As mentioned earlier this week, below are some important questions to ask your potential wedding band whether it be a duo, an orchestra, or a full band.  These also can apply to private and corporate events as well.

1. Do you have our date and time available?  Does another party have right of first refusal for that date?
2. Are there travel expenses?
3. How many weddings and events did you do last year?
4. Will you book another event on the same date as our wedding?
5. Have you done a wedding or event at our venue before?
6. Can we see a video of you playing a wedding?
7. Can you provide references from previous events?
8. Can we see you perform live at an upcoming wedding or event before making a decision?
9. Will you be our ceremony musicians on the day of?  Will you provide sound and lighting for the ceremony?
10. What is the instrumentation of the group?  Do you have any additional people with you that are not in the band?
11. What do you normally wear to a wedding?  Will you wear attire specified by us?
12. Do you have any package options and if so what are they?
13. What add-ons, upcharges, or hidden pricing can I expect?
14. How many performance hours does your price include?
15. Can we extend the hours on the day of?  What are your overtime fees?
16. Do you take breaks? How many? What happens during those breaks?
17. What type of music do you specialize in?
18. Can you provide your complete songlist?
19. Do you take special requests that are not on your list?
20. Do you bring everything you need to perform and is it included in the price?
21. Do you provide lighting?  What kind (stage, dance floor, uplighting, etc)?  Wireless microphones?
22. Will you be the emcee?
23. How do you motivate a crowd?
24. Do you have a contract?
25. What is your cancellation policy?
26. Do I have to feed the band?
27. What about parking for load-in?
28. When does the band set up and sound check?  How long does that take?

This list certainly isn’t comprehensive, nor is there one right answer for any particular question.  However, at least now you have some idea as to what kind of questions you need to be asking.

Be informed and don’t ever feel like there’s a dumb question.  Every wedding band should want the exact same thing you do – a fun and memorable night that everyone will be talking about.  Most importantly, make sure you are confident in the person you are going through details with and make sure you are confident in the band as a unit. You will have hopefully seen them in action and loved them before handing over a deposit.

Entertainment is one of the most important decisions you will make about your wedding reception, as it will set the tone of the evening from beginning to end.  Few people will remember the intricacies of the food served, how good the cake was, or mingling with each other – but they will remember your entrance (MC’d by the wedding band), your first dance (played by your wedding band), and how much fun they had on the dance floor.  If everything is perfect from decor to food but the entertainment is bad everything else that was good will be instantly forgotten.  So do your homework so you don’t have to worry about the details and can enjoy your reception with everyone else!