Wedding fairs can be a brilliant way to pick up extra gigs. Despite the expense, they represent a great opportunity to market yourself to an audience that is actively looking for a wedding band.
We also have some great advice from our Director of Music, Sarah-Jane Morris. You can learn more about her and the Last Minute Musicians Entertainment Agency by visiting the “Let us plan your event” page.
What is a wedding fair?
A wedding fair is an event specifically organised for brides and grooms-to-be, usually in a wedding venue or events arena.
It puts them in a room with a whole host of wedding suppliers across all sorts of different industries, from food to entertainment.
There will be stalls, stages and lots of opportunities to network with all sorts of industry professionals and potential clients.
What are the pros and cons?
Positives
Lots of potential clients
A wedding fair’s primary function is to put happy couples in front of potential suppliers. As such, there will (hopefully) be a huge audience of potential clients passing through at any given time.
Sarah – Jane says:
Don’t stand in front of people and push leaflets in their faces. Be friendly and informative and just chat to them. The worst thing you can do is be a salesman/woman.
When you apply to play at a wedding show, you’ll be given a slot (or slots) at the performance space, and probably a stall nearby.
Obviously, your biggest selling point is going to be your performance, so make sure you give it your all and pick out an awesome set list that really shows off your bands best traits.
It’s usually a good idea to bring along an extra body or two to help man the stall while you are performing.
Give them all the information they are likely to need and make sure they have a good stack of business cards and other physical advertising.
Equipment supplied
Generally speaking, a PA and sound engineer will be supplied for you at these events as there will often be multiple bands on the bill and it prevents awkward change overs.
This also means you won’t have to provide more than backline and breakables. However, always consult with your point of contact on what you will need to bring on the day.
Online exposure
As part of their own promotion, the wedding show will have a website for happy couples to look through. Hopefully, your band will be billed as playing at the event (with relevant links) and perhaps even featured as a “Supplier we love” or something similar.
Network with industry professionals
While it’s not always a guaranteed way to produce solid leads for gigs, it’s always good to meet people who work in the same industry as you, be that musicians specifically, or others wedding suppliers.
You never know where enquiries will come from and who happy couples will ask for advice – the more people you meet, swap business cards with and strike up relationships with, the more likely they are to recommend you to others.
Take some time to get out and wander around the fair. Visit some other stalls (with some business cards in your pocket!) and see how many interesting people that you can meet.
Sarah – Jane says:
Make sure you have plenty leaflets, use leaflet holders and if you are performing have a badge that says please stop me if you would like to chat.
Social media promotion
Before the day of the event (and during) the wedding show will often have social media experts working to promote the show, and the suppliers attending.
While this relies on a little bit of good luck, if you happen to run into the social media point person on the day of your performance, strike up a conversation and let them know what time you are performing.
If you invite them along, you might get a Facebook status, tweet or live stream out of it from the wedding shows account!
Drawbacks
Cost
Wedding shows are notoriously expensive. Let’s be clear: this is a gig that you are paying to play rather than being paid for.
A typical slot for a wedding band can end up being very expensive. While local venues can charge as little as £75, larger venues (at big London convention centres for example), can often ask for anything up to £2000.
All of this is before you add on any of the additional expenses like food and travel.
There are various options for wedding bands depending on what you are looking to get from the show including things like premium stands.
Alternatively, some wedding shows will offer an “Entertainer pass” at around £70 to £160 per person.
A good way to negate the cost of a wedding show is to take one or two previous gigs wages, and agree to use them to fund a wedding fair slot.
Short sets
Due to the fact that you will often have more than one band performing on the day, the amount of time you actually have performing in front of the audience will be restricted.
This could mean that you could end up with slots as short as half an hour at a time. Always double check how long your performance slots will be before agreeing to do any wedding fair. There are even some shows where you may not be able to perform at all!
Sarah – Jane says:
I stick to my venues mostly (we are preferred supplier at 24 venues). It’s a good idea to be able to perform in person but it’s difficult if you are a band making lots of noise as the other exhibitors will get annoyed.
Variable results
Probably the biggest draw back of a wedding fair is that you simply don’t know what the result will be.
Hopefully, you will pay out the initial amount of money and come away with 5 or 6 bookings (or maybe more!), but there is every chance of you coming away with nothing at all. Each wedding fair is a gamble, or at the very least, a calculated risk.
Hopefully, the event will be promoted well and have good attendance, but the opposite could also be true (especially if it’s a new event). Always do your research before committing.
How do I apply for one?
Research fairs in areas of the country that you would like to play or need more enquiries from and take a look at their websites.
There will usually be an online application form to be filled out, and some organisation to be done with the sound engineer and event organiser.
Finding a wedding fair near you
Below, find a list of useful links that can be used to find a wedding show near you!
- https://www.weddingfairs.com/
- http://www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk/
- http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/18/11-wedding-shows-to-visit-in-england-if-youre-planning-your-wedding-6780402/
- https://www.amostcuriousweddingfair.co.uk/
- https://theliverpoolweddingshow.co.uk/
Have you got any good wedding show tips? Any horror stories of events to avoid? Post them in the comments below…
Featured Image courtesy of CWC Blog.
