5 Easy Steps To Hiring A Live Wedding Band In 2024
February 2024 | Jon Stephens
Band Promo
-
Booking Contracts
-
Booking Options
-
Coronavirus
-
Picking A Band
-
Tips and Tricks
-
Wedding Agencies
COVID-19: BOOK WITH CONFIDENCE WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE COVID COVER.
Learn more
The 5 easy steps for hiring your perfect live wedding band in 2024!
Congratulations! You’re getting married! But now you’re thinking, how do I hire a fantastic live wedding band? Where do I find one and how do I book a great one safely and securely? Well in this quick, simple, and easy guide I take my 10 years of booking and performing in wedding bands and show you the 5 steps to hiring a wedding band. Follow these steps and you will feel safe and secure when hiring your perfect live wedding band.
The 5 easy steps to hire a live wedding band
Here are the 5 steps:
Search for live wedding bands online
Shortlist your favorites
Choose a favorite after speaking to each band or their booking agents
Carefully check and sign a booking contract
Sort final performance details with your chosen live band
More on hiring a live band
After reading this, if you feel you want more information on this whole topic there are a few guides listed below that you may find really useful. At the end of this guide, you will also find a handy infographic detailing everything. Hooray! Here at Seventh Second, we have loads of great guides to help you through the whole process of hiring a live band (whether that be for a wedding, party, or event) plus much more so make sure to have a good look through past guides. All the help and information you could ever need is there! Todays 5 step guide and the guides below arerelevant for anyone hiring a live wedding band, party band, or function band too but don’t forget that you can always get in touchwith us and we’ll be happy to help.
This may sound obvious but it is the first step to hiring a wedding band – going online! I mean, you’re already on a wedding entertainment website full of award-winning wedding bands for hire, and looking for wedding bands online is hands down the best place to find them so well done! There are quite a few websites showcasing wedding bands for hire so there’s a load of choice for you out there.
It doesn’t matter what style of live band you desire, it’s all out there on the internet with Get Loud above being a great example of a truly unique and top wedding band!
Safety and Security
Websites like ours offer quality, safety, and security when hiring a wedding music band so not only is it the best place to look at live bands, it’s also the safest. Robust contracts and covid coverthat protect you and the live band, professional, full-time wedding musicians, plentiful real customer reviews, and the ability to speak to either the band or their expert booking agent are just some of the advantages you get with booking online with us when compared to booking the “pub band” you saw performing a wedding or pub gig last year.
Word of mouth and recommendation
Looking at a wedding band or other website you’ve been recommended is a great way to start your search too and chances are that they will be part of a larger, established website like ours and others. In fact, over 50% of our business comes from recommendations and word of mouth! So, step 1 is safe, easy, convenient, and full of more choice than you can shake a stick at! If you want to know more, read our guide on whether wedding bands are safe to book online.
Step 2: Narrow down your wedding band choices
By now you should have a rough budget plus the kind of live wedding band you fancy hiring in mind. Foot stomping folk band? Riotous indie band? If you’re still feeling a bit stuck or unsure, read our very popular guides on the real cost of wedding bands and other guide showcasing some of the finest wedding bands for hire around.
5 is the magic number
I always recommend shortlisting around 5 bands that you’d love to see performing at your wedding. How do you pick these 5 bands you may ask? Your budget should whittle down your choices a bit but also have a good look at each band’s promotional material in detail. Have they got a good video, audio, reviews, booking options, and fair pricing? Will their song selection fit your wedding theme and entertain you and your guests all night? Check out the League of Gentlemen’s(above) profile for a good example of loads of great promo that shows you exactly what you’ll get from this uber-popular wedding band.
Step 3: Get expert advice and hire the perfect live wedding band for you
One way to pick a band is to simply speak to the salespeople who represent them. If you are struggling to decide or want another opinion they should be there to help guide you. They can usually offer extra advice and crucially, see which bands are free on your wedding day.
Speak to the wedding bands themselves
However, the best way to reassure yourself that you are choosing the right band is to speak to the musicians in the bands themselves. Some websites out there will let you do this and we highly recommend you take the opportunity. There’s no better way of deciding on a wedding band than by speaking to them. You probably wouldn’t book someones wedding venue without speaking to them and having a good look at the venue would you.
!Shameless plug alert!
Come speak to us via phone,email, live chat, text, or via the usual socials if you want to have a proper chat with the bands and wedding musicians who perform week in and week out for couples like you. Unrivalled expertise, real insight, unbeatable prices and genuine advice on the kind of live band that’s right for you are just some of the reasons people love us, our bands, and the way we work. We also just love to chat with couples about their weddings plus we have the flexibility to design a bespoke live wedding band just for you at no extra cost. Win-Win! Anyway, once step 3 is sorted, you should be feeling very happy at having picked the best wedding band for you.
Step 4: Wedding band booking contract
Not quite as fun as picking a cool wedding band for your big day, step 4 is all about ironing out the details of your booking – what you want from your live wedding band and what they can offer. This is where chatting to an agent or a band that really understands your needs is important so you aren’t left feeling disappointed on the day. You know you picked the right band so make sure they agree to the booking options you like the look of.
Booking options, you say?
Extra or fewer musicians, early arrival, late finish, acoustic sets, bandeoke sets, and most importantly, your first dance ideas should all be agreed upon and discussed so you can then draw it up on the booking contract and sign on the dotted line. For inspiration, below is a screenshot of some of the booking options we offer with our bands. Plenty of choices!
Booking contract ahoy!
Once you have the price, booking details and any other important bits of information sorted with the agent or wedding band it’s time to sign the booking contract. This step is very important because it means both you and your band are protected.
The pandemic showed how important it is to have a robust and clear booking contract in place with all wedding suppliers. Since March 2020 we’ve helped many couples out there who’ve had some terrible situations arise with their wedding entertainment, booking agents, or wedding entertainment websites during the COVID-19 lockdown. Comprehensive covid cover and up-to-date PLI and PAT certificates are always a must nowadays too.
Stay safe and hire smart
Do not hire a live wedding band without signing a contract you are happy with and if in doubt, you should read more about that in our guide here. One huge reason websites like ours exist is to offer you legal protection and important guarantees regarding your live wedding entertainment. Don’t take chances, hire with reputable, reliable websites.
Popular wedding bands are in high demand
This is more relevant than ever with 2023 being very busy for the wedding industry but regardless, popular wedding bands are always in high demand and book up quickly so signing a contract that secures them for your special day is an important step! We offer up some extra help hereexplaining how far in advance you should hire a wedding band.
For more on booking contracts, you can have a peek into our industry-standard, regularly updated booking contract T&Cs, Covid Cover, and general FAQs but please get in touch if you have any questions. We are always here, happy to help, obligation-free.
Step 5: Sorting the final details with your wedding band
Give yourself a big pat on the back. You’ve done all the hard work and now you can enjoy picking your first dance and other wedding music with your fabulous wedding band. To recap:
You looked at loads of fantastic wedding bands online? Check!
You narrowed down your choices to around 5? Check!
Some expert advice helped you pick one amazing wedding band? Check!
You confirmed your booking with a comprehensive booking contract? Check!
Job done!
Step 5 is a reward! You get to explain in more detail, all your dreams for your wedding and work with your wedding band on making them come true. Here at Seventh Second, we would have been discussing this with you from the moment you got in touch with us but either way, make sure your wedding band fully understands what you want.
Take their experience into account
Take your live wedding bands expertise into account as you discuss your ideas, wedding logistics, and other bits and bobs so you get the most out of them and your wedding party. Our guide on how to get the most out of your wedding bandis a must-read for you right now by the way! Wedding musicians really know their stuff and are there to help – kind of like I’m doing now. For example, our wedding band Electric Jukebox (above) perform at over 100 weddings a year and love to offer up all their knowledge, tips, and tricks to excited wedding couples so they have the most amazing and memorable wedding ever! Take a look at their extensive real wedding reviews to see how well that’s worked over the years.
The 5 steps infographic
Professional, experienced, and fun-time wedding musicians!
Well, that’s it! 5 short and snappy steps to hire a wedding band. Some of it may have seemed obvious but we all have so much on our life to-do list that sometimes you need a helping hand don’t you. Follow these 5 steps and you will be chuffed with the wedding music band you hire.
As ever comments and questions are most welcome and why not start step 1 here and look at our fantastic array of fine wedding bands? There’s no time like the present and we are here via email, phone, text, live chat, and all the usual socials 7 days a week, 10 am to 10 pm to offer up our expert advice.
I hope you have a truly memorable wedding day and if you liked what you read please consider sharing it with others.