Timing for reception & band?

emilyinboston

FI and I found a band that we really like, and the price that was quoted to us was based on having the band for 4 hours at the reception (we already have ceremony & cocktail hour music set up), but our reception time (dinner & dancing) is 5 hours...

-Is 4 hours the norm for a band?
-Do we need to hire them for an extra hour? They're expensive enough as it is but we'd do it if we have to.

jay10

we were the same, our reception will be 5 hours...i told the band in the beginning and we kinda know them so they said no problem.....
they probably would charge you for the extra hour I would imagine?
our band is going to play ipod music in between sets , maybe that could be an option for the last hour?

bostonbride214

They may have quoted you for the 4 hours that they will actually be playing during a five hour repletion since there are typically two breaks. But then again our band's breaks were 20 min (this was when they ate) and then a 15 min break during the third hour. We looked at 10 different bands and they all quoted us five hours.

Can you ask them to re-quote you for five hours - it may be more economical than an additional hour charge. GL!

killian09

Our band did 4 hours it was plenty of time honestly.    Don't stress.  We had 1 hour for the ceremony, 1 hour for cocktails, 4 hours for dinner and dancing.  The band just covered those 4 hours.  My venue said that was a very common schedule.  Everyone stayed to the end and said--wow that was so fun and went by so fast!  Much better to have people say that than to have it drag.  We did have the option to extend our time either with the whole band or with just the bandleader DJing, but we preferred having live music for the full four hours and then calling it a night.  We served a three course meal (salad, soup, entree), and then of course cake, tea, coffee, and there was plenty of time for dancing.