String Quartets For Weddings

It's wedding season again. A while ago I blogged about choices of music that brides made for their ceremony. Today I am thinking about what you get when you pay a group of musicians to set the right mood for your special day. Recently a bride asked me if we could give her a discount since she was "way over budget" for her wedding. (She is not a friend or even an acquaintance - I have actually never met this woman.) After I picked my jaw up off of the floor, I realized that people probably have no idea what it entails to perform in a wedding. It goes well beyond the 30 minutes before the wedding plus the ceremonial music.

You pay for:

• Spending time with the bride selecting the music for the ceremony
• Finding the sheet music (or arranging it which will require an extra fee - this takes a great deal of time)
• Rehearsing (probably an hour - we've played together before, but we might need to discuss and practice where we might end, depending upon how long it takes for certain things to happen)
• Transportation to and from the wedding. Even if the wedding is within 15 minutes, we like to carpool and we arrive early to set up and to make sure we don't get caught in traffic.
• And, of course, performing. Remember, it also took us many years to play at this level, so you are paying for our expertise.

Multiply this by 3 or 4, and we are into at least 10-12 hours. If a professional musician's time is worth $50-$100 and more per hour, then you get the idea why the price seems to be so much.

More on Wedding Music

Just curious. Why do brides want music from The Phantom of the Opera at their weddings? Maybe they like the tunes, but they come from a musical where a girl is stalked and kidnapped.

Bridezilla Followup

I just found this album on iTunes.  Love the title!

A Word For Brides

It seems to be wedding season, and the trio/quartet that I play in has been asked by brides to play certain popular tunes for their weddings.  We have a number of Classical/Baroque pieces in our repertoire which we use not only for the wedding ceremony, but also for the background music to set the atmosphere as the guests arrive.

But sometimes a bride gets an idea in her head that a song she just loves would be perfect for the ceremony.  Here are some things to keep in mind about special requests.

- Most popular music is not arranged for string quartet (or string trio).  One can buy piano/guitar/vocal music, but it can take an arranger several hours or more to put it into the correct scoring for the chamber group at hand.

- The ensemble must put in some extra practice time to work out a new piece.

- Some popular music does not translate well to string ensembles. (Some does.)

- Some music is not appropriate for specific parts of the ceremony.  Many brides love a slow piece and think that they would like to process with that piece.  It is my personal thought that the entrance of the bride should be a joyous, triumphant moment, and the accompanying music should reflect that.

- Pachelbel's Canon is overrated and overused.  (Okay, if you love Pachelbel, we are happy to play it for your wedding, and we won't make any disparaging remarks about it!)

So, if your heart is set on that certain song, don't hesitate to pay extra money for it since it will take extra time to prepare.

(Someone told me that when asked why it costs so much for a string quartet to play, they say, "Just call up four plumbers and ask them how much they would charge per hour on a Saturday afternoon." A string quartet will look reasonable in that comparison.)