| Expert: | Sera Golding |
| Category: | Wedding Entertainment Advice |
Should Your Wedding Band Just Go with the Flow?
It seems like over the years, couple’s ideas seem to be changing when it comes to requirements and ideas for live music & entertainment at a wedding. This is the case when it comes to a wide variety of factors, especially when it comes to music tastes (see my Live Music at Weddings – New Song Trends article I wrote last month), but another factor has been coming up lately that I wanted to write about.
Just lately I’ve met a huge number of clients who have said to me that their ideal live band for their wedding would be a band that have fun, play the music that they LOVE, are free with arrangements and can ‘go with the flow’ when it comes to the dynamics of the evening. So, in the words of one of my clients the other day, ‘If you feel the urge to take an extra solo here and there, or play a song that you just love to play, please go ahead, we’ll enjoy it even more!’
It makes me smile when people say this, and I’ve been shocked because I think a lot of bands make such an effort to be exactly the opposite – making sure they rehearse so much that they get the arrangements of songs down to a T (therefore never really ‘going off on a tangent’ and playing to the crowd), playing songs that they know are ‘safe’ crowd pleasers (even if they personally don’t like them), and sticking to their usual tried and tested playlist no matter what. I find it so refreshing to now be speaking to clients who are keen for a bit of musical expression at their wedding. I think they’re right – the more the band has fun, the more you and your guests feed off their energy and enthusiasm, and the more dynamic your evening gets!
Obviously, you don’t want the band to go too far the other way. There’s nothing worse than a band playing a load of self indulgent songs that most of your guests don’t know, and doing 10 minute drum solos! However, I’ve been finding lately that the more freedom we are given as a band the more dancing/shouting/singing/jumping for joy/crazy air guitar we get from our audience! A band that give themselves the freedom to extend songs if they’re going down really well, add in extra solos (which builds a massive rapport with the audience), and pull songs ‘out of the bag’ at the given moment when they are most appropriate, are undoubtedly going to create a bigger and better party atmosphere than a band who are perhaps less flexible. Flexibility is fantastic for you as a client too as it means the band will probably be up for performing any requests from you or your guests on the night, and happy to deviate from their original plan in order to get the party going!
What do you think? I’d love to hear people’s feedback on this subject – I think it’s a bit of a matter of opinion and a good band will always listen to what you personally want for your wedding, but it’s food for thought anyway!
Good luck with all your wedding planning!
Love & Hugs
Sera x
Article by Wedding Entertainment Specialist Sera Golding
Images Courtesy of Shirley Nicklin Photography
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