5 Budget Tips for Your Wedding Music

This article has been written to help you with your wedding music budget and offer some tips. Music is rarely the first thing you will consider when planning your wedding. With the need to sort out a venue and date being the usual initial challenges, then photographer, catering and flowers are often next. Somewhere down the line you will probably remember the use of music in bringing the day alive.

Although we've seen the difference it makes when couples have allocated a decent budget percentage to the entertainment, we appreciate that sometimes's just not possible. However, to then just plug in a playlist and have no live element seems a shame also. The addition of some kind of live music makes a huge difference to the atmosphere.

Based on our years of experience, here are some top wedding music budget tips to help you get the biggest bang for your buck.

1. 1.    Go on a 'less is more' attitude. Have a solo cello or guitar instead of a string quartet. You still get a beautiful and unmistakeable live atmosphere but for less of your precious pounds.
   2. Look for acts that can cover more than one part of the big day. So if you do hire a smaller act like above, there's a good chance they can play classical music at the start in the more formal part. But they can also play for the wedding reception and switch to less informal music. We get lots of praise for our acts that can do light classical, jazz, pop and film music. It's fun and adds a lot of variety - like hiring 2/3 acts for the price of one.
   3. Be aware that you can hire one musician and one DJ and it can really enhance your wedding. It will also probably cost less than almost any other supplier. A DJ will not just play a set list of songs, but will vibe off your guests and bring a live element to the music in the way that even the best playlist can't.
   4. For slightly larger budgets you can also balance out spending too much by having one smaller act for the ceremony and/or drinks and then a more 'showstopper' band for the evening part. This is probably better than the other way around as if you have something amazing for the first part of the day, anything less will seem more of a let down.
   5. Feel free to express your budget to suppliers and ask if it's a bit lower than what you've been quoted for. We've sometimes been able to lower our costs, especially on a 'non-peak' date. This is more tricky on a Saturday in summer for example, but it's always worth asking. Most freelance professional musicians and DJs would rather be working than not.

Whatever your budget, feel free to Contact Us to discuss possible music requirements and see if we may be a fit for you.