Today I’m going to talk about what you should expect to pay for a professional wedding ring for some evening entertainment. The key word there is professional. A band that does it week after week and knows what is expected of a wedding band.
I’ve been to 3 or 4 different wedding bands and work with at least 50 more weekly, trying to help couples find the perfect band for their weddings. Many people ask me how much wedding bands should charge for a night of music. Personally, if I had never booked a band before, I would have no idea how much live music should cost.
There are many different thoughts about cost in regards to value to the customer and value to the musician. Both parties must be satisfied for the night to work. If the bride thinks that she is paying too much, she will not be relaxed, happy and enjoying her perfect evening with family and friends. If the band isn’t safe knowing they can pay rent/eat more than rice and peas this week, their performance will suffer.
There are a few different factors to consider when looking at the costs of a band, the two main ones being the distance from the venue and the number of musicians.
Since gas prices are what they are, a band will need to charge for travel and the bigger the band, the more the trip will cost. We have to take into account that, for example, a rock and pop band of five members will need to bring drums, public address, lighting, 5 people, instruments and amplifiers, which they can, if the band does not all live together. and have a van, they must be brought in 4 or 5 separate cars. If the location is 100 miles away from your base, this equates to a 4 x 5 hour drive. At the current cost of petrol that’s about £180 for 5 fairly efficient cars. This does not include an hourly rate for the musicians while driving or wear and tear on the car. It is purely the cost of gasoline.
The second main factor is the hours per musician. There’s a short story I’ve read that goes something like this.
“A lady calls the musicians’ union to get a quote on a six-piece band for her wedding.
The rep says “Out of my head, about two thousand pounds.”
She says “What? For the music?”.
The rep replies, “I’ll tell you what. Call the plumbers union and ask for six plumbers to work from 6 to 12 o’clock on a Saturday night. Whatever they charge you…we’ll work for half.” .”
The lady hangs up. She calls back five minutes later…
“I get your point,” she said.
I have seen this quite a few times in different places. For this reason I will look at plumbers as a comparison. Both musicians and plumbers are highly skilled workers who have put hours into their craft and thousands of pounds into their tools.
The basic service that my bands offer is 6 hours from 6pm to midnight. Each band has 5 musicians so 6 x 5 hours of musician time. So far including the trip we have 50 hours of man time. It is difficult to calculate how much musicians should be paid per hour. Some are very skilled and put everything into their craft. Others enjoy making music as a hobby. If you look at plumbers, we have newer plumbers who are paid a little less because they are less experienced and more experienced plumbers who are paid more because they really know what they are doing. On the money-saving experts website, it says plumbers will cost between £20-£40 an hour or £200-£250 a day for a local job.
If we use the lowest price for our 5 example wedding musicians, we have 50 hours x £20, which is equivalent to £1,000 of labour.
So, in addition to travel, the total cost of a five piece wedding ring over a 6 hour period with a trip to a location 100 miles away is about £1180. This uses the lowest rate you would charge a plumber and rounds the cost of the trip down, since it does not include wear and tear on the vehicle and the fact that cars, loaded with equipment, are not as efficient as possible. Nor does it take into account the ‘unsociable hours’. So this really should be the minimum you’d expect to pay for this service and it shouldn’t be a surprise if a professional wedding ring charged twice as much. It is strange though, as many bands charge less and many couples expect to pay even less again. Why is this? It has to have something to do with the value a client places on live music at her wedding.
I find it interesting that many times a bride leaves the success of the entire evening reception, once the meal is over, to her entertainment team (band/dj). I think it would be worth paying extra to make sure she is dealing with absolute professionals who have done many weddings and have experienced most types of guests, times, locations and events.
You wouldn’t leave your home plumbing to someone who hasn’t studied plumbing for years. Chances are something will go wrong and you’ll have to call another plumber to fix what the first one did wrong!
Hopefully this blog will help any newly engaged couple budget for a wedding ring. If you really want something good, be prepared to pay upwards of £20 an hour per musician and travel expenses. A 5 piece band is usually the norm and bands will need to be there for around 6 hours to play 3 x 40 minutes of music.
If you’re planning to have a wedding on a tight budget, here are some ways you can save money on quality entertainment.
Just get the band for the times you need. Chances are, a band doesn’t need to be set up before the wedding ceremony or breakfast. There is usually an hour-long break in the activity between the meal and the dance where guests digest, chat with people they weren’t sitting with, and have a few drinks. This is the perfect time for your band to get ready, and it will usually be right before they play. This means you won’t have to pay for band standby time.
See if you can use food or lodging as a way to lower the price of the bands. Some gangs aren’t that keen on driving three hours to your house after midnight and may offer you a discount if you can find them a place to stay.
Work with an agent to help you find a band that lives closer to you to reduce travel costs. Let the agent know where you are having your wedding, what you need the band to do, and what time you need them. Also let the agent know your budget. Then they will be able to find you something that fits with everything. Also, most of the time, an agent will have a deal with his bands, so even though there is a commission, the costs should be about the same. Also due to the fact that the agent has worked with many couples booking bands in the past, he will be able to advise you on what best suits your needs, hoping to save you unnecessary expense.
One last thing is that you probably don’t need a DJ and a band, unless you really want to. A professional wedding band will have an iPod or laptop filled with the latest dance songs and be able to play them through your pa while you take your breaks. I’ve also found that it’s often good for party guests to take a short break from dancing to fill drinks and rest.