaps a handful of events every year. Professional musicians however make their living wholly from live music performances, or backing top names in the UK music business in recording sessions or with stage appearances.
Of course the standard of many semi-professional bands is excellent. However, they simply don’t have the experience or credibility in sound and performance sparkle that professional bands for a wedding consistently provide. The best band outfits have musicians on standby to cater for unforeseen circumstances and emergencies when a colleague can’t make an engagement, have public liability insurance through the Musicians’ Union and of course a vast and versatile performance repertoire.
Budgeting for bands for a wedding reception
If you’re budgeting for bands for a wedding reception, it really is a case of you only get what you pay for and with these professionals taking part in thousands of events in the UK each year, customer testimonials to be found on their websites tend to speak for themselves. A good example here is London’s SensationBand. Besides the London area, SensationBand have provided live band performances in many UK towns and cities. As one of the UK’s top bands for a wedding celebration SensationBand have gigged in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield, Brighton.
In fact the professionals comprising SensationBand are happy to travel anywhere in the world for a wedding event, private party or corporate entertainment. Obviously, in such cases, travel expenses and accommodation costs may apply. Details of their activities can be found on the band’s website, easily located via Google search, which has links also to their Twitter account and Facebook fan site.
Hire costs for bigger bands start at over £1000
Obviously the cost element in hiring bands for a wedding is important. In your search for the right one, you’ll discover various music options throughout London and the UK. As ballpark figures, smaller bands and groups tend to cost below £1000 while the bigger function bands tend to start at over £1000. Depending on the date of your wedding, you’ll likely find discounts for off-peak dates, such as Monday to Thursday in the quieter months from mid January, through February and March and then October until late November.
Really, it all depends on the location and personal requirements of course. Again, the best way to find out more information and a full breakdown of prices is to contact the band through their website by email and perhaps follow up their reply with a phone call with any queries you may have. At the end of the day, always get agreements in writing with that ‘all inclusive’ quote.
Ways to save money
Some final words of advice in hiring bands for a wedding – go for a band that is located close to the venue, because you’ll save money on the musicians’ time and travel costs. They are many bands that don’t earn enough money to be VAT registered. Avoid additional VAT charges where possible, or ask their representation to confirm his VAT number if you’re going to get it added to your quote.
As mentioned, if you’ve not already set a date for the wedding, hiring any supplier either midweek or out of peak season could be around 20 per cent cheaper than services on a Friday or Saturday, and this includes those of many bands. Unless you intend to let the celebrations run into the early hours of the next morning, it’s not worth bothering the expense of having a disco or DJ. All the best bands for a wedding will provide disco-dance type music in between their sets and free of charge.