Music can transform your wedding, especially when you work with musicians who can jive with your vibe. Weddings are all about the bride and the groom, and the melodies should define their personalities and embody vital phases of their relationship.
Music can amplify the big moments of the ceremony into something even more meaningful, like the father and daughter’s walk down the aisle, exchange of vows and rings, and the newlyweds’ first kiss. These events may even be those that take place at the reception.
During downtime or when the couple is busy doing the rounds at the reception, performances will be directed toward the guests. Not everyone can guess the guests’ mood at any given moment. It takes a professional to read an audience and respond to the kind of entertainment they prefer.
You are at a vantage point to know the shared sentiment of your guests, including your entourage. While you’re thinking about beautiful presents for your bridesmaids, great groomsmen gifts, and excellent wedding souvenirs for guests, also factor in their common musical inclinations. It can be a daunting task because there are just so many choices out there. Here are a few tips you need to know before hiring musicians.
Check Their Availability
You’ll know straight off the bat if you’re dealing with professionals—they immediately check their schedule the moment you say wedding. This means they care about their prior commitments and don’t want to waste your time.
Check if they have a scheduled gig after your nuptials. Ask if they’d be willing to charge overtime fees in case the party mood carries on well past the end time of your contract.
While you’re at it, ask how many wedding events your music providers commit to in a year. You’ll be able to determine how often and how experienced they are in performing. It will give you an idea of how good they are in handling events and whether or not they’re passionate about them.
Ask Them to Describe Their Style of Music
Figure out if their style of music matches the feels you’re going for on your wedding. If your ceremony is leaning toward elegance with plenty of quiet and casual conversations, you want to avoid those whose musical prowess leans toward rock or edgy. A DJ who has no qualms about playing soft and light classics may be more suitable to your taste. You may also go for an acoustic band that plays indie or folk sounds.
It’s customary for bands or wedding DJs to invite about-to-wed couples to see their live performances. This will surely help you get a more definite sense of their music and make the right decision to hire them or not.
You can also check if they play on-the-spot requested songs or they only stick to their own preselected list. Most musicians are willing to learn new songs for weddings and give you a list of tunes that they already know.
Equipment Requirements and Cancellation Policy
A professional band or DJ will not be averse to personally checking your wedding and reception venue. It will let them see if the place has the right equipment they need for the kind of sound they play.
Doing this will also help them determine the sound system they have to take with them during the event. Bands or DJs are mostly equipped to provide sound for a room the size of a banquet hall. Having this knowledge can also help them prepare a backup plan in case a system malfunction occurs.
Cancellation policies usually vary, but the standard rule is to notify musicians at least a month before the wedding. Most musicians will also require an up-front and nonrefundable deposit.
Ask How They Motivate a Shy Crowd
Most wedding would have fun activities, like creatively announcing the wedding party or wedding games, which at times, fall under the musician or DJ’s responsibilities especially when the crowd is shy. You need to ask the musical group or solo act that you’re hiring if they are comfortable with getting the audience to be participative.
Changing a crowd’s overall mood is not as easy as it sounds. Some musicians are not as eager to please an audience as the rest are. Make sure you ask this so you’ll have a better sense of whether or not they’ll flow well with your wedding reception’s theme and invited guests.
Remember
Music can connect people like no other. Strangers turn into friends after a night of dancing and partying to good music. Though the bride and the groom come up with the musical lineup, it’s the wedding invitees who get to listen in and experience the majority of the songs.
Being able to personalize a performance and adjust musical styles according to what the guests like take years to master. When considering the type of musicians you want to have in your wedding, make sure you factor in the general disposition of your attendees. Think also about whether or not your chosen songs are a good fit for the kind of wedding you have in mind.
Source: groovygroomsmengifts.com
Newlyweds Illiana and Frank tied the knot right beside the beautiful sea front in InterContinental of San Diego. Their best friend blessed them on their way while there sons stood next to the lovely couple. Leia Brune from Bliss Events planned a perfect event renting from Concepts Events and Cedar+Pines Event Rentals.
After this gorgeous ceremony, it was DJ Earl‘s time to keep the celebration going! Using a list of songs from the bride and groom and his experience, he was certainly ready to do so! With a little mood lighting from MyDJ’s services, the reception had a breathtaking ambience. The bride and groom danced beautifully to their song, “Come Rain or Come Shine” by Ray Charles, in front of their monogram cascading on the dance floor. Taylor Films recorded the whole event making sure to catch the smiles of the speeches and the joy of the bride and groom. “At Last” by Etta Jame played while the couple cut their stunning cake. After dinner, it was time for all the guests to dance the rest of the night away. Dawn Steele from Gaslamp Floral provided the bride a elegant bouquet to toss to the single ladies during the song “No Scrubs” by TLC. Photographer Tim Otto captured the night perfectly, shooting memories that would last a lifetime for the couple and friends. Ending the night with “Last Dance” by Donna Summers, the couple danced their way into the rest of their lives together.
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Vargas!
The Port of San Diego spent $28 million on the new cruise ship terminal on Broadway Pier. But with the decline in cruise activity, the downtown terminal sits vacant much of the time. But KPBS Metro reporter Katie Orr says the building is still getting some use.
San Diego’s Port Pavilion has been open for about a year. It’s designed for cruise ships. Its opening coincided, however, with a fall-off in cruise-ship visits here; drug-war violence in Mexico and a down economy are to blame.
But the new pavilion may have found its calling with something else.
With views of both San Diego’s bay and skyline, the pavilion has caught on as an events center.
In the last year more than 40 events have taken place at the center, bringing in more than $240,000 in revenue. The Port’s Rita Vandergaw said that’s happened without a formal marketing campaign.
“It has really exceeded our expectations,” she said. “We really didn’t know what kind of activity would be in the building and how many people would be interested in it.”
“If you want to have a wedding, you want to have a bar mitzvah, you want to have an anniversary, you just want to have a celebration, this is place where you can come and enjoy the bay,”
Officials said the port has spent about $229,000 this year on maintenance for the pavilion and the pier it sits on. And event planners requiring security must pay for it themselves.
Vandergaw said the Port has 18 parks around the bay and that the pavilion provides another option.
“This is an amenity that we don’t have on the bay. We do not have a facility, a building,” she said. “When people have a wedding they’d like to have it in a covered facility.”
Vandergaw said event revenue brings in about $10 thousand a day when the pavilion is rented out. But she acknowledges that does not make-up for the decline in cruise-ship activity, which brings in about $30 thousand a day when a ship is docked.
With a poor economy and continued drug-war violence in Mexico, cruise lines don’t figure to expand service in San Diego anytime soon. It may be time to start marketing the harbor-side pavilion to party planners.
Photo by:
Ashley Gabrielson
