This tends to vary depending on which band you book, but we like to leave 2 hours to set up. We bring along a professional sound man who will usually arrive a little earlier than this whenever he can, but 2 hours is the minimum time we like to leave. This means we have oodles of time for surveying the playing area, setting up, having a good sound-check and dealing with any difficult sounding rooms, and of course tidying up the stage afterwards.

In restricted situations we can often get set up quicker than this, but this is the amount of time we like to leave so we can do the best job possible

This is a question we get asked all the time, so I thought it might be a handy thing to talk in more detail about.

It’s a tricky one – because I totally understand why you would want to have all your favourite songs played at your wedding or another special event – of course you would! However, there are a few things to consider…

1)      It’s worth listening to the expertise of your band… and keeping in mind that they play at events all the time, so will know how to structure a dynamic set-list. It’s actually quite an art – putting together a good set list – you have to think about many different aspects of the music, and the heights and lows of the evening. There are some songs that will work best in the first set, and some later on. You’ll probably want to start the evening on a high point – but then you don’t want to be ‘too high’ all the way through the evening, or there’ll be nowhere to build to! Similarly, you don’t want to be too ‘low’ either, or it wouldn’t be a very fun party! There’s a lot to think about. You may also find that the band like to Segway songs together, which is fantastic (because they will mix between songs like a DJ would) but does mean you’ll need to leave it to them to decide which songs work together.

2)      Some songs work better than others with a live band… A song that is a complete crowd pleaser for a DJ isn’t necessarily a good live band tune. For example songs that are very electronic may not always work as well with a band.

3)      Do you want to play to your audience’s taste in general, or play to your own tastes?… Again this is a tricky one, and there’s really no right or wrong answer because it’s your wedding! I think usually you can find a nice compromise though.

The best thing to do is get in touch with your band and chat through your favourite songs, and the songs they usually would play that go down well, and put together a setlist using their expertise, alongside your taste and knowledge of what you and your guests may want to hear.

This is a question we get asked a lot! We don’t tend to do a lot of public gigs, because we don’t tend to play in pubs or clubs – more weddings and corporate events. However we do organise regular (3 or so a year) showcase events, usually where we team up with some of our favourite suppliers/venues and show you exactly what we can provide, featuring all our bands/acts/and optional extras. This is not something you will find with many other bands, but we like to make the effort to put on free evening, not just for potential clients but also for our friends, family and past clients to come along and see us (they never get to see what we’re up to otherwise!). It’s always a great night and a fun evening out too – a free event in one of London’s top hotels, with around £20k’s worth of entertainment for your viewing and listening pleasure.

A lot of clients ask why we don’t allow them to come and see us at other weddings or private events. We never really feel comfortable asking our clients this because as far as we’re concerned, when we’re performing at someone’s event, we are 100% there to give them the best evening possible and don’t think it’s fair to have even one ounce of our concentration based on anything else, or anyone else. We also have to keep in mind that it’s their big day, which has had oodles of planning, thought and love put into it, and a lot of people don’t like the idea of strangers coming along, even if it is just to pop their head through the door.

So, generally you won’t be able to see us at another wedding, however we hope you can come along to our next big showcase event instead (dates will be announced on the blog/facebook/twitter), and occasionally our bands will play at charity events or festivals which we will also announce.