Chasing after wedding bands?!

venusdoom

Hi all, just wondering how efficient wedding bands were on getting back to you? First band I rang, no answer so I messaged them. Several messages and weeks later and promises of gig dates, set lists, I'm no further on with them. Hence, I've contacted another band. Said they would get back to me and now it's almost a week later and nothing. I really don't think this is good business nor professional. I don't want to be doing the chasing. I want to enquire, get the information and then book. Is this the norm? Does booking a wedding band take a long time to deal with? Oh and if anyone has any suggestions for a cool wedding band in the Northwest region, I'm open to suggestions.

whiskeyman

If your gut feel is not good and they're unprofessional, move on.
You'll be paying a lot of money for their services, so I'd expect good comms... max 1 or 2 days. (I guess over weekends they'd be busy).

baby and crumble

TBH my experience with a hefty proportion of wedding vendors is what you've experienced. There seems to be a big upswing in the wedding sector recently which means the guys who have been around for a while can pick and choose their clients. The best vendors we've been working with are newish to the scene, or that we've made contact with at wedding fairs- because they want and need the business. Sometimes it can cross into pushiness but I'd rather than then be waiting for weeks.

imp1

Hope Brian McDermott is not one of the ones you have tried
They are easy enough to google for.
They are Sligo based. I have been to events where they have played and they were great.

mcgiggles

We have booked Late Night Radio, they are from the northwest, they are brilliant, I've seen them at a few weddings and they were very good at getting back to us!

venusdoom

Thanks guys, well at least I know it's going on. I do agree, gut feeling is if they're not good dealing with then, I'm not keen on booking. Thanks for the suggestions, not the bands I've tried but definately will have a look now

Atomic Pineapple

Not my experience at all, all bands I contacted were especially quick at getting back to us, the longest was through an agent and it was two days.

G.Ames

There are a ton of terrible and average bands out there who also can't deliver a good customer experience at all.
The really good bands are rare tbh. I've had a similar experience before as you describe. I like going out watching bands occasionally just to see what's out there.

Probably not your region but I saw this incredible wedding band recently and they are awesome! They call themselves 'The Sapphires'. Wish I had heard of them earlier. They went into the crowd several times getting people off their seats while singing and dancing at the same time. It was unreal!

Couldn't find their website but found them on Facebook. Good luck anyway finding the right band.

clint_silver

There's a sticky thread at the top of this section for band recommendations if thats what OP wanted.

Any professional wedding vendor should have established communication lines.

Heres a good enquiry to a band

"Im getting married on 4th august 2017 in Dublin. Can you let me know if available, price of packages and available viewing dates. We're looking for a band to keep everyone up but want a good bit of rock music, we had you recommended to us by "xxx" who had you for their wedding "

Pro bands will know their availability and have pricing in place. Reply should ensue even to say unavailable.


Heres a bad enquiry
"Hi,
Am looking for a wedding band next summer, our budget is very tight and we're looking at several bands, can you send us on more info."

No date, no location, "tight budget" suggests youre interested in price only and dont care about how good a band are. Pro band price will scare off most here. An established band will contact you back and look for more info knowing probably nothing will come of this as they know the mail was sent to a big mailing list and some lower end bands will be in their budget, another band knowing nothing will probably come from this will feel its a waste of time and ignore.

Toots

Folks, just a reminder that if you want to post a review/recommendation/critique of a band or supplier then you need to either have been an active member of the site for more than 2 months, or else have a post count higher than 20. For more information, please see the Charter.

Thanks!

Tsipras

I'm going to bump this thread because I've a question on wedding bands - 
How long before the wedding should you book them? A year?
Thanks for any replies

GingerLily

Tsipras wrote: »

I'm going to bump this thread because I've a question on wedding bands - 
How long before the wedding should you book them? A year?
Thanks for any replies

We booked venue, celebrant and then band -14 months out. We don't even have a caterer yet and it's 9 months away but the band would be way more in demand!

clint_silver

Tsipras wrote: »

I'm going to bump this thread because I've a question on wedding bands - 
How long before the wedding should you book them? A year?
Thanks for any replies

Thionk about it like this, the longer you leave it, the less choice youll have.

Better bands go on average 12-18 months out for popular dates which varies depending on time of year. Ive 2 bookings at the moment over 2 years out, longest I ever had was just over 3 years, that was a new years eve gig which went ahead.

On more then one occasion over the years Ive done weddings at less than 24hrs notice. Just happened to be free when someone got stuck. Rare though,.

mcgiggles

I think it probably depends on the date, if its a popular date (bank hol weekend/ Easter/ Christmas) then the earlier the better. I booked mine 2 years out, the original date we had planned was NYE and they were already booked, then we changed the date to the 30th for other reasons, and the band happened to be free! Its the same with photographers I think, one of the ones we were looking at was booked already 2 years in advance!