Singaporebrides | Essentials
March 2014
What To Get Your Wedding Band To Play
We all know music sets the mood for any occasion, and music can make your wedding happy, lively and incredibly emotional by turns.
Your wedding band holds the reigns of music and moodmaking in their hands, so it’s important to choose them carefully. We take you through creating the perfect soundscape for your wedding and recommend our top music picks for your wedding programme.
Choosing your wedding band
Wedding bands of the musical variety come in as many shapes and sizes as the ones on your ring fingers. How many bandmembers and instruments to engage depends on the style of music you’re looking for (and on your budget) but rest assured that a two-member band is more than capable of setting the mood. Pop and jazz piano and vocal duo Joy & Maria, for example, are real smooth at keeping the mood light and romantic with their uniquely reinterpreted covers. If you’re after something timelessly elegant, a classic string quartet from music company Continental Strings is perfect. How about serenading each table with strolling Spanish guitars? Continental Strings offers that too. Their fees are between $600 – $1,200, depending on how many musicians you hire, and how many sets they play.
Before searching for your wedding band, decide what genre of music you want for your wedding, and check with the band whether they play your style. Better yet, ask to hear them play live or request a recording to really get a feel for their vibes. Bear in mind your audience when selecting your wedding music, and try to cater to varying tastes and age groups by mixing up popular songs, oldies and classic love ballads. You don’t want Grandma shouting to be heard over your favourite heavy metal when she’s giving you advice on conceiving.
Creating your song list
There are so many good tunes out there, it can be so hard to choose that you’re tempted to just play ‘A Thousand Years’ like a thousand other couples and have done with it. Please don’t. Fix yourself a drink and settle down for a serenade session. To inspire your wedding music selection, we ask Continental Strings and Joy & Maria for their top picks.
First March In Favourite – Continental Strings recommends Canon in D by Parchelbel, played by a four string quartet or a violin duet, as a song big enough for your grand entrance.
Second March In—The second march-in is a more casual affair, so get creative with your song choices. Joy & Maria select Everything by Michael Buble.
First Dance — Continental Strings chooses a tango piece, Por Una Cabeza, for you to sway to in your first dance as Mr and Mrs.
Oldie but a Goodie — Love Me Tender originally by Elvis Presley; this classic love ballad will get all the age groups sniffling, says Joy & Maria.
Feel Good Vibes—It’s an upbeat number that’s earned a lot of covers over the years. Frank Sinatra’s version of Can’t Keep My Eyes Off You has got my vote.
Remixed Oldie — Please your older guests with this sweet number, Tian Mi Mi, by Theresa Teng, jazzed up by Continental Strings.
Crowd Pleaser — Joy & Maria tells us that everyone will be singing along with this popular number by Bruno Mars—Just The Way You Are.
Setting the stage
After selecting the wedding band who’s playing your crowd-friendly songlist, it’s time to set the stage for those romantic melodies. One of the most important things to do is ensure your wedding venue’s sound system is up to par and set up well on your big day. Your wedding band generally takes care of this, and will arrive about 1 and a half to 2 hours prior to set up their instruments and perform a sound check.
The number of sets your wedding band plays depends on your reception. For a typical wedding lunch or dinner programme, the band plays for your first and second march-in, and two sets of 45 minutes each while the food is served, with breaks in between for other items such as speeches and toasts. You can also ask your wedding band to play during cocktail hour, or request for a selection of mp3 songs that you can play during breaks.
Armed with a good mix of sentimental ballads (it’s the one night men can wipe tears from their eyes without shame, after all) and upbeat numbers to keep the crowd from being angsty while waiting for food, you’re all ready to kick off your wedding celebrations with a 5, 6, 7, 8!
Continental Strings is a company of professional musicians who provide live string performances for your weddings and private events. Contact them at +65 9750 9140.
Joy & Maria are a Pop and Jazz pianist and vocalist duo who specialize in weddings and private events. Contact them at [email protected] or +65 9640 7127.
Feature image credit: Image cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo by Jeremy Brooks / cropped from original
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