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Music at the St. Capitol and Transportation question

Juliaav79Juliaav79 member
First Comment
in Wisconsin
Hi All,
Our ceremony is at the State Capitol in Madison and I am having a hard time with what to do about music. They do not allow amplifications but have floor mics and we also have a singer.
a.) Anyone know of any affordable  musicians around Madison that perhaps could be an accompanist? A string quartet would cost us $500 (not in the budget)

b.) Has anyone held their ceremony in the Assembly chamber? Do i need mics for our vows etc?

Finally - we need a shuttle and plan for our out of town and elderly guests - any suggestions on affordable shuttles? or transportation plans?

Thanks!
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Re: Music at the St. Capitol and Transportation question

  • ehathewaehathewa
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We used shuttles from the hotels.  Several hotels would let us use the shuttle for free if we filled our room blocks. 

    I also looked into trolleys, buses, etc.  School bus rentals were by far the cheapest. 
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  • debbies44debbies44
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Transportation is pretty expensive in Madison, so I don't have any suggestions for that, but I would suggest putting out a Craigslist ad looking for a musician.  Or talk to a professor of music at the UW.  We put an ad on Craigslist and had someone agree to do our ceremony for $50.  He is even willing to learn more music for our wedding.  We had more than one person respond to our Craigslist ad, so I would suggest starting there since there are a lot of part-time musicians that play weddings to make some extra cash.  Or you might be able to find some music students looking to expand their experience and make a little money.

    We looked into the capital for our ceremony but in the end found it was really complicated and decided to do it in the Masonic center where our reception is.  

    Good luck!
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  • Juliaav79Juliaav79 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Debbies44 - Hadn't thought of the craigs list - how did the musician do?

    I agree the capitol IS really complicated!

    - what did you all do for guests if anything in between the ceremony and reception?

    we have a 2 hour block that we don't know if the shuttle should just pick them up right after (venue is a 15-20min drive) or let people hang out around downtown  - I'm a little concerned about our elderly guests in the August heat.
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  • debbies44debbies44
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    My wedding isn't for a couple of weeks, so I can't give a review, but our musician sent me links to his website that had performances he has done on them.  I live in Iowa now so I can't just go listen to him play somewhere.  I just put an ad out (I think I did it under jobs) that I laid out what type of music we were looking for and how much we were willing to pay (I put $50 obo).  We are only having a 20-30 minute ceremony max so I felt like $50 was fair to ask.  If we had gone longer I might have offered more.

    You could transport your guests to the venue and then have a 1.5 hour cocktail hour while you take pictures.  Or you could take pictures BEFORE the ceremony and then you could have a shorter cocktail hour and start your reception earlier.

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  • hillaconhillacon
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I found Violetta on Craigs List for my May 2010 wedding.  They were easy to work with and inexpensive.  They are a husband/wife pair who have been playing together since they were kids-- the husband is a cellist and the wife is a violinist.  You can have one play or both, entirely up to you.  You can check them out at www.violetta.com


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