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Second Line, Live Bands, and DJ Recommendations?

katiebaran6katiebaran6
First Comment First Anniversary
in Louisiana-New Orleans

Our wedding in Nola is a destination wedding for me and my fiancee, can anyone help recommend a great second line, live band, and DJ?? We know we definitely want to have a second line and we cant decide between doing a live band or DJ? Or if we could do both, how to do is cost effectively to have all 3? Thanks!!!

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Re: Second Line, Live Bands, and DJ Recommendations?

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    louisianabluelouisianablue member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    We opted to have a ceremony musician, DJ and a second line band.  It just felt excessive to pay for three different bands.

    Ceremony Musician: The Courtyard Kings
    Second Line Band: Storyville Stompers
    DJ; DJ Munkie C aka Roger Cassanova
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    danalambertdanalambert member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited November 2012
    We just got married last weekend in NOLA - also a destination wedding for everyone! 

    DJ Jack Magic for the first 2 hours of the reception.  We used him more for first dance, announcements, jazz and "lower key" but fun songs leading into the BM and MOH speeches and cake cut.  He was great - incredibly professional and I know others have used him for more of a dance driven aspect and had great things to say.  He also supplied the sound equipment for our ceremony.

    Band - Coolbone - for last 2 hours of the reception and the second line.  All i can say is they were the HIT of the wedding.  They're a brass band, but they can play a range of music and they had people on the dance floor.  They're lead singer Steve has a solid voice as do the other 7 members of the band.  Great trombone, trumpet, drum solos in the songs.  We gave him a kind of hit list of some of our songs and then just let them go for the rest.  They led our 2nd line at the end of the reception out to the shuttles.  Our guests were talking about them all weekend and it really gave all the out of towners a real taste of NOLA music :)


    dml
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    ZeroOrchestraZeroOrchestra member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    edited November 2012
    We did the same as Louisianablue. Our ceremony musicians were also the Courtyard Kings, second line band was Rebirth and DJ was Ron Folse at New Orleans Top DJ. Reviews for all 3 are in my bio.
    photo stringerbell_zps0f292e80.jpg Married! in New Orleans
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    SEJNCSEJNC
    First Comment First Anniversary
    We had 3 bands. New Orleans is known for food and music and that's what we wanted to focus on. We scrimped elsewhere. 

    We used the Courtyard Kings for our ceremony and cocktail hour, the Storyville Stompers for the second line, and the Blackened Blues Band for our reception. All were fabulous (and completely different)! Our bands completely and totally made the wedding!
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    mnolsmnols
    First Comment
    We used Smitty Dee's for the secondline and DJ Jack Magic for our ceremony music and reception.  All were great and on the lower end of the price range for secondline bands/DJs.  Highly recommend both!
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    MarcusandMelissaMarcusandMelissa member
    First Comment
    We used Harry Hardin for our ceremony, Omega sound as the DJ for our cocktail hour and the Rebirth Brass Band for our reception and Second Line.  All were amazing.
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    katiebaran6katiebaran6
    First Comment First Anniversary
    Thank you so much for all the recommendations!! This is been by far a HUGE help because we were completely at a lost. We definitely want to focus on great music and food for our guests considering almost all of them will be traveling to Nola. And my fiancees one requirement to our wedding is he wants everyone to have fun. Thanks ladies!! Quick question. Whats a reasonable expected budget for musicians in total with a second line, live band and DJ? Just wondering what the average was?? Thank you!
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    katiebaran6katiebaran6
    First Comment First Anniversary
    Do you know how much it roughly cost to have rebirth??

    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_second-line-live-bands-and-dj-recommendations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:84Discussion:7cdc5d1a-4b5c-43cf-a32d-41dbbd9f8d6aPost:9b2a7a01-3d5f-4a5f-b40c-93f13ae7616d">Re:Second Line, Live Bands, and DJ Recommendations?</a>:
    [QUOTE]We did the same as Louisianablue. Our ceremony musicians were also the Courtyard Kings, second line band was Rebirth and DJ was Ron Folse at New Orleans Top DJ. Reviews for all 3 are in my bio.
    Posted by ZeroOrchestra[/QUOTE]
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    ChrissyBeachBrideChrissyBeachBride member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    Live reception bands are about $2500-$4500 depending on the band.  Brass bands for the 2nd line are from $550-1200 and a Dj is from $500-800.  Everything depends on the amount of time, and which band or dj.

    Hope that helps.
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    SEJNCSEJNC
    First Comment First Anniversary
    In Response to <a href="http://neworleans.weddings.com/Sites/weddings/Pages/main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_second-line-live-bands-and-dj-recommendations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:84Discussion:7cdc5d1a-4b5c-43cf-a32d-41dbbd9f8d6aPost:06a00096-97c8-4c6a-bf06-49970eed1f14">Re: Second Line, Live Bands, and DJ Recommendations?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Whats a reasonable expected budget for musicians in total with a second line, live band and DJ? Just wondering what the average was?? Thank you!
    Posted by katiebaran6[/QUOTE]

    <div>We paid $3k for our reception band (Blackened Blues Band) - we got the 7 piece version of the band (with two horn players) so I thought that was a pretty good deal. </div><div>
    </div><div>The Courtyard Kings I believe were $700 for up to 3 hours for the three piece band. We had them play prelude, ceremony and cocktail hour, so 2 hours, and I thought it was totally worth it. </div><div>
    </div><div>The Storyville Stompers were around $800. That's a lot for 20 minutes or so, but it's hard to put a price on the second line, which is an experience you and your guests will never forget. Also totally worth it.</div><div>
    </div><div>Although we spent a lot on music, I thought $4500 for all three bands was good considering that a lot of reception bands alone cost that much.</div>
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    mgray415mgray415
    First Comment
    We go married two weeks ago and used Louisiana Spice.  They were AMAZING!  Everyone was on the dance floor the whole night.  They catered to everyone's tastes so that grandparents, parents, and friends were all thrilled.  We got so many compliements on them and they were super easy to work with as well as affordable compared to other popular bands.  I wholeheartedly recommend them.
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    dreamgal8dreamgal8 member
    First Comment
    Smitty Dee's performed a second line at my wedding. I found out a year after my wedding that my wedding guests had to pay them several hundred dollars out of pocket when they were threatening to leave before performing (bc a guest passed out in the middle of the ceremony and 911 had to be called; the band got tired of waiting). They didn't play the song that was requested to be played upon the bride and groom exiting St. Louis Cathedral. They LEFT THE BRIDE AND GROOM and proceeded down the street, leaving my husband and I to have to RUN several blocks in our wedding attire to catch up with them!!?!? Then once we caught up, they stopped dancing. They literally WALKED the rest of the way to the reception venue. ALL of their music was monotonous and not exciting. They were the part of our wedding we were most looking forward to showing out out of town guests to give them a NOLA wedding experience. They were the WORST part of our wedding! DO NOT BOOK THEM FOR ANYTHING! They were by far the worst decision I made for my wedding.
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