Jonathan Curtis
Silver Member
(I'm sure there're too many apostrophes in the title...)
Hi chaps and chappettes,
I've not posted for ages; been rather busy drumming, teaching, gigging etc. Hope you all had a happy Easter and the like.
Anyway, I'm after some tips on getting my jazz quartet into weddings. I've plenty of experience gigging and recording, but never doing weddings, corporate functions and parties. We have a four-piece jazz band that play swing and latin standards, and are looking seriously into joining the wedding circuit.
So far, we've produced some promotional recordings to show off what we play, have a basic WIP website and Facebook page, and plenty of gigging experience. The plan is to get the recordings and websites polished, hand out our cards at gigs, hit wedding fairs etc. and promote as hard as possible.
Are there any particularly big do's and don't's that we should look out for, any pitfalls, awesome tips, golden rules? We'd be asking a modest fee to start with, something along the lines of £400 for two 45-minute sets, customised for their tastes, and flexible to fit in around them. Is this about right? We don't want to sell ourselves short, at least two of us are professional musicians and need to make a living/cover costs, but also we're not yet competing with the top notch high-collar bands that have been doing it for years.
Anything and everything you have to say on this topic will be read with interest, thanks.
Jonathan
Hi chaps and chappettes,
I've not posted for ages; been rather busy drumming, teaching, gigging etc. Hope you all had a happy Easter and the like.
Anyway, I'm after some tips on getting my jazz quartet into weddings. I've plenty of experience gigging and recording, but never doing weddings, corporate functions and parties. We have a four-piece jazz band that play swing and latin standards, and are looking seriously into joining the wedding circuit.
So far, we've produced some promotional recordings to show off what we play, have a basic WIP website and Facebook page, and plenty of gigging experience. The plan is to get the recordings and websites polished, hand out our cards at gigs, hit wedding fairs etc. and promote as hard as possible.
Are there any particularly big do's and don't's that we should look out for, any pitfalls, awesome tips, golden rules? We'd be asking a modest fee to start with, something along the lines of £400 for two 45-minute sets, customised for their tastes, and flexible to fit in around them. Is this about right? We don't want to sell ourselves short, at least two of us are professional musicians and need to make a living/cover costs, but also we're not yet competing with the top notch high-collar bands that have been doing it for years.
Anything and everything you have to say on this topic will be read with interest, thanks.
Jonathan