In the same way that you don’t necessarily have to celebrate your birthday on the exact date and you don’t have to organise your company Christmas party to fall on 25th December (which would be weird and poorly attended anyway), you don’t have to celebrate Halloween on 31st October – ghouls and ghosts are generally pretty relaxed and happy go lucky, so pretty much every day is a party for them, which is lucky because Chris and Claire had planned their Halloween-style wedding reception at Spicer Manor the day beforehand to allow the next day to be more about their children, which is a great idea when you think about it.
Yorkshire wedding receptions being what they are, as it happened there was more than enough party spirit created by guests, so any genuine ghosts and ghouls present would have felt properly at home. And with the bride and groom and wedding guests attired in Halloween-style fancy dress, it would have been hard to tell real living creatures and supernatural denizens of the underworld apart.
It behoves professional Yorkshire wedding bands performing at wedding receptions around Yorkshire to be well prepared for their bookings in advance. For HARD TO HANDLE BAND, this usually means:
- liaising with bride and groom to ensure we know what time evening guests are entering the room
- knowing what time, the happy couple would like to be announced into the room to rapturous applause from their friends and loved ones,
- learning the first dance and any other song requests for either our band or DJ sets.
- Speaking to the wedding venue in advance to establish any requirements they may have (such as using an in-house PA or other set up requirements).
But because this was a Halloween –themed wedding – or at least a pre-Halloween-themed wedding – as a professional Sheffield wedding band with innate joie de vivre one of our first questions was “are you doing fancy dress?” And when Chris and Claire answered in the positive, we jumped on this and broke out our three escaped psycho convict costumes.
If that sounds like fun, there’s a serious side: as a wedding band we want to make sure we are providing a personalised service. Your wedding reception should be a reflection of your own tastes and personalities. You shouldn’t have to settle for “off the peg” wedding service providers who do the same thing over and over again. When you hire a Yorkshire wedding band they should be able to reflect your tastes. If you have a theme for your wedding, they should come prepared, having learnt the music you want them to play, and if that theme is visual, wherever possible your wedding band should get the hell on board. If you feel there is refusal to do that, you may find yourself asking what else the wedding band are going to not do. Will they cur corners? Will they arrive on time? Will they try to shave minutes of the agreed playing time?
Of course is no cast iron 100% guaranteed way to confirm any of the above, but as a bride and groom looking for a professional Yorkshire wedding band, due diligence on your part will go a long way to help ease your minds. So when you have found Sheffield wedding bands you are interested in hiring, speak to them direct. Get a feel for how they treat you in that initial conversation. Are they polite, courteous and informative? Is the subject of the conversation just about them or are they listening to your thoughts on how to achieve the perfect nights wedding entertainment with guests on the dance floor for the duration? Also take a look at independent reviews which you might find on Google and Hitched. The truth is out there!
If we sound pretty confident in what we are saying, it’s because we know what we are talking about. Since 2008 we have been performing to bride and grooms in Yorkshire and all around the UK. From the outset we were passionate about providing real live wedding entertainment as an antidote to cheesy function-style bands that were set up to cater mainly to corporate events. And though we may have updated our playlist, this commitment remains the same. It translates to learning your first dance and other live band songs, providing a manned DJ service (our DJ mixes songs live and takes song requests on the night to keep the dance floor full) as well as speaking to your venue and other service providers in advance so we are all on the same page when it comes to organising your evening.
Talking of song requests, here is the playlist we put together especially for Chris and Claire:
SET ONE
A little respect
You make my dreams come true
Brown eyed girl
I’m a believer
Town called Malice
I love rock ‘n’ roll
You Really Got Me
I Saw Her Standing There
Sweet Child Of Mine
Summer Of 69
Don’t stop me now
Living On A Prayer
Proud Mary
SET TWO
I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You
Amazed
Heaven
Proud Mary
Friday I’m in love
I’ll be there for you
Valerie
Dance with me tonight
Shut up and dance
I will wait
All star
Locked Out of Heaven
SET THREE
Nothing else
Wonderwall
Place your hands
All the small things
Learn to fly
Seven nation army
I bet that you look good
Sex on fire
Teenage dirtbag
Basket case
Don’t look back in anger
Walking on sunshine
500 Miles
Of course, your wedding reception will likely be different. You’ll have your own song requests and you will want to do things your way, which is all good by us – you can choose songs from our huge multi-genre live band playlist https://hardtohandleband.co.uk/playlist/ or ask us to learn other songs.
Chris, Claire and guests loved our mix of music! Chris got in touch to say:
You may not be planning a fancy dress costume theme for your wedding reception or party but it doesn’t mean that you don’t get to have a fun. And by hiring HARD TO HANDLE BAND, you and your guests will have a truly memorable night, al night! So get in touch.
https://hardtohandleband.co.uk
0796 433 5657
https://hardtohandleband.co.uk/west-yorkshire-wedding-bands/