How to choose music for a wedding reception

Wedding reception music hints and tips from LastMinuteMusicians.com

Choosing the right style of music

When selecting a band for your wedding reception you should think about atmosphere. Do you want a party atmosphere for dancing or would you prefer more background music to allow more conversation?

For the party atmosphere, most people like the band to play “a bit of everything” from the 50s to present day to suit the wide age ranges of wedding guests. Professional wedding bands tend to have a wide repertoire of music and can normally adapt well to suit any wedding reception.

Jazz bands are very popular for providing music at a wedding reception. They can add an extra touch of class to your wedding! Remember to consider the taste of all of your guests, their age range and whether they would prefer to dance, listen to the music or a mixture of the two.

Choosing a first dance

Most couples like to choose a well known song for their first dance. Get any specific requests to the band well in advance so the musicians have a chance to prepare them before the wedding reception.

Popular first dance song requests:

'Angels' - Robbie Williams

‘Lets Stay Together’ - Al Green

'It Had To Be You' - Harry Connick Jr

'Stand By Me' - Ben E King

'We Have All The Time In The World' - Louis Armstrong

'Wonderful Tonight' - Eric Clapton

'Let There Be Love' - Nat King Cole

'Everything I Do (I do it for you)' - Bryan Adams

View more popular first dance songs at our sister site Wedding Music Samples, or view our list of all wedding songs to help you choose your wedding music.

The cost of a wedding band varies depending on their style of music, how many musicians are the band require, how popular they are, how long you want music for, what time the musicians need to arrive and the travel distance involved to get your wedding reception venue.

Guide prices

The following table shows guide prices to give you an idea of how the cost varies depending on the number of musicians and length of performance:

Travel

If musicians will have to travel for more than about an hour to get to your wedding reception, modest travel expenses should be added to the above prices. 40p per mile per person is a reasonable rate.

Set-up time

The Musicians Union state that reasonable set-up time should be included when booking a live band i.e. the band start charging from the time at which they are booked to arrive. Therefore, the above 2 hour guide price would consist of roughly thirty minutes set-up time for the band and an hour and a half of performance.

LastMinuteMusicians.com believes that quality should be your main concern when booking a band for your wedding reception. Pub bands, although cheap, often lack the experience and reliability of professional wedding bands. Don't risk the success of your wedding reception by booking a cheap pub band.

Should the unexpected happen and your musicians let you down at the last minute, most pub bands would struggle to find an appropriate replacement band. However, most professional wedding bands (like those in our entertainment agency) have a huge back-up network of music industry contacts and similar bands to call on in times of crisis.

Check that live music is permitted at your wedding reception venue. The law on this subject has been changed recently so its always best to speak to whoever is in charge of the venue and check that they are licensed for the type of band you have booked.

Some venues have sound level limiters, which cuts off power to the band if they exceed a certain volume. If this is the case, don't forget to tell the band. Also, remember to check that there is a power socket available near the area in which you would like the band to perform.

Musicians will have to bring heavy equipment to your venue so it is always a good to idea to check with your venue to ensure that there is somewhere for the band to park. The more details about the venue that you can tell the band, the better!

If you live in London or the South East try browsing Wedding Bands for hire in London . If you live further a field, you can search for a UK wedding band near you.

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