It has now grown to a team of over 10 people, running a directory of over 3,500 acts.
Here, Jon talks us through how to use LMM to find your wedding music and some top tips and considerations for finding the best fit.
Jon says…
Weddings and live music have always gone hand in hand. For most happy couples, enjoying their big day without booking a great wedding band is simply unconscionable. Last Minute Musicians was designed with just this in mind. We love being able to connect brides and grooms-to-be with their perfect wedding entertainment, whether it’s a swing singer over cocktails, jazz band over dinner, or an 11-piece soul band for your evening performance… or anything else!
If we had to pick three words to describe Last Minute Musicians, we would choose creative, unique and diverse. Thanks to our huge selection of acts, we can provide the perfect entertainment for your wedding, no matter how unique your ideas are. There are always options for reflecting your wedding’s theme with live music. Whether you are planning a formal black-tie event that oozes class, or a Glastonbury-style “WedFest” that’s full of drinking, dancing and singing from the table tops!
The process goes something like this;
We also offer a lot of advice to brides and grooms, via our article collection and blog. If we had to summarise our advice for people looking for wedding entertainment, then it would probably boil down to something like this:
Be realistic with your budget and expectation
Professional wedding entertainment can be seen as expensive, but it is definitely not an area where you should be looking to the bargain basement. A professional and experienced wedding band will be able to solve problems that you didn’t even realised existed – this can be practical questions about timings, or simply owning professional, versatile equipment.
They will also have the best chance to get and keep your guests on the dancefloor all night long, as a professional wedding act will have an incredibly broad and extensive repertoire. The flip side of this is, of course, that cheaper, amateur acts can often cause more problems than they solve!
If your budget is tighter, then do not be disheartened – there are still plenty of live music options for you! Start by looking to book local acts, with a smaller line-up, to cut down on travel costs.
Consider your venue
If you have already secured your venue, then it will have an influence on your choice of entertainment. The most obvious potential issue being available space. Bands can take up a lot more room than you might think, as well as the need for a dancefloor.
Unfortunately, no matter how much you want that 11-piece soul act, if your venue is small and intimate, then it simply isn’t going to be possible to fit them all in, so factor this into your research. Sound restrictions can also affect your choice of act, so the best thing to do is speak to your venue about how and where they usually accommodate live music.
Carefully review all of the promotional material your potential act has
On lastminutemusicians.com, you can browse through the profiles listed and read biographies, listen to audio and watch videos, as well as read previous clients reviews and testimonials. We’d highly recommend going through all of this information carefully, as it helps you build a much more complete vision of your act before you book and will help to ensure that you get the perfect band for your big day.
Ask as many questions as you need to before booking
Your contact in the band will be happy to answer any questions that you might have, about a whole host of subjects. You can ask them for advice on all sorts of aspects of your wedding entertainment, from the timing of their sets, to ideas for your first dance.
From everyone at Last Minute Musicians, we wish you the best of luck in planning your big day. If you’re still looking to book wedding entertainment, visit www.lastminutemusicians.com to browse through over 3,500 musicians, bands, entertainers and related companies.