looking for live music for cocktail hour recommendations

We hired a Jazz pianist for our cocktail hour!

I'm going to have a single acoustic guitarist for the ceremony & cocktail hour. I have no idea who I hired, by DJ company took care of it. It's costing me $400 for 2 hours.

We booked a harpist who is also doing our ceremony. I am very excited about having a harpist in the garden, it just seemed perfect!

I did look into a guitarist for the music, very pretty but not as fitting as the harpist. I even found some guitar duos that had samples of their music online. It was even or melodious than just one guitarist but also twice as much.

I just googled live musicians for where I was getting married and there were dozens of websites to choose from, and most had samples of their music and their prices.

Try gigmaster.com too. But make sure you check out vendor pages. Some vendors do illegal and horrible things like wedding planners stealing images and using them as their own. Stealing other people's work is just sad. Then they create fake accounts to comment on how wonderful their work is. It's disgraceful.

Hopefully your music will be exquisite!

SOOO glad I wasn't drinking anything, I would have spit it all over my keyboard. Nicely done.

Grace - have you booked a band for your reception? We had a DJ but also gave him a list of songs/instrumental to play for the cocktail hour.

Amen ladies.

Sorry to threadjack Grace..

Ditto Keatha R....gigmaster is a good place to search. We found our bands/DJ there. i am not sure where you are located, if you are in CA.....you can check out the band we're using (I found them thru gigmaster):

http://www.jukeboxsd.com/

If you are under a tighter budget, definitely go with a harpist or guitarist...they usually just charge by the hour and can range from $200 to $300/hour. Again, if you are in CA, I highly recommend Charissa, we are using her for our wedding:

http://www.harpistcharissa.com/

good luck!

I would suggest for you to go to a bridal show. They will have many bands who are promoting there with different styles. Is there a local bridal book that they have in your area?

I would use the following wedding planner to help with all your wedding day needs

http://www.exquisiteevent.com/

They are in Florida (and sometime Ohio too)

LOL!

Grace- what general city/state/area is your wedding in? That way, maybe we can help you find someone.

Do you know any musicians in your city? They may be able to refer you to someone.

But be prepared for sticker shock. Live musicians are expensive- at least more so than people expect. I know a guy who used to play acoustic git just for the cocktail hour, and he charged around $300. He was on the less expensive side. And prices go up if you want specific songs they don't know yet and stuff.

Some planners say to use craigslist... IMO they are all shady and not professional in the least if that is where they advertise

I had a guy playing acustic guitar for my ceremony and cocktail hour. He was about $400 bucks in NH.

I saw you are getting married in Chantilly. Is that right? My friend owns a winery in Loudoun and they have live muscians there all the time. I could get you a list if you like.

What I really liked about gigmaster- even though we aren't using them, lol- is that you say what you want, when you want it and what your budget is and vendors email you! You don't have to call around!

I'm a biased resource, as this person is a friend of mine, but...

I had three girlfriends volunteer to do my ceremony music. One of them, a cellist with a degree from Catholic University's music program, and who performs in local orchestras, does weddings as a side gig.

PM me if you want her information.

Depending on your location i suggest

jojohahn.com

or

aftershockseven.com

two amazing san diego based options that you'll love!

Hi ladies! i'm located in the VA DC MD metro area. sorry i'm new to WW so I thought i was posting in the right place lol

@jaemi if you could send me the list of musicians your friend uses for the winery that would be great! thanks ;o)

Hi Grace B - if you read my review of MSE productions - they provided me with something that may help you with what you are asking for.

Ceremony & Cocktail hour (Jazz Trio Vocalist) - it was more reasonable than I'd ever imagine it would be & my guests provided feed back that ranged from 'classy' to 'best ever' in large part to them.

Let me know if I can provide any other help.

Violinist?