There are many great bands for hire, but how do you know which type of band is the best for your wedding reception? One of your favorite live bands that plays all original music and they are awesome, but will they go over at a wedding reception? Probably not, as most original bands don’t have a wide enough variety of songs to please all the different ages present at a wedding reception. Most original bands don’t have enough songs to play for 4 hours either which is usually the standard length of time that a wedding reception lasts. I have performed in one of the best live bands in Austin that has performed professionally for weddings since 1991 and have honed the craft of wedding band to a science and am here to help you with my experience. Your best bet is to book a variety cover band which plays a mix of eras which will better please the variety of your crowd. These variety bands also have plenty of songs to last the full four hours as well.
Most cover bands have experience performing at wedding receptions and usually have a nice laid back dinner set as well as a rocking dance set. Often times, the band leader will also act as your MC announcing all events such as bouquet and garter toss, cutting of the cake, toasts and also announcing the bride and groom. Another great thing about live bands that play popular songs is that from experience these wedding bands know which songs are crossover songs, meaning songs that can be liked by different demographics, such as both your great uncle and your 15 year old cousin. This knowledge gives the band an arsenal to keep everyone on the dance floor at the same time keeping the energy up until the very end of the night. Most bands that don’t have experience playing weddings often lose the energy of the reception and many guests leave early making for a less than memorable wedding reception.
To sum up, the best band for your wedding reception will be a cover band that plays a good variety of popular radio hits, have a nice quiet dinner set playing classics, has a good high energy dance set, and a band leader that also acts as an MC throughout the night.
