Having a vendor back out of a wedding reception on short notice with almost no time to find a replacement (especially on a high-demand date) is likely the worst nightmare of a bride-to-be or wedding planner.  While looking through the WeddingWire forums, I found this sad post about a wedding band cancelling their contracted reception performance six weeks out.  We’ve been asked about this scenario and other “what-ifs” when visiting with future brides at wedding expos and understand the concern.

Planning

Fun DMC prides themselves on maintaining their reputation of being incredibly reliable and professional when it comes to our business.  Our contracts for weddings and private events stipulate that outside of an act of God, Fun DMC will be in attendance at your event, ready to perform.  We have never cancelled a show.

We all contribute to a shared calendar and our rule has always been “if it’s not blacked out, then it’s free to book.”  This gives our band members opportunities to free up dates for vacations, family events, and personal time and keeps us from having to constantly ask if everyone is available for a particular date.  While this might lead us to having to sometimes rearrange or even miss important family events (or even celebrate a daughter’s first birthday party at a bike night), we can’t justify the idea of leaving a bride-to-be high and dry because of our poor planning.

First Come, First Serve

Likewise, we also work under a first come, first served policy in regards to contracts.  If you sign with us, we are locked into that date and especially price and will never back out to take a “better” or higher-paying opportunity.  Unfortunately, we’ve seen this scenario play out from a few bands and got that same skeevy feeling that you just did.  If we’re being honest, we certainly enjoy the extra income that Fun DMC provides, but we all have day jobs.  We’re not going to abandon a wedding party for the chance to make a few more bucks at the end of the night.

The Show Must Go On

That’s not to say that there haven’t been times where we thought about having to back out due to unforeseen circumstances.  Luckily, we’ve always found a way to push through and each time this happens, we take extra precautions and consider where our “weak points” are as a group.  We’ve performed with broken equipment, a broken foot, bronchitis (with an immediate trip to the hospital afterwards), and no one has ever known that there was a problem.  When inclement weather has hit, we’ve moved entire sound and lighting productions from one venue to another in under 20 minutes (twice!) so that the event can continue.  Additionally, we’ve always utilized a number of backup performers so that if someone is suddenly sick or hurt, we can rotate someone in on a moment’s notice.  This is actually how Paige and Talon found their way into Fun DMC in the first place!

To sum it up, when you book an event with Fun DMC, you are getting our guarantee that we will be there come hell or high water.  And even then, we’ll probably still end up showing up ready to rock.  We’re serious about what we do and committed to our clients.  We don’t want you to ever have to worry about being left at a reception or event without a wedding band.