Five top tips for great wedding entertainment
Choosing your live wedding music is an important decision that can set the tone for the entire day. Make the right decision, and you’ll add to the atmosphere that you’re looking to create. Make the wrong decision, and you can be sure that your guest will remember it! At Jack Entertainment, we work with a huge number of happy couples looking for bands for hire – and we’ve put together this list of our top five tips to help you to choose and work with the perfect acts to suit the style of your day.
Choose acts that are appropriate for the setting and the audience
There are many different parts of your wedding day that you may want accompanied by live music. Whether it’s a choir for your ceremony itself, a string quartet for your reception or a party band for the evening entertainment, be sure to choose an act that not only sounds appropriate, but also looks the part.
Think about where your wedding day is taking place – are there certain types of act that may be more suitable than others? Or if you have a predominantly older or predominantly younger guest list, be sure to pick something that will appeal to them.
Listen to the bands in advance
When it comes to music, written descriptions of a band’s personality or style aren’t enough: you’ll want to see them in action before booking to ensure that they’re right for your big day. That’s precisely why our website includes audio clips and videos of all of the acts that we work with, meaning that you can gauge whether they are right for you before you make any enquiries. We’re also happy to let you know if any of the acts you’re interested in are performing publicly so that you can hear them in person.
The Soul Jacks ‘10 piece’ band at Braxted Park in Essex
Give clear guidelines on what you do/don’t want
Any good wedding act will provide you with a list of the pieces that they play, so that you can decide in advance whether there are any that you definitely do or definitely don’t want played. Any good wedding band will advise you as to which tracks work well together as a combination, but they will also happily go through their repertoire with you so that you can select the songs that you’d like to choose.
Most bands will also be happy to learn the piece that you choose for your first dance, while some acts will offer to perform a piece or a song that isn’t in their standard repertoire free of charge. However, double check with string ensembles: as these pieces will require more arranging, a non-repertoire piece is likely to incur a fee at around the £25 mark.
Work out whether you need additional equipment
Before booking your entertainment, check in advance that they’ll be bringing all of the equipment that they need, or whether they have additional requests – there’s nothing worse than getting to the day of your wedding and finding that something vital is missing. If your act needs a power supply, check that the venue has this arranged in advance – the same goes for any speakers or other equipment that the venue is providing. By double checking everything in advance, you’ll be sure that this element of your day will run smoothly.
Bear in mind also that some venues have sound limiters: make sure you are aware of your venue’s live band policy, because this will not always work with all acts. For instance, a jazz act that was recently requested for an event were told that they weren’t allowed to bring their own speakers to the venue.
Finally…make sure your acts are looked after!
The acts that we work with love being part of a good wedding – it’s a happy occasion and they’re pleased that they can bring something to the party and help you and your guests to celebrate. They can only play their part properly, though, if they’re kept fully informed about what you want, the timings of the day, parking information and anything else that you think will help them on the day.
Non-alcoholic drinks are a must, to help to keep the act’s members performing at their best – and a hot meal or buffet is also vital, especially if they’ll be playing for a while.
Ultimately, the act that you book is there to help you to celebrate your big day in exactly the way you’d like, meaning that communication both in advance and on the day is key.
Here at Jack Entertainment, we work with acts that can cover all of your live wedding music needs, from music during the ceremony itself to drinks reception accompaniments and bands guaranteed to get everyone up and dancing in the evening. Since Jack Entertainment was launched, we’ve worked with a huge number of happy couples – and with founders Amanda and Russ having themselves tied the knot too, we’re confident that we can work with you to provide you with the perfect live wedding music for your big day, and will help you to ensure that things run smoothly.
To find out more about our great wedding music ideas, take a look at our acts or contact us directly.