How to Hire a Musician for Your Wedding

By taking your time and following a few simple steps, it’s very easy to hire a musician for your wedding. A live musician can make your special day stand out to everyone who attends. It provides a unique memory that you and your spouse can treasure throughout your life together.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Location for interviews/auditions
• List of musical requirements
• Internet access
• Recommendations

1. Sit down with your future spouse and make a list of each of your likes and dislikes. Take into consideration what style of music you both enjoy and the formality and theme of the ceremony.
2. Narrow down your preferences to three or four different options. This helps you make the process go more smoothly and will save you time and trouble as you interview musicians.
3. Go to your phonebook and look up “Musicians” in the directory. Most towns and cities have at least a few listings under this heading. If there are no listings, consider asking some of your friends and relatives for advice.
4. Make a few phone calls and set up some interviews with local musicians. Any reputable musician should be happy to submit to an interview and should have some sample recordings of his or her work.
5. Conduct your interviews carefully and take plenty of notes on each candidate. Make sure that the musician is made aware of your expectations. Also, make sure that he or she is able to meet the dress requirement, if any, of the ceremony. You don’t want a musician in jeans and a t-shirt showing up at a high formal wedding!
6. Make your decision and enjoy your day with the added touch of a personally selected musician!
   
   

Tips & Warnings

• Take your time and start early. Give yourself plenty of breathing room for interviews and time to think about each candidate.
• Ask the musician to bring along a recorded sample of their performance or, better yet, ask him or her to give a brief live audition. This helps assure that what he or she is promising you is what they will be able to provide.
• Ask the musician where they will be performing in the near future and attend if it's not a private engagement or party. This enables you to see how they perform in public and how they conduct themselves in a large crowd.
• If your local phone directory doesn’t have any listings for musicians, consider going online and visiting a phone directory website. These websites allow you to expand your search into close by areas that may not be listed in your local directory, but will still be close enough to find a musician.
• Make sure that you have at least a recording of the musician’s work if not a live audition. Don’t just take their word that they are talented.
• Draw up a contract with the musician before you give a deposit. Any reputable musician will gladly enter into a contract that sets the date and terms of the performance.
• Make absolutely sure that you are happy with the musician before you sign the contract or give a deposit. Many times deposits are non-refundable regardless of the circumstances involved, and some contracts even require full payment or a substantial cancellation fee if the job falls through.

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