Fun times at Hawkstone Hall, Shrewsbury with the new Mr and Mrs Barnes! Oh yes, definitely fun times for all. Fun times for HARD TO HANDLE BAND, because we got to play music as a Shropshire wedding band for a really cool group of people, from the bride and groom Charlotte and Oakleigh, through various guests who strutted their stuff on the dance floor while wearing tuxedos and 1930s flapper dresses, through children who busted out choreographed dance moves, to of staff dancing to our heady mix of rock, pop, indie, pop-punk and more behind the bar. How did this come to pass?
members
For us, it all started (as it often does) with an enquiry which reached us via the contact page on our website. If you haven’t done this yet, it’s a super easy way to get in touch – just fill out the details you know including contact details and we’ll get right back to you. It doesn’t matter whether you know your wedding date and have hired your venue or haven’t gotten that far yet and are simply looking for basic information about Shropshire wedding bands; just let us know what you want to know and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours – you will usually receive a reply a lot sooner, but it’s always best to include your contact phone number when you get in touch with us; otherwise as emails can often to your junk mail folder, you might miss out on hiring Shropshires’ most entertaining, versatile and popular function bands, and you wouldn’t want to miss out, would you?
In addition to submitting an enquiry via out website, Charlotte was also looking for a Shropshire wedding band on the Hitched platform, and although our Hitched page only shows a small fraction of the wedding band content you will find at www.hardtohandleband.co.uk (videos, music, news, answers to frequently asked questions and video reviews just like this one), it’s a useful comparative tool as it collects lots of service providers for you to submit enquiries to.
Even with just a few Hitched videos and reviews, it was clear from the outset that Charlotte was quite taken with the service we offer, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that unlike some other Shrewsbury wedding bands, HARD TO HANDLE replied to her enquiry within an hour – not just with a basic email and a rough quote but with a phone call, during which we were able to get an idea of what she and Oakleigh wanted to achieve for their Shropshire wedding entertainment. This is the reason why we ask for a contact phone number when you submit an enquiry – it means that we can talk to you to find out your requirements. As a professional Shropshire wedding band we know that brides and groom have different takes on what is the perfect wedding entertainment. It could be about the type of songs you want to have played for live band sets or it could be about you curating DJ sets (we offer a live DJ service on every HARD TO HANDLE booking free of charge), or it could even be to get an idea of how you want your wedding to “feel” – for example, you might want your wedding to be formal and grand, or relaxed and more boho.
As emails isn’t the most expressive format for getting a real feel for what you what you want your Shropshire wedding reception to be – and more specifically how you want the wedding band you choose for live music entertainment – we think it’s all the more important to be able to talk to clients via phone, or even via Whatsapp video if you prefer. It’s also really useful for you to get a feel for what we can offer as a band. We’re not just talking about our music service, which is admittedly absolutely superb:
- professional live three-piece function band
- 2 hours of classic and contemporary live band music featuring rock, pop and more
- live DJ performing sets before, inbetween and after live band sets
- choose from our playlist of over 350 songs or request your own favourite songs
- sound system and lighting
- all travel costs
- non-stop entertainment
- a full dance floor, all night!
It’s also about the ancillary service we provide which sits around and supports the music we will play for you on the night – like liaising in advance with your venue to ensure we know the optimum time to arrive to start setting up, how much space we will have, if we need to perform using the venues’ sound system, when to announce last order, when curfew is and more. You would be surprised if you knew the number of Shropshire wedding bands who arrive at a venue on the day (often late) without knowing who to speak to, where to set up and when to start!
Most importantly though, it’s all about the conversation we have with you as a bride and groom in that first phone call which allows us to build up a body of knowledge about the style of entertainment you want and how you want to a live music band to reflect your own personality and music tastes. As a professional live wedding band performing over 200 bookings each year, we have learnt that phone calls with you are invaluable.
So when Charlotte got in touch, she talked, we listened, she asked question, we answered and then provided a specific quote there and then. By the way, what’s up with these bands who don’t seem to be able to give anything other than a vague quote for their services? It doesn’t really give you a clear picture of whether they are providing value for money and makes you think that they might try to upsell you or increased their fees at some point. Very dodgy!
We were also able to provide Charlotte and Oakleigh with answers to questions they hadn’t thought of asking; for example – Hawkstone Hall is a venue which likes to be hands on and offer the service to wedding couples of playing the first dance through their speakers. Now while this is all very admirable, from our perspective it makes more sense for us as a wedding service provider to do this ourselves – it means that all the music is done “in-house”, which makes your all-important walk into the room as husband and wife first dance seamless and hiccup free. We could of course have let the venue take care of this but we prefer to do this ourselves and it’s this pro-active approach which we believe sets HARD TO HANDLE apart from other Shropshire wedding bands.
After having built up a picture of what Charlotte and Oakleigh wanted and quoting then, they enthusiastically got us booked in, and from there until the big day seemed to go really quickly, and before we knew it we jumping up and down like lunatics, entertaining their guests and playing ALL of their song requests:
SET ONE
Dancing in the moonlight
You make my dreams come true
I’m a believer
Sweet home Alabama
One way or another
Le Freak
Go your own way
I’m still standing
I love rock and roll
Don’t stop me now
Living on a prayer
La vida loca
Highway to hell
SET TWO
Can’t take my eyes off you
Watermelon sugar
Green green grass
Dance with me
She’s so lovely
I got a feeling
Blinding lights
Happy
Moves like Jagger
Get lucky
Shut up and dance with me
Can’t stop the feeling
Year 3000
SET THREE
Wonderwall
Rock star
Poker face
Locked out of heaven
You got the love
Somebody told me
All the small things
Chelsea dagger
Bet you look good on the dance
Mr Brightside
Don’t look back in anger
Teenage dirtbag
Country roads
It was certainly a packed night on the dance floor, and Charlotte and Oakleigh loved our high energy performance style. Charlotte said “you were amazing!” and called us “rock angels” – which is certainly a new commendation for us, but hey, it means that we made a great impression! We loved playing for this superb couple, and you’ll love us playing for you too, so get in touch!
https://hardtohandleband.co.uk/
0796 433 5657