Advice and information for booking wedding entertainment
A wedding is often the first and only time a couple have to book entertainment so it is a terribly difficult decision and it is so important and such unknown territory and that is why people come to us. The usual questions are as follows:
Should we go for a band or discotheque?
It is often thought that a band plays older material and a disco plays more modern material, which is not the case. All our bands cover a vast range of material, as do our discotheques. We believe there are two groups of guest to be satisfied, the first being everyone, the second being the Bride & Groom and their contemporaries. Therefore you want a band who can play from the 60s right up to date without being too cheesy and also can play acceptable contemporary material.
What happens when the band takes a break
All of our bands perform live for three hours excluding breaks, which pretty much covers the average evening’s dancing. During breaks they either put on dance-mix CDs of their own or, more and more, couples make up CDs or put their own selection on an mp3 player for us to play through the sound system.
Do your bands have singers?
Yes absolutely, excellent male and female singers, mainly who also play instruments and they are all first rate. Most of our bands have three or four singers, and most of our bands have saxophone and brass… people love saxophones!
Can we ask for requests?
Absolutely, especially the first song. Our bands have vast repertoires but are still happy to learn two or three special songs for the wedding couple.
Are your bands VAT registered?
Not necessarily; in fact the majority are not. Sometimes when paying for every aspect of a wedding VAT becomes a four-letter word! But our bands, by and large, are not VAT registered. We just ask for a small deposit when we issue a contract, which has VAT added to keep us within the law but the bands themselves don’t charge VAT.
Do you book specialist bands?
Yes indeed we do. One of things we find very popular at the moment is Swing/Rat Pack type material, however we can provide you any specialist band: Jazz, Swing, Ceilidh, Latin, Swing Caribbean etc. But do remember that a whole evening of that can become a bit boring for guests, no matter how good the band are, and often after a little while they long for something they can boogey to! We always suggest booking some mainstream dance music, band or discotheque, in addition to the specialist band. However in the case of a request for swing music most of our bands, as mentioned, feature brass sections and can include that in their general dance repertoire.
We hope the above hints prove helpful. We are always happy to talk on the phone and advice comes free!