Wedding Reception Pre-booking

For wedding receptions, it can be a lot easier to discuss specifics over the phone! I like to schedule a call with clients before booking to discuss the following information. It's a lot, so please feel free to shoot me any questions you have!

  1. Band Leader Load in: The band leader(usually myself, and my husband, or one of our band members) arrives extra early to load in all the main sound equipment. We like to arrive at least two hours before the contracted start time to set up for this. Some venues have strict rules in place about when vendors can arrive to set up. We always want to know when is the earliest we're able to arrive, while avoiding additional fees from the venue to our clients, or potentially causing any inconvenience for anyone working at the venue. If there's a time frame vendors have to stay within, please let us know. We are aware most venues want the band to be broken down and loaded out within an hour after completion of an event and we're able to stick within that window.

2. Remaining Musician Load In & Soundcheck: If your ceremony and reception are taking place in the same location, it's not uncommon for clients, or for vendors working on behalf of clients, to require the band show up earlier than contracted to complete their set up and a soundcheck before the ceremony, or before guests arrive. Soundcheck isn't always required, the band can typically make necessary adjustments on the first song, but the arrival schedule might be important to note depending on the timeline and layout of your event.

I'm going to break down the arrival schedule:

  • The band leader will show up 2 hours early with the bulk of the sound equipment to begin loading in and setting up(speakers, microphones, monitors, cables, sound board).

  • The musicians that provide larger instruments, and more equipment of their own(guitarist, keyboard player, and drummer) arrive 45 minutes before the contracted to start time to begin their load in and set up. Sometimes earlier if they can, but we ask them to be there a minimum of 45 minutes before the start time to begin loading in.

  • The horn players and female vocalist are asked to arrive 15-30 minutes before start time. They have little to set up, we just ask them to arrive in time to get settled before the performance begins.

If the other musicians need to arrive earlier than the above schedule, we typically require additional fees to cover the additional time the musicians need to be on site. We can usually do this for just the guitarist, drummer and keyboard player, not the whole band, to keep costs lower. We typically don't charge for early arrival for the band leader because it's usually me, or my husband, we're happy to arrive to an event as early as needed to complete set up. If it's another musician handling the equipment, they're also usually happy to arrive as early as possible to get the set up over with. If you think the arrival schedule would be an issue, please let us know what time you want the band to complete their set up and we can send a quote for the additional costs.

3. Song Request & Run of Show The band will learn one new song for our client’s first dance as long as it's a good fit musically for the band. We'd like to know ahead of time what that song is, so we can make sure the band has it prepared for y'all! Alternatively, we often play requests over the sound system if the client has song requests that are particularly sentimental and the original recorded version is preferred. We do want to know if you have a genre you’d like the band to avoid, or if there’s a song on our list you’d like to hear, but ultimately the band will use their expertise and be in control of the overall setlist for the evening. A typical event starts with some jazz and laid back covers as guests are eating and mingling. As the night goes on the band will ramp it up to oldies and classic dance songs; ending the night with more modern pop covers.

4. Breaks & Break Music: If you have a preference on the music that plays while the band is taking a break, we want a Spotify playlist from you! We typically recommend a "dinner" playlist for more laid back music during dinner, then a "dance" playlist for breaks that may be taken later in the evening. We download the playlist ahead of time, to make sure it cannot be disturbed during the event, so having this in advance is great! For a 3-hour event it’s usually best to just have one longer break for the band to eat(25 minutes). For events that are longer the band will take one 25 minute break and take another 10-15 minute break every hour after the first longer break. We do want to schedule breaks within our client’s timeline, as long as the band has time to eat on one of their breaks, we will schedule breaks within your schedule. The band wants to do their best to keep the dance floor packed while they’re playing, if they’re allowed they may make adjustments to their break schedule to keep the energy high, they will.

5. Weather: If your event is taking place outdoors, we want to discuss any alternative options that may be available. Tents are not automatically considered adequate protection for our equipment and instruments. Standing water, and blowing rain, can still cause damage to expensive gear, even if a tent is there. We'd like to discuss options with you, and explain past experiences to discuss what our options are, and how the band may choose to proceed on site if there's bad weather and an alternative, indoor performance area isn’t provided.

6. Meals for the Band: We do ask for the band to be included in catering at the event. We ask that the meal they're provided be equivalent to what guests are being served. We totally understand that in some cases catering is very expensive, or the company is not willing to collaborate on this, or only provide cold boxed lunches, in which case we ask to compensate each musician $30 to be excluded from catering.

7. French Quarter & CBD Load In: There are additional fees for the band leader, guitarist, keyboard player and drummer when they're loading gear in a part of the city that can be difficult to navigate and park. The fee is to cover the additional time the musician has to take to arrive with enough time to find parking and possibly carry gear a long distance, or it can be used for them to pay for convenient parking. The fee can be waived if free valet parking can be provided at your venue. The current fee is $100 for the band leader and $50 for the guitarist, keyboard player, sousaphone/bass player and drummer for a total of $300.