The majority of our gigs throughout the year are for couples’ weddings, providing the live gig experience for them, their friends and family. As a wedding band, Birmingham gives us an excellent base to travel all over the country compared to many other bands for hire. This means we can be an affordable wedding band UK wide. When looking at the range of Birmingham wedding bands, we feel we have a unique style that suits many people to get the fun evening they’re after and our ever-growing list of reviews shows how much each couple’s day also means to us when we arrive to perform.
When it comes to choosing what you want for your wedding music, bands or DJs, there is always a lot to consider in getting the right atmosphere that reflects you both. We find it’s a fine art getting the music that you want to hear but that also your friends and family will love. We’ve actually written a band blog article from our experience to help provide some insight into what goes into getting the music right for you. Feel free to give it a read.
Dealing directly with an experienced wedding band that goes to weddings every week all year round and who will actually be there on your day, means you get a real insight into what your day will be like. All of the communication from the moment of enquiry is with Mike from the band. In many cases with hiring a wedding band through an agency for example, you will rarely even speak to anybody from the band and then four strangers (sometimes even unknown to each other!) turn up to just play their set. What we like to do is make sure that you can contact us whenever about any detail. Then leading up to the day we have a chat on the phone to get the ball rolling. We will go through everything to ensure you’re happy and as excited as we are!
Below is a rough account of what happens when we perform at a wedding. Obviously each wedding is different and we pride ourselves in being flexible and versatile. So of course we can always chat about this when you get in touch. To give you a rough flavour however, here is a day in the life of House of Chords the wedding band below!
Arrival & Load-in
We will normally arrive at your wedding venue at around 6pm, come and say hello and then unload the band equipment. Providing the access is straightforward then the load-in will usually only take around 5-10 minutes.
Setup & Soundcheck
Having the right sound for the performance is just as important as the playing itself. We pride ourselves in only using high quality band equipment and making sure we setup and soundcheck thoroughly. We will always do this as quickly as physically possibly. Together we like to allow around 90 minutes (including the load-in) to make sure that all our equipment is correctly setup in the new acoustic space and that the sound for your wedding is the highest possible quality. As one of Birmingham’s busiest wedding bands for hire, we get lots of experience at engineering our setup.
Background Music
The first thing we try and do is get the sound system setup and make sure that there is some music for your wedding guests. That way there is an ambience before we play the live set. Now when we say ‘background music’, it doesn’t have to be, we can launch straight into the DJ songs that get guests up and on the dance floor. Also, once this is up and running it gives the band time to get changed.
First Live set
Depending on the time of year we would always suggest having a first live set after 8.30pm. This allows enough time to be fully setup and changed but more importantly with evening guests arriving it gives everybody time to enjoy the no-doubt amazing surroundings and really make the most out of the live music in the latter part of the night. More often than not the first set will begin with a first dance. Now it is entirely up to you whether you want to do this and if this is something that you’re both still thinking about then hopefully our blog article on first dances can be of some help to you.
Break
As a wedding band, as with any other event, we play up two hours of live music. This can be split into sets that suit you guys. If you’re unsure, we will always give our advice as to what we know works. The most effective way we find is to play a shorter first set of around 45 minutes and then for the band to take a break. If you’re having any evening food then it works nicely to time this together so that your friends and family get a rest at the same time and aren’t torn between the dance floor and the buffet table!
Final live set
In the final set we rack up the tempo! It’s time to bring out some more of the tunes that people can let their hair down to. With a run in of tunes that suit the the room we bring it all to a climax! Finishing the celebrations of a great day!
DJ Set
After the last live song we keep the party going by launching into the DJ music. Included with every booking is a free basic DJ service; this is run through a MacBook Pro into our high quality equipment and is manned by members of the band. We like to speak with you before hand to get a feel for what you’re into and tailor the night best for you. Also we will take requests and make any announcements required. If you leave it all to us then that’s great, we have lots of experience at reading the room and playing music that gets people dancing. We do however avoid a lot of the traditional wedding music tripe. In fact most people who book us as a live wedding band are deliberately doing so to avoid that kind of experience!
Pack-down and goodbyes
As soon as the live set is finished, we start to by putting away our instruments and stage equipment. This will usually take as long as the final DJ set – around one hour. When the night is over we will then take down the PA system, load-out and say our final congratulations.
Our Wedding Package at £1600
Many of the details about what we provide as a weddings band are included in our video. Here though is another quick summary for you:
- We play 2 hours of live music (usually as 3 x 40 minute sets or 2 x 1 hour sets).
- We bring our high quality HK Audio PA system to every wedding. Also included is an 18 unit DMX controlled lighting set up to wow the dance floor!
- We provide a free DJ service through a MacBook Pro for before, in between and after the live music. This is manned by members of the band, cross fading tracks, taking any requests and making any announcements needed.
- A midnight finish as standard.
- All travel expenses included up to 50 miles.
Additional Wedding Options
As each wedding is different there are always specific details that you’re passionate about. To make sure your wedding day is as much fun for you, your friends and family as possible we can:
- Learn a new song request to perform live (e.g. for a first dance).
- Travel nationally or internatinally.
- Provide an upgraded PA and bring a sound engineer for larger events.
- Arrange a separate professional DJ.
- Finish later than midnight.