When to book musician?

You're getting married in peak wedding season, so I would try to have one booked ASAP. My musicians were my parents. My dad played guitar and ukulele and my mom sang. They mostly played Hawaiian music, except for the one Beatles song I walked down the aisle to.

We're having a cello/violin duo and booked it about a year out. When we booked it, the musician said that's the usual time to book for her, especially since we're getting married during peak wedding season.

You guys are very helpful. I contacted a local musician and his response basically implied that I'm inquiring way too early. He actually told me it was too far away for him to tell me a price. So that was weird.

We're planning on having a guitarist for our ceremony. I had reached out to him with interested about 20ish months out and he let me know that he doesn't book farther out than a year (due to family vacations not being planned yet) but kept my name penciled in until we could officially book. I'd reach out to your top choice now and ask them when they prefer to book.

We’re having a string quartet for the ceremony and cocktail hour. We considered a trio but the second violinist really makes a difference.

I would have loved to have been able to hire a cellist and violinist, but they cost more than my DJ ☹️ Harpist are also great choices. I went with a guitarist

My church provided a pianist so I hired a cello/violin duo to accompany her and also play separately. I think a year in advance is a good time to book them.

I booked a piano/cello duo for my ceremony back in August for my May wedding. I would have loved them to play the cocktail hour too but it wasn’t in the budget.

Musician here. Depends on your area, but when someone asks me about a wedding a year in advance I laugh. I say sure I should be available but don’t think about it again until maybe a month or two before? Usually musicians have dozens of other gigs and jobs and a year is just too early for me to 100% commit. Harpists are great but they’re usually pretty expensive. Also try to find music that is appropriate for the instrument. Some brides pick pretty awful arrangements of pop/rock music- just will not sound good for a string quartet, no matter how great the musicians. Good luck!

We are having a saxophone soloist for our ceremony and our venue is providing live music (steel drummer) for the reception

View Quoted Comment That's good info. So how far in advance should I be trying to book someone? I was in touch with one harpist who was $350 for the ceremony, which didn't seem bad to me, and she was very professional and willing to book now. The ukulele player told me this is too soon for him to commit.

Also, I have no idea what songs work with which instruments so I hope the musician would be honest with me if something I want won't sound good.

A quartet would be so amazing! I have no idea what that would cost. Something to look in to.

View Quoted Comment In my area, string quartets usually go around $400-$600, which would be about $100-$150 per person- which really isn’t bad at all! $350 is a good starting price for a harpist so if that’s something you’re interested in, I would go for it. Booking does depend on the musician and the area- just don’t be surprised if someone says it’s too early to tell for sure if it’s more than a few months out.

Your musicians should definitely be able to tell you what would be best for your ceremony for the group you choose, and as professionals, we really do WANT the pieces to sound good! I just like to throw that out there since some brides are very particular about having certain songs at their weddings and that should be taken into account when choosing instruments. One bride had us play “Don’t Stop Believing” as a string quartet and it was pretty bad/cheesy... 😳

If you’re wanting beautiful, slow and melodic and/or classical pieces, harp or strings or piano are great ways to go! Feel free to ask any more questions if that didn’t give you all of the information you need!

View Quoted Comment That's very helpful! Thank you.

Piano music alone would sound very classy and beautiful - adding a violin or harp would be awesome but don't get too worried about it.

We are having one pro musician - a guitarist who is awesome. He will play during the reception.

View Quoted Comment Hi!! What songs did your saxophonist play? And how did it go?