Archive for the ‘Weddings’ Category

Motown Themed First Dances

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

We are often asked about suggestions for 1st Dance ideas and today are concentrating on Motown themed first dances for a Motown Supreme client. Here’s a few we have come up with….

I’ll Be There – Jackson 5

My Girl – The Temptations

Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

For Once In My Life – Stevie Wonder

Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye

Let’s Stay Together – Al Green

Tired Of Being Alone – Al Green
We performed this once for a wedding and lyrically it’s a strange choice however first dances are not always about what the lyrics say, more often than not it’s about the connection the couple has with the song.

Reach Out I’ll Be There – Four Tops

It Takes Two – Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston

 

Fantastic Entertainment Packages

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

It’s not been long since we officially launched our ‘MIB Experience’ package, and already we’ve found clients are jumping on the idea of having us organise their whole day & evening’s entertainment. I thought it might be nice to take you through a few options that people have gone for so far… The fact that this idea is completely tailored to exactly what you personally want, seems to be what people are attracted to… (and if you haven’t had a play on the website yet then I highly recommend you do – its very interactive and good fun!)

Wedding – July 2013

We met up with this lovely couple a few weeks ago to come up with some ideas for their big day. The main focus for them was just the fact that they LOVED live music, and wanted it to play a real part in their day. They didn’t particularly want  anything too traditional or typical either – so rather than string quartets, jazz bands and classical singers, they were interested to hear some original ideas.

We’re very excited about the package they’ve gone for – its going to be absolutely unforgettable!

The Schedule

The Ceremony: They decided to go for a singer and acoustic guitarist here, which you don’t see that often in the ceremony but I find is just lovely. It definitely brings a less traditional feel to the ceremony. The duo will learn and perform the song of the couple’s choice – and this can take the place of a reading within the actual service.

The Drinks Reception: Our fabulous ‘buddha bar’ sax set will be played over the drinks reception… this is where our saxophonist will improvise over ibiza style ‘chill-out’ tracks. Its a fantastic alternative to jazz or classical music, and is totally modern and different which is the vibe that this lovely couple wanted to go for.

The Wedding Breakfast: They went for something a bit different here – adding in the Live Loungers to perform beautiful relaxed arrangements of well known pop tunes (Rhianna, Adele, Pixie Lott etc), but also arranging a surprise performance of our ‘Undercover Superstars’, who will be posing as a waiter and two guests throughout the meal, and will then burst into song and shock everyone! Great fun!

The Evening Reception: The MIB 12 piece hits the stage, with a selection of rock, pop, disco and motown hits which will keep everyone dancing til the early hours, and our DJ to fill in the gaps!

What they had to say:

‘Its such a relief to let you guys deal with the whole entertainment package – I had envisioned a complete nightmare trying to co-ordinate everything. Also, thank you so much for your fantastic input…you’ve introduced us to a whole load of  ideas that we didn’t even know existed for weddings!’

Corporate Event – December

These guys were really taken with the 12 piece MIB, and as they are holding a very large event for their christmas party (which has a conference earlier in the day and then the party during the evening), seemed to be keen to have one company who would take charge of all of the entertainment for the whole event.

The client started looking at the experience package options – however also came across our ‘Crazy Xmas Band’ and fell in love with them! So…we swapped into the package the Crazy Xmas band, rather than some of the earlier extra sets.

The Schedule

Drinks Reception: Live Loungers to perform lush background music to set a lovely atmosphere for guests as they chat.

Towards the end of the meal: The Crazy Christmas Band take to the stage, and start with some beautiful background traditional Christmas songs, and then work the guests onto the dancefloor for some festive fun!

Evening Reception: The MIB 12 piece perform 2 x 70mins of high impact party tunes – featuring 4 stunning lead vocalists, a 3 piece brass section, live percussion and a rhythm section that will get everyone throwing shapes on the dancefloor!

What they had to say….

‘We can’t wait to see the 12 piece band…its just going to be a fantastic evening, and the Crazy Christmas band look like such good fun!’

Jewish Wedding 

I love chatting to this couple about their wedding…in fact, its fantastic because their whole family has gotten involved in the planning stage which means we have got to know them all. Each of them has ideas, and the couple are keen to involve their close family members as much as they can with their big day, so we’ve put together a package that has brought in an element of them all! Its been an interesting one to plan, but I must say I think its going to be brilliant!

 

The Schedule

The Ceremony: They wanted to keep a sense of tradition here, so we’ve worked in our String Quartet to the package. They’ll be performing while guests arrive, and at points throughout the ceremony.

The Drinks Reception: This was a much debated topic, but in the end they went for the jazz trio here. The venue is very classic and traditional, and although the couple are relatively young, they’d like to keep a more traditional feel for this early on in the day.

Entrance Music: As the happy couple enter the wedding breakfast, they’d like to have the band play Bruno Mars’s song ‘I think I wanna marry you’.

Jewish Traditional Music: The band will then perform a 15-20minute Jewish medley, guaranteed to get everyone up on the dancefloor and kick off the wedding breakfast in full swing!

The Wedding Breakfast: This is where the whole family agreed perhaps things could get a little less traditional, so they chose to alternate between our buddha bar sax (which is very much a modern option), and a more classic piano and vocal duo. I think the mix of these two styles is going to be brilliant and will really keep the dynamics of the evening flowing brilliantly.

The Evening Reception: Keeping the ‘traditional vs modern’ themeing, the MIB 12 piece band will be joined by our string quartet, making the band into a mind-blowing 16 piece unit! The quartet will join for the party set and its going to be just stunning! Our DJ will be filling in on the band’s breaks and at the end of the night, then going for the club classics that the bride and groom know their friends will love.

What they have to say….

‘We are SO excited about our wedding now! We love the idea of the mix of tradition and a more modern take on things… our families are both relatively traditional and we wanted to encorporate that into our day, but with an essence of what we are personally into, as well as all our friends. Its going to be perfect!’

 

FAQ of the week: Should the band play my first dance?

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

This is a question that really depends on personal preference to the bride and groom, but here are a few factors to think about:

Its more dynamic for the band to play the first dance

In our experience here at MIB Music, we do find that the first dance is a fantastic opportunity to kick off the dancing/evening reception with a big bang! So…making your first dance as dynamic as possible is a good idea. If you get the band to play your first dance, its always going to have more impact than having the DJ play it, or a CD, and its then a great moment for the band to get straight into the rest of their set afterwards, taking advtantage of everyone being gathered around the dancefloor! (In fact, even if you do choose to have the DJ/recording played, its a good idea to have the band straight on after that anyway!)

 

However, bear in mind it may not sound exactly like the original…

If you’ve chosen a song which is personal to you, chances are you LOVE the original recording – and so, how would you feel about it being sung by a different singer? Also, instrumentally, it won’t sound exactly the same…no matter how great the band are! The recording will probably have multiple instrumental parts, and the band will need to simplify what they are playing in order to make it suitable for a live band.

This is something to also consider if you’ve practiced a choreographed dance and have moves to remember… if you’re waiting for that one cymbal crash or guitar part before you go to your next move, it may be missed out by the band and mean that you get confused in your dance!

Some bands won’t learn a specific first dance song, and you’ll have to choose from their list…

All of our MIB Music bands will learn your first dance song (as long as there’s enough notice and its a ‘band friendly’ tune), however a lot of other bands out there prefer not to, and will give you a list to choose from… In a way this is a good idea because at least you know they will be comfortable with the song, however it does mean you are limited as to what song you can choose.

The general consensus from us….

…is that if you’ve chosen a song that works well with a live band (and please do feel free to ask if you’re not sure if it will), and are Ok with it not sounding exactly like the original, then definitely go for the band playing it live! However if you’re really fond of the original recording, or worried about choreography (and want to practice at home), it might be better to go for the original recording.

 

A few suggestions… (although this is totally a matter of opinion of course!)

Classic tunes like ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, ‘Cant Take My Eyes Off You’ or ‘At Last’ work really well with a live band

Songs by artistes with particularly original voices like James Morrisson, or John Ledgend, you may prefer to have the original recording.

Anything thats very electronic (like a dance classic) or particularly orcehstrated (like Shirley Bassey) may be better to have the original recording

Songs like ‘Greatest Day’ (Take That), ‘Still The One’ (Shania Twain) and ‘Lets Stay Together’ (Al Green) are very popular tunes for a live band to play.

Another beautiful idea for a first dance…

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Last weekend we had the honour of playing this beautiful track for Anthony & Dejana’s first dance at their wedding in East Sussex. It was just gorgeous – what a lovely choice! I couldn’t wait to share it with you all…

This is Adele’s stunning cover of ‘lovesong’ by The Cure.

Enjoy xx

A little sneaky peak of some video testimonials for The MIB Experience…

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

This is a little sneaky peak of some of the footage for our new ‘MIB Experience’ video, but I couldn’t wait to show it to you all…

A few little snippets for you :)


 

A gorgeous wedding for Claire & Jules

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

A few weeks ago, MIB performed at the wedding of the lovely Claire & Jules at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel in Hampshire. I just wanted to share with you a few parts of the day as we feel that Claire & Jules went for a fantastic combination of our acts and extras.

Claire & her Mother met with us back in April this year to discuss the big day. It was clear that they wanted a package that would cover most parts of their day, and something with a touch of class! Claire’s mum was keen on the more traditional atmosphere, whereas Claire prefered a younger feel, and I think they got the combination perfectly.

The entertainment started off with a gorgeous saxophone set, playing jazz standards and setting a lush atmosphere while the guests chatted away.

Over the meal, our wonderful pianist Francis entertained the guests with well known classical numbers, movie themes and ballads.

The 7 piece band then took to the stage and entertained the crowds with 2 x 70minute party sets, which included a highlight for everyone at the end where Claire’s brother and a friend joined them to sing, which sent the audience into a huge frenzy!

All in all it was a fantastic day – thank you so Claire & Jules for looking after us so well!

Here’s a little feedback from the happy couple themselves:

Your performance was amazing, especially Rachael singing ‘Halo’ for the first dance, I have had so many comments about how well you played and sang it…wow!! And all the other songs…I thought the playlist worked really well. You all looked like you were really enjoying yourselves, which makes such a difference.

All the guests loved the performance with my brother, Stuart & Caroline. You were great letting them join in with you. My brother Stuart had a great time, so thank you.

Plus I loved the sax set played by Lindsay. I only got a glimpse of her playing at the reception as we were having to be photographed, but again I had great feedback from the guests at how refreshingly different it was. All the guys thought she was very sexy ;)

You were all so lovely & friendly, the stage looked great once you were all set up, and again I’ve had so many comments from friends and family as to how lovely you all were.

I just want to say a massive thank you for being over and above what I was expecting for a wedding band, you were such a big hit with all the guests! And to let my brother sing with you was excellent! Choosing a band for a wedding is really hard as its such a big day and I’m really fussy, but I’m so happy that you played my wedding and I will be reccomending you to everyone in need of a band for a wedding, or any big occasion. Thank you all so much! x

Many thanks to Reportage By for the beautiful photos!

The MIB Experience

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Yesterday we were incredibly pleased to announce the launch of our latest product and website – The MIB Experience. This is something we’ve been working on for absolutely ages, and it’s really exciting to now be taking bookings!

Something many of our clients have said about us is that they loved the fact that we have a number of different bands, a huge circle of musicians and a wonderfully flexible attitude when it comes to putting their entertainment together for their event. This has helped us to provide some fantastic packages for weddings, corporate events and private parties over the past few years.  More and more clients have been going for our package deals, and we wanted to put together the absolute ULTIMATE package for people who want something unequivocally top class.

The idea of being able to use just one supplier for the whole of your entertainment, sound and lighting is very attractive to a lot of people. Not only does it save oodles of time and hassle for you, but also usually means it will save you money too.

Not for the faint hearted, The MIB Experience features live music for the whole of your event, from start to finish. For weddings, this means your ceremony, your drinks reception, your entrance music to the wedding breakfast, during the meal, and of course the evening reception. We provide many options for each part of the wedding, so you can tailor make your day depending on your tastes and ideas. To finish off the day, the stunning MIB 12 piece band will perform during the evening reception 2 x 70minutes sets, backed with a DJ and full sound, lighting & staging.

This has been designed with clients in mind who want something super special and bespoke, who love live music and want a real sense of ‘wow-factor’ to entertain their guests.

I’d highly recommend checking out the website for more information. It’s an interactive site (which is ever such fun) and means you can play around with different options for each part of the event. There are also lots of ‘optional extras’ which add a little to the cost, but are well worth having a look through. These include things like having a song especially written by one of our in-house writers for your big day (perhaps for your wedding ceremony or your first dance), or perhaps adding in our ‘Undercover Superstars’ (singing waiters) into the package.

For anyone who is interested in package deals, it’s well worth checking out a few of our smaller packages also, to be found here on the blog. And any ideas you have, just let us know. We can completely tailor a package for you based on your own original thoughts & ideas.

 

Thanks to Matt Pereira & Ken Buist for the lovely photos for this blog :)

 

A Story that will make you smile…

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

 

I just wanted to share this story with you, because it TOTALLY makes me all goo-ey inside! You know when you hear something and just think….’ahhhh now that’s what life is all about!’  This is one of those stories!

21st Century Riot were playing at a wedding a few weeks ago. All was going well…the guests had obviously had a fantastic day, the band had gotten set up, and were mid-way through their first set. Guests were up on the dance-floor, arms & legs flying all over the place, happy smiles everywhere….all was going well.

Jay (our lead singer of the band) was mid way through singing, when an older lady came up to him. ‘This lady was trying to talk to me, but it was while we were playing and I couldn’t really hear her. I suddenly got the fear that perhaps she thought we were too loud, so I gestured over to our soundman and explained that he would be able to help and try to sort it out.’

So, off she pops to our sound man and has a chat with him. Once the band were on their break, she approached Jay again, and explained what she’d been trying to say. This lovely lady and her husband had met 47 years ago to the day, and the first song that they had danced to on that day was ‘Walk the Dog’ by the Stones. She was wondering if the band knew the song and could play it for them. Sadly, the band didn’t know it and apologised as it would have been a lovely idea.

However, back in their dressing room, the boys talked it over and decided to get their iPhones out, download the song and learn it. They didn’t have long, so God knows how they managed it, but the whole band managed to learn the song, and they surprised the lovely couple by playing the song in the 2nd set! This gorgeous couple were able to dance the dance that they did 47 years ago when they had met!

‘It was such a lovely atmosphere,’ explains Jay. ‘Everyone was gathered around the dancefloor, cheering and clapping. I think a few people were even in tears. It was a lovely thing to watch and I’m so glad we put the extra effort in to be able to make that happen.’

The whole thing just makes me realise how lucky we are to work with such LOVELY & kind hearted people. It would have been very easy for the guys to have said they didn’t know the song, and not thought about it for the rest of the night, but the fact that they put the effort in to doing that for them is just beautiful. This kind of thing is so lovely to hear, and we got some fantastic feedback from the client too…

‘What a fantastic thing for them to have done. It made such an impact and the band have my utmost respect for going out of their way to make it happen. The guys were absolute stars. I have not stopped smiling since the guys played for us.’

 

Awwwh! Thanks to Chris, the Groom, for his lovely words, and big love to our 21st Century Riot boys….they are lovely! :)

A truly inspiring wedding for Paul & Amy Schneider

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

On Sunday 29th May we had the honour of being involved in truly one of the most inspiring weddings we’ve ever had the pleasure of performing at. Paul & Amy contacted us back in August last year, and made it clear that when it came to planning their wedding, music was hugely important to them.

We worked closely with Paul & Amy, as well as the rest of their very lovely family, to come up with an entertainment schedule like nothing else I’ve ever seen before at a Wedding. We discussed quite a few different options, but after they came to see our showcase last September, Paul & Amy decided on a final line-up, and wowee did they make a fantastic choice!

Here’s a little rundown of the day’s entertainment. For couples that are really into their music, this is a true inspiration to how to make the most of your wedding entertainment….

2.45p.m We provided a fantastic string quartet that we often work with, ‘Tapestry’ to perform as guests arrived in the ceremony. This set a really lovely scene as guests arrived, and the quartet played a selection of Amy & Paul’s favourite music (all chosen by them).

3.30p.m I (Sera) performed a song in the ceremony. Amy & Paul chose ‘I’ve dreamed of you’ by Barbra Streisand. For some reason I’d not come across this song before, but it was just beautiful, and an honour to sing it for them (although somewhat nerve wracking!). Here’s a copy of the original if you fancy a listen…its very lovely…

4p.m-5.15p.m Tapestry then moved with the guests outside, and performed more of the bride and groom’s choices during the drinks reception.

5.45p.m-8.10p.m Once the room had been transformed for the wedding breakfast, our pianist performed 2 x 45mins sets of ‘movie themed’ songs (to match the ‘movie themed’ table names!). We hired in a beautiful white grand piano from Grand Hire Pianos, which sat on the white sparkly dancefloor, with a white stage and backdrop behind him. It was just gorgeous!

8.40p.m 1st dance (which was ‘the way you look tonight’) followed by MIB 12 piece band perform their first set. Paul & Amy chose every song in the set-list and we started off with some light jazz/swing like ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ and progressed into some fun party tunes like ‘Valerie’ and ‘Long Train Running’.

9.30p.m  MIB performed a 15mins Jewish Medley, again all songs chosen by our lovely couple. This included classics like ‘Hava Nagilla’ and ‘Siman Tov, Mazel Tov’ and got absolutely EVERYONE on the dancefloor. Great fun!

10p.m Our gorgeous saxophonist performed her Buddha Bar set, with our live percussionist. The idea of this is that they improvise to clubby dance style tracks, and Paul & Amy commissioned her to do this to a professional mix of their favourite club songs. It was absolutely awesome! Lindsay (sax) was up on stage in a gorgeous red sparkly dress, playing her heart out to tunes like ‘Footsteps’ and ‘Don’t Mess With My Man’. This went down a storm, and even got the older generation up dancing like they were on a night out in a posh London club :)

10.30p.m  MIB performed their 2nd set. This featured an epic Michael Jackson Medley, that we wrote and designed specifically for Paul & Amy. They were both keen that the music choices weren’t too cheesy, and we were really excited when they chose 4 of our favourite MJ songs (Don’t stop til you get enough, PYT, Off the Wall and Working Day & Night). It was really nice to be able to play some of his lesser known tunes – you always see bands playing ‘Beat it’ and ‘Billie Jean’ – but rarely hear these songs played live (ha, probably because they’re ridiculously hard!) so it was really great to spend some time on these great tunes. We also got to play my all time favourite song, ‘Waiting for a star to fall’ – which brought a tear to my eye!

11p.m 21st Century Riot then took to the stage, performing a set of indie and rock covers. We were a bit nervous about this bit, worried that the rock music might be a bit out of place, but everyone flocked to the dance-floor and boogied away to tunes like ‘Mr Brightside’ and ‘My Generation’. Soooo very rock and roll – I really enjoyed watching this set!

12a.m MIB performed their last set, which featured lots of modern hits like ‘California Girls’ by Katy Perry, and ‘Crazy in Love’ by Beyonce. We ended on a very cool anthems medley, which featured ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ and ‘Living on a Prayer’, and got the whole crowd playing air guitar!

We had such an amazing day and would like to thank Amy & Paul for including us such an awe inspiring wedding! :)

Here’s what Paul had to say:

‘Dear Sera, Helen and everyone at MIB,

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

We cannot stop talking about the weekend. The text messages, guest book feedback and facebook posts were incredible and keep coming! We also had 58 guests staying over and all of them were very very complimentary and raved about so many different aspects of the wedding.

The one thing everyone kept asking was: where did you find that band?! People raved about the ceremony song and said it made them cry, all said the Quartet were great and that the pianist during dinner really helped to set the mood. Beyond that, the five different sets all received amazing reviews. Particular highlights were the MJ medley, the jewish music (very well done), the end medley people said was so so different, plus the fantastic Buddha Bar set and Riot sets which people did not want to end!!!

Amy and I remarked to each other that of every penny we spent, the best money spent was on MIB! We stand by that!

We were so so pleased. We had such amazing comments and having been to 15 or more weddings in recent years we know we had the best and others also said you were the best. We just had this hunch you were going to be amazing and we were right.’

And some feedback from the rest of the family…

I just wanted to email you to let you know how fantastic I thought you all were on Sunday.  From the first time Paul showed me your website, to seeing you perform a sample set many months ago, I knew you guys would be outstanding and you definitely lived up (and surpassed) my expectations.

Sera, your solo song ‘I’ve Dreamed Of You’ during the ceremony was incredibly moving.  Tapestry and the pianist were pure class, all three sets from MIB were perfect and uplifting, Lindsay’s Buddha Bar set was amazing and 21st Century Riot rocked the Langham.

Everyone I spoke to throughout the night commented on the music and how fantastic you all were.  There was something for everyone and it was a delight to see the dancefloor full all night long.

After months of planning the day flew past so quickly but the memories will last a lifetime.  I cannot wait to see the video footage later this summer and I will make sure you receive a copy to use as you see fit.

Thanks for making Paul and Amy’s day so memorable.

David’

‘Hi Sera,
What can we say.   Faultless, amazing, professional, exciting.

From the moment we met you for coffee last year we knew all was going to be great.
You were as excited as Gerald and I as we discussed Amy and Pauls ideas.

Of course once we saw you and the team perform at the showcase event we were
even more convinced because you could provide all the different kinds of music we were wanting
for the wedding. Such a variety, each section adding another twist, each one a talking point.

Sera, when you sang during the ceremony, both Gerald and I had tears in our eyes, your most beautiful
voice, unforgettable, one of the highlights of the whole day for us.

Please pass on our thanks to each and every one of the team, and we wish all of you well in the future.
Hopefully, we will see you again sometime

Best wishes
Gill and Gerald Schneider’

A Beautiful Wedding packed full of live music for Hannah and Karl

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

We were honoured to be part of Hannah & Karl’s special day at Stoke Park (Bucks) a few weeks ago. They obviously wanted to have a music-packed wedding, and we happily arranged the whole day’s entertainment for them.

The afternoon kicked off with Live Loungers who performed during the ceremony, including a beautiful rendition of ‘True Colours’ by Cindy Lauper.

‘The ceremony was gorgeous,’ said Rachel, who took lead vocals for Live Loungers. ‘I loved performing in the ceremony – it was a really personal and special touch to have the live music added to this part of the day.’

Live Loungers then moved out onto the terrace where they entertained the guests during their drinks reception, performing lush arrangements of well known pop and jazz tunes.

As Hannah, Karl and their guests sat down to dinner, our solo vocalist Emily Louise performed and kept everyone entertained with her gorgeous vocal tones!

Our DJ then kicked off the party as the guests finished eating, warming them up for Funkadelics, who then really kicked the party into gear! However not before the gorgeous couple performed their first dance, which was to ‘Feels Like Home’ by Chantal Kreviazuk (lovely choice too!)

The whole day went splendidly – we loved being so involved and having been able to design the whole days entertainment to flow from one act to the next meant that the whole schedule just worked perfectly.

We were very pleased to recieve this fantastic feedback from Hannah…

‘I just wanted to say a big thankyou to everyone who helped on our day on Saturday for our wedding. I cannot thankyou enough and every song that was sung was absolutely brilliant. All my guests kept commenting on how amazing the band was , the solo singer, dj, live loungers! I will definitely be using you again for any upcoming events I may have and will recommend you to anyone having a wedding.
You have all been so great and professional  right from the beginning, and I can honestly say my wedding wouldn’t of been the same without you guys. Every set matched the mood of the wedding throughout the day and the only wish I have is if I could of had you longer!
You really got the party started and the music was for all ages, I was so nervous about booking a band at the first but you really reassured me and exceeded all my expectations.’

Thank you Hannah & Karl, we loved every minute of it! :)