My fiance and I met and fell in love during our six years of living in the Caribbean, so I think it would be a great touch to have a steel pan player do the music for our ceremony.
I'm having a difficult time finding one, and I was wondering if anyone out there had any advice -- either recommendations, or ways that I can find a musician who plays a very specialized instrument. I've looked at GigMasters and GigSalad, and there was a live music guy who works with our DJ who was trying to get us someone (at a very substantial markup for him -- so we told him no thanks. Unless you think $600 is what someone would actually charge for less than an hour of playing.) We've also got friends in the islands finding out if they know anyone who can locate a player for us.
We're fine with having a kid play -- in the Caribbean, kids learn steelpan in elementary school -- as long as it's a kid that will do a good job. But I'm not sure where to find these kids. I'm going to try to contact Caribbean student associations at the DC area universities, and I'm also going to try to get in touch with local cultural organizations.
Any other suggestions are more than welcome!