Why Use An Entertainment Agency To Organise Your Wedding Entertainment?

Sit back, relax, and let your wedding entertainment get sorted...The pros of using an entertainment agency or music company to organise your wedding reception entertainment.

When you get engaged, the excitement is indescribable...but once the wedding planning starts, a lot of couples realise that there is just SO much to arrange! When it comes to the most special day of your life, the last thing you want to be doing is stressing out about things, so I thought it was worth writing an article on how you can make arranging your wedding entertainment a little easier, making time for table plans, dress fittings and flower arrangements!

Have you thought about using an entertainment agency or a music company that can provide entertainment for your whole wedding day?

There are plenty of agencies or music companies out there who would love to help plan your day with you. You will be able to give them a few ideas of what you’d like, and they’ll come up with suggestions of bands/harpists/string quartets/whatever takes your fancy!

First off, just to explain the difference – an entertainment agency can be a big or small company that has various acts on their books, and they act as a middle man between you and the act. You could also find a music company, that runs and manages various acts themselves (rather than the agency who don’t have anything to do with the running of the band/act, they just book them). You might also find bands that can provide a lot of extras who can take care of your whole day.

The Pros to using one company for the whole day’s entertainment:

• It will save you a lot of time. If you were to book everything individually it would take weeks of sifting through hundreds of websites in order to find what you want. This way, your one company of choice can suggest to you a few options in each area you’re interested in, and you won’t have to spend hours and hours trying to whittle down the hundreds you can find online.
• You can deal with just one company who will then do all the hard work for you. All your correspondence can be through them, and they’ll then organise the acts you’ve booked.
• When dealing with musicians, they are notoriously unorganised! (Hey, OK, that’s a bit of a stereotype, but I’m speaking generally) They will also have a lot going on in their lives and having an agent or a management company to organise them is a really good idea, and will hopefully keep your mind at rest!
• Some might say there’s more security for your booking. Let’s say the worst happened – the band you’ve booked for your reception are suddenly unavailable...the company you’ve booked through will hopefully be able to sort alternatives in any emergency. They’ll have a huge database of contacts they can call upon.
• You have someone that you can contact easily. Again...musicians (and any other entertainment you may have booked – magicians, caricaturists etc) generally tend to have a lot going on and will often be on the road/working abroad. When you’re dealing with one agent or company, they’ll generally have a manned office 9-5 which means you can rely on being able to get hold of them.

I know a few reservations that may come into your head...so let’s talk about those too:

• Doesn’t this mean we get a lack of choice? Yes, I suppose it does. HOWEVER, most good agents will have a great selection of acts, and at least then you can trust that they know they’re great quality and reliable. Probably the best option is to find the most important entertainment element of your day (i.e. for most people, the band) on an agents/music company’s website, and they can then provide the other extras you might need, but may be less specific about (i.e. a string quartet, or a harpist).
• I would be much more comfortable if I could speak to someone from the band/act personally.... Most agents or music companies will get the entertainment act to call you a few weeks before the event just to chat through final details, so hopefully that puts your mind at rest.
• Why am I paying this person to be a middle man? Most of the time...you’re not! Most professional entertainment acts will discount their prices by 20% for their agents (when you bear in mind that they’ll give them a lot of work, it’s worth it from their point of view) and so the price you’ll get from an agent will be roughly the same as if you booked the act direct. Of course...there are plenty of agents out there who may whack up their commission...so perhaps a little research might be advisable to ensure they’re not over charging you.

I hope this helps! If you’re interested in looking at a few entertainment agencies, I can recommend a few that I work a lot with who are fantastic....

www.contrabandevents.com – are true professionals when it comes to organising whatever you may need, and lovely people too!

www.alivenetwork.com – have a fantastic choice available and will undoubtedly be able to sort you out with any entertainment ideas you may have.

www.melisma.org.uk – a much smaller agency based in Surrey, but run by the lovely Sarah-Jane, who will absolutely work her very hardest for you when it comes to organising your entertainment needs.

Good luck with the plans!

Love & Hugs

Sera

Article by Wedding Entertainment Specialist Sera Golding

Image Courtesy of Surrey Wedding Photographer Matt Pereira Photography

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