WEDDING BAND DEVON
High energy three-piece live band + DJ perfect for Devon weddings. 350 song playlist, over 700 gigs played. Devon wedding bands don’t get better than HARD TO HANDLE BAND! Available in Exeter, Plymouth, Dartmouth, Totnes, Teignmouth, Torquay, Okehampton, Bideford, Tavistock, Cullompton, Newton Abbott and throughout Devon.
We like to think that we are the perfect wedding entertainment for small to midsized weddings throughout Devon. Why? Each year, over 100 brides and grooms from Devon and further afield choose HARD TO HANDLE BAND to entertain them and their guests. Put simply – we get you on the dance floor. Our huge multi-genre wedding band song playlist and high-energy live performance ensures that you and your guests will have an unforgettable night.
We also provide a live DJ as standard, playing sets before, in between and after the band, which means seamless music from the very first song until the end of the night. Have you ever been to a wedding where a band or DJ has played songs that you don’t recognise? Playing music that guests don’t recognise is a great way to clear the dancefloor, so HARD TO HANDLE BAND make sure that all of our band and DJ music is instantly recognisable and dancefloor-friendly – there’s nothing too slow or obscure; just classic and contemporary hits that will keep the dancefloor full all night. Here’s who we are and what we do:
- Professional three-piece live Devon wedding entertainment featuring professional musicians
- More cost effective than most Devon wedding bands
- Highly experienced – over 700 weddings played
- 350+ song playlist including rock, indie, modern pop, soul and more
- 2 hours of live band music
- Live DJ as standard
- Sound system and lighting
- Non-stop music all night
- Choose your favourite music from our playlist or ask us to learn your favourite songs (including your first dance)
- Sound system and lighting
- Fully insured
- No hidden fees or agency commissions when you hire us direct
- Full dancefloor!
What makes HARD TO HANDLE BAND different from other Devon wedding bands? We’d like to think that’s it’s a combination of our professionalism, entertainment and reliability. The wedding industry is replete with all different types of entertainers, from pub-style amateur bands, through solo artistes, duos and jazz bands to large events bands; some are great, some are OK, but when it comes to Devon wedding bands some will be unsuitable for your requirements. This could be because the music they play won’t entertain your guests, they aren’t very entertaining or just don’t sound right – reasons that will be obvious when you watch their wedding music videos.
Unfortunately there are other reasons why some Devon wedding bands won’t be a good idea to hire at Devon weddings, and those reasons won’t be immediately apparent. When we talk about wedding entertainment professionalism, we‘re not just referring to how good and polished the band sound and how entertaining they are; we’re talking about how bands treat brides and grooms before, during and even after the wedding. It’s true that some wedding bands are unreliable. They cancel bookings, sometimes at the last minute. They break up and don’t return phone calls or emails. They arrive late and take hours to set up. The band members look bored and disinterested on stage, refuse to play song requests and are generally not providing good customer service.
Because all of this and more is true, we decided that we would use this as a template for how not to perform as a wedding band. Your wedding is a major life event; you have invested lots of time, energy and money into ensuring that you provide the perfect nights’ entertainment for your loved ones and you have a right to demand that the wedding band you have hired meets your requirements (not just the basics like actually turning up to perform, but making sure that they have prepared in advance, know the songs they are playing, learnt requests, as well engaging with you and providing superb live entertainment for the whole duration of the night) – something the best wedding bands should know.
This is what we do. Since 2008 HARD TO HANDLE BAND have been performing as a Devon wedding band to brides and grooms and it’s this wealth of experience which is a key ingredient in our ability to make your night one that your invitees will be talking about for days, weeks and months to come! For a quote or more information, contact us direct on 0796 433 5657 or us the form on our Contact page. We look forward to hearing from you!
How do I hire a Devon wedding band?
There are lots of ways to hire an energetic party band featuring talented musicians for your Devon wedding reception – you can look at bands for hire direct by contacting theme via their website, or you could try asking friends for recommendations. As you have also probably discovered, entertainment agencies make lofty claims about the bands they on their websites – “best wedding bands”, “the best Devon wedding band”, etc. Entertainment agencies are not price comparison websites however; they charge for their bands for hire and it will be you who pays the charge in the form of a commission built into the quote they supply you with when you make contact with them. It’s always going to be more cost effective to hire wedding bands in Devon through an entertainment agency, and sometimes it will mean you paying hundreds of pounds extra.
By far the best way of hiring a Devon wedding band is to do your research. Decide what type of music you would like to hear and whether you would like the party band to supply a DJ or if you’d prefer to hire one separately. Work out how long you would like live entertainment for, find live wedding bands direct and ask for a quote. When you do contact bands for hire, if you are specific in your request for information (mentioning the date and location of your wedding reception) then bands will be able to tailor their quote to meet your requirements.
HARD TO HANDLE provide 2 hours of live band music + DJ as standard and we don’t have any hidden fees – no accommodation or travel costs, no VAT and no charges for leaning extra songs. We just have one fee, and hire you hire us direct via this website you won’t be charged an entertainment agency commission. Perfect!
Which venues do wedding bands in Devon play?
When it comes to wedding bands Devon boasts quite a few but not all of them will be happy to perform at all Devon wedding venues. Why? There are lots of reasons, some understandable, some weird and wacky! As you might expect, a large corporate party band featuring six or more wedding musicians will be too large to take the stage at one of Devons’ smaller wedding venues, so it’s important to make sure that the band you are interested in hiring are suitable. Some bands will also have quite an extensive list of venues that they will not perform at, for reasons such as “too many stairs” or “too far to drive”. In this situation one would have to ask what other issues will they create…
…as just about the best wedding band Devon has to offer, our philosophy is a little different: if it has four walls, a roof and a power supply, we’ll play there! We have performed in lots of different types of venues, from small marquees in gardens at private houses through to large convention halls and all points inbetween. We’re happy to adapt to the environment we’re performing in to ensure that both you and your venue manager are happy with our set up. Nor all bands for hire will be able to do this.
Is my wedding venue too small for live bands?
Not necessarily! All of our band equipment is designed to be compact, meaning that we are able to fit into performance areas that larger bands are unable to, while still leaving plenty of room and the dance floor. Your venue manager will be experienced in hosting bands in Devon and will be able to tell you the maximum number of wedding musicians that are suitable for your venue, but they will definitely be happy to accommodate a three piece party band who are able to set up and perform in a space that might be too small for five or more wedding musicians.
Can we request songs?
A good professional live Devon wedding band knows that the best way to expand its’ repertoire is to play song requests. However, if it looks like a bands’ repertoire hasn’t been updated for several years, there’s a good chance that they are unwilling to learn your song requests. While some live wedding bands will learn song requests, they may charge you extra for the privilege, which can become quite expensive. There are even some unscrupulous entertainment agencies who will charge you extra for the band you have hired to learn song requests but will then pocket the fee and not pass it onto the band, which is a lose-lose situation for everyone but the agency. HARD TO HANDLE BAND never charge extra for learning songs – it’s our pleasure! We love learning new songs and it’s a great way for us to personalise the service we offer you.
Do we need to hire a DJ to play during the bands’ breaks?
If you look at your wedding evening as a block of time, possibly commencing at 6pm and finishing at midnight (the curfew for most wedding venues), the best live wedding bands are likely to perform live wedding music for approximately two hours, leaving four hours. If you don’t want your guests to be bored, it’s a good idea to hire some other form of entertainment, of which a DJ is probably the best option – a good DJ will not only be able to take song requests and keep the dancefloor full but should also be able to work with the band to ensure the vibe of the evening works.
Clearly hiring a DJ means and added cost, and if you have already hired on of Devons’ large, expensive function bands then you may suffer budget blowout. However, instead of paying far too much two separate services, you could hire one of the wedding bands in Devon which also provides some form of DJ music. But do be aware that when a band advertises “additional DJ music”, that might just mean that they play a preloaded playlist with no facility to take requests, and if your guests are lively and want to be interactive then they are likely to be disappointed with your choice.
HARD TO HANDLE BAND provide a live DJ service, missing music and taking song requests as standard FREE OF CHARGE! You won’t need to hire and pay for a separate DJ, and if your wedding venue is compact you won’t having lots of extra equipment cluttering up the performance area, leaving you and your guests plenty of space to get on that dancefloor and enjoy your wedding evening.
For more information on HARD TO HANDLE BAND, contact us direct on 0796 433 5657 or send us a quote request using our contact form
Hire Hard to Handle band in Devon
Get in touch! For enquiries or just to find out more about Hard to Handle band, fill in the form below. We aim to respond within 24 hours. If you haven’t heard from us by then, we may not have received your enquiry so please call us direct on 0796 433 5657.