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Hiring a live wedding band is usually a very safe process as long as the band is reputable, booked through an established and reliable website or agency, and offers a robust, detailed, and legally binding contract that protects both you and the live band in case of any eventuality. Booking a live band in this way actually offers more security than most other forms of booking but if in doubt, always speak to the band or their representatives before agreeing to anything or handing over any money.
I could tell you that booking any live wedding band online is always safe but that’s not true or fair on you and at the end of the day, we want happy couples enjoying their special day here at Seventh Second – it makes us happy too! It’s what we’re all about – helping create those special moments for you, your family, and your guests (as you can see in all the lovely wedding pictures in today’s guide). Read on so you stay safe and over the moon with your choice when hiring a live wedding band online in 2024. The information today is also relevant if you are wanting to hire a band for your party or function.
In this post, I will go through a checklist of essential things any live wedding band should have before you consider hiring them. I will use our award-winning live wedding bands as examples but what I explain here really is the standard you should expect from any live band you book online in 2024. Don’t settle for less! It’s worth mentioning that you should take extra care nowadays and make sure any band you look at offers covid cover. Our covid cover guide is a must-read so you can understand what any agency or live wedding band should be offering now. It’s what we offer and you shouldn’t settle for anything less!
I totally understand that it can be a little nerve-wracking and daunting hiring a live band online that you’ve probably never seen live and even if you have seen them or they’ve been recommended to you, it’s still nice to have as much reassurance and confidence in the wedding band and agency you book them through as possible. Therefore, this article should be a must-read before you book any band for any event, especially your wedding! Of course, bad things do happen and even the most professional wedding bands can let people down so don’t see this guide as foolproof. 9 times out of 10 it is but always be wary and choose carefully and book with people you trust. Thankfully, the world of music is generally a world of word of mouth and recommendation and this does help you generally avoid the bad eggs out there. Few!
So, let’s crack on with the minimum you should expect from any wedding band that you are considering booking.
Here are my key steps which I’ll go into more detail about below.
Follow these steps and you should be perfectly safe with your wedding band choice.
As a side note, we have loads of other great guides on here to help you pick the perfect live wedding entertainment so why not take a look at some of the most popular guides below after you’ve read today’s guide?
If a wedding band has good reviews it’s a sure sign they are a genuine wedding music band and worth looking at. Real wedding reviews are a genuine stamp of approval. We have over a thousand of them here alone.
Ideally, a band should have plenty of reviews spanning years including lots of recent ones showing they are still regularly gigging and popular. However, if a wedding band is relatively new they may not have accumulated lots of reviews yet, and bear in mind that only about 1 in 4 people leave reviews (even if they all loved the band). Popular and furiously busy wedding bands can sometimes fall behind in updating their promo and reviews so if in doubt, have a chat with them or their representative about their history and popularity. Our act Paper Boats are a great example of a very popular band with plenty of reviews spanning years.
At the end of the day, wedding agencies and websites should be promoting and recommending great wedding bands. If they don’t, they usually remove these “below par” bands or definitely should. We are here solely to deliver the best and most reliable wedding music bands so websites like ours are always a safe and perfect place to start your online wedding band search. Some band you watched in a pub or some mates band you know may be great but do they supply contracts to protect both you and them on your big day? Are they reliable? Are they a band that regularly performs at weddings? Do they know what that even entails? Are they a professional, full-time wedding band? Possibly not and only top-tier, full-time, professional wedding bands should appear on wedding entertainment websites as they exclusively do on ours. It means you are booking safely and not gambling on such an important and expensive part of your day. Don’t forget that all wedding entertainment websites worth working with should have extensive Covid Cover, T&C, and FAQ sections like ours so you can truly understand how booking a live wedding band online is safe and secure with them.
The above is a big part of why we perform in the wedding bands you see on our website. We don’t want you worrying about your live entertainment in the slightest and so when we say a band is great and will deliver the live music you want, they will. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t exist as no one would ever book with us. What you see is what you get with everyone here at Seventh Second. Some websites and agencies simply barrage you with loads of live wedding bands and even though they don’t really know how good most of these bands are, they do know that through the law of averages, you should get a decent live wedding band. Personally, we’ve been doing this long enough not to settle for decent. We want to be the best for you so we only have wedding bands that will blow your socks off! You can learn more about our unique approach here.
I’m a huge fan of good and extensive promotional material and you should be too. You shouldn’t consider any live band for your wedding unless they have some lovely promo. Audio, video, photos, biography, lineup, repertoire, pricing, and booking options are all pretty standard requirements. Sometimes a band that is established and very busy can have promotional material that’s just a bit old so check with their representative to see if they have any new promo on the way. Most good bands update their promo every 3-5 years or so and our fantastic live band Flair Twelve (above), demonstrate a wedding band and profile full of fantastic promo.
If a wedding band has fair or realistic pricing and a healthy amount of booking options and/or freebies when you book them it suggests you are looking at a reliable wedding band with a fun, positive, and professional attitude. This can only be a good thing! Wedding bands that are flexible and open to ideas but also experienced enough to know what works are usually the best bands to hire. Our folk wedding band Paper Boats excel in this regard, you can see one of their videos above, and make sure you have a look at their profile to see what all the fuss is about.
We did some pretty extensive research into the real cost of wedding bands in 2024 and I strongly suggest you check out the results so you get to see how much wedding bands cost where you are getting married. Below is just a snippet of what we found and you can see from the 5 counties we picked at random that pricing can vary quite a bit between a 3-piece and a 6-piece band and across counties. What do the numbers in light blue represent you ask? Well, those are the average prices for our own lovely live wedding bands. Why are we on average cheaper than anyone else? Simple, we don’t charge commission like other entertainment websites.
| 3 piece bands | 4 piece bands | 5 piece bands | 6 piece bands | |
| West Yorkshire | 951 | 1550 | 1600 | 1763 |
| West Yorkshire | 940 | 1500 | 1612 | 1689 |
| Surrey | 1174 | 1415 | 1348 | 1630 |
| Surrey | 960 | 1410 | 1399 | 1589 |
| Oxfordshire | 1028 | 1455 | 1495 | 658 |
| Oxfordshire | 964 | 1412 | 1389 | 1600 |
| Norfolk | 1152 | 1344 | 1444 | 1998 |
| Norfolk | 990 | 1423 | 1456 | 1601 |
| Essex | 1244 | 1487 | 1457 | 1949 |
| Essex | 978 | 1410 | 1423 | 182 |
We also took all our research from every county in England and got an average cost for 3, 4, 5, and 6-piece wedding bands. This way you can easily see how much on average a wedding band costs in England and decide if the band you are looking at tallies with what we found. I feel this is pretty invaluable information and will really help you safely book a live wedding band online. Below are the average costs of wedding bands and again, the ones in blue are our average prices.
3 piece £1080
3 piece £970
4 piece £1539
4 piece £1495
5 piece £1608
5 piece £1560
6 piece £1859
6 piece £1736
When dealing with a wedding agency or live wedding band themselves you should expect a professional, understanding, and friendly attitude from day 1 and right up to your big day. This will bode very well during the build-up and for your wedding day which can be hectic! A positive, professional wedding band won’t be fazed by anything thrown at them and this will ensure you can relax and enjoy your special day.
One of our most professional, experienced, and accommodating wedding bands is The Usual Suspects (above) with hundreds of wedding gigs under their belts.
Although this isn’t a must (as explained in the reviews section above) a live wedding band that’s been around for years is a band that is trusted and regularly recommended by newlyweds. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t book a fresh, new wedding band as we’ve all had to start somewhere but if you are unsure which band to go for and you need some reassurance, the more experienced bands will give you that extra peace of mind. Good Fellas are one such band having been around for years wowing people at all sorts of weddings.
I hope I’ve made booking a wedding band simpler and safer for you but if you want to read more, I’d suggest reading our covid cover guide and having a good rummage through our recent guides for more on everything wedding entertainment. That’s it from me but if you feel I’ve missed something or you have any questions, just get in touch. We are here ready to help or design your perfect live wedding entertainment 7 days a week, 10 am to 10 pm via phone, the usual socials, email, text, and live chat.
We still have our special offer for any 2024 and 2025 bookings so click the link below to find your safe, reliable, and oh-so-fun live wedding band!
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Thanks!
Oana and the Seventh Second family
