Gate Crashing Someone Else’s Wedding

This is always a very daunting task for engaged couples trying to book their Band & Dj… so a few tips are:

• Dress as if you were attending the afters of the wedding, and therefore you blend in with all of the other guests – it’s only when you arrive into a Wedding reception in Jeans and a T-shirt that you’d stand out from the crowd.
• Come right into the wedding reception making your way towards the bar, and have a drink at your leisure, as opposed to shrinking into a corner – as it’ll make you feel far more comfortable.
• Try to get a good overview of the Band by staying around for as long as you can – or at least pop in and out from the front bar several times if you feel uncomfortable staying in the function room for one long period of time.
• Normally raindance normally cater for the older generation in the earlier stages, and tend not to rock out too much until after 11pm… therefore it can be easy to misinterpret or stereotype the Band if you only get to hear 10 or 15 minutes of the show. For instance if you only stay at a Wedding for 10 minutes and only hear Waltzes and Country music during this time – it’s easy to stereotype the band as a “Diddly-Aye” Hillbilly Band… Whereas if you arrive while raindance are performing Guns n’ Roses, The Killers or Kings of Leon in the latter stages of the night, you could tend to think we’re a Rock Band… but the whole night needs to be taken in context, so the best way to judge the Band can often be by the crowd reaction on the night.
• One thing to remember is that raindance always cater for the crowd put in front of them on the night… this might mean that the band may not perform music to suit your specific tastes if you only hear the Band for a short period of time – but once the Wedding guests are dancing – you can be guaranteed that the Band are doing their job.
• Finally – to put you a little at ease… remember that each Bride & Groom will know you’re there – and indeed are pretty much expecting your presence on the night, as they themselves had to gatecrash someone else’s Wedding to hear raindance in the first place, and usually never mind this process coming full-circle.

Making the Most of your Afters Food

Tea, coffee, sandwiches and cocktail sausages are generally served around 11pm, for a short period of time, and then all leftover food is removed – back to the kitchen where it’s usually dumped… sinful and wasteful! … Especially when there are starving guests participating in the sing-a-long at 3am!

Therefore all you have to do is request from your Wedding co-ordinator that all remaining food left over after the interval, be re-assembled onto several trays and re-introduced to the remaining guests during the after hours drinking session in the residents bar – nothing will remain… guaranteed!

Booking your Videographer

This is kind of a selfish one from the Band’s point of view… (and no offence is meant to any Videographers out there… so please don’t take this the wrong way) … But … In our experience the Videographers who use the “Builders / Co. Council” lights in order to get clearer video footage, tend to ruin the atmosphere that we as a Band try so desperately to provide with subtle stage lighting, and comprehensive room lighting, and we find that this can effect the amount of people who choose to dance on the night – all because they don’t want to go under the bright glaring lights.

With advances in modern technology, there are many Videographers out there using more modern video cameras that don’t require these overly bright, whole room illuminating lights… and in our experience, these Videographers also tend to be less intrusive on the guests also as they move about through the crowd, meaning that your guests are free to enjoy their evening without feeling like they’re on Big Brother.

Keeping Things Running on Time

• One of the things that will delay you most on the day can be the photography, so make sure to stress to your Photographer that you don’t want to be late sitting into your meal.
• Bear in mind that the meal & speeches will take approximately 3 hours, so if you’re sitting for 5.30pm – you should be wrapped up by about 8.30pm.
• Try and keep your Bridal party together for following the meal, so you can get the first dance out of the way, so the Band can start promptly – meaning that you get the dancing started as soon as possible following the meal and speeches.
• If you’re a Bride who’s intending to throw a bouquet on the night of the Wedding, give it to a member of the Band following your meal – so you know where it is when the time comes for the bouquet toss, rather than having to send out a search party.

How Soon Should You Start Booking Things?

As soon as you set the date – and book the Ceremony and the Hotel – you should start about booking everything else… it’s never too early. In fact the earlier you start booking things, the more choice of suppliers you have. The later you leave it, you’ll find that your choices become limited – as in the best Bands, Dj’s, Photographers, etc. will be booked by someone else – so you might find that you have to “settle” on suppliers, rather than having a free choice.