Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a wedding band is like? Do you want to get a better idea of how the entertainment might run on your big day? Well you are in luck, because one of our top bands ‘Mister Kanish’ has given us the inside scoop on their 9 to 5... or should I say 10 to 3.
10:30am - 1pm
On working days we usually wake up late because we might have had a gig the night before, and we know that it will be a late one tonight. It's important to get lots of sleep so that we can perform at our best, but also make the drive home in one piece!
We have a hearty breakfast, because we are likely to be on the road during lunch time, and then a run through of the first dance for that day, just to make sure it's in the forefront of our mind.
Then it's time to pack the van - no gym needed on a gig day - moving our heavy equipment is workout enough! Next it's time to make sure we’ve got our performing attire fresh and clean! We check google maps to see how long it will take to get to the venue with today's traffic, pack some healthy snacks for the drive, charger for phones, and make sure we’ve got the contract and any other details we’ve had from the client via email. Heres a pic of Andy and Chris en-route to a gig...
3pm-5:30pm - Lots of our gigs are far away from home, so a 2.5 hour journey is quite normal, sometimes it can be more, sometimes it can be less. If it's much more than 3 hours we usually ask for accommodation to be provided at/near the venue.
5:30-7pm - We arrive at the venue and find our contact who can hopefully point us in the direction of where we need to set up, and where we can park (keeping our fingers crossed that it's not miles away). Then it's usually time to wait for for the speeches to finish, which nearly always run over (so don't worry if yours do!), then we can load in. Workout number 2 while we carry our heavy equipment into the venue. Once we've done that, sometimes we like to pose by a tractor with our instruments.
7pm-8:15pm- We eat dinner provided by the venue. We’ve had some amazing meals at venues, but occasionally they give us a plate of ham sandwiches and we cry. It isn’t ideal for vegetarian who is allergic to wheat (ahem-Chris). Before we go on we get changed into our gigging attire and run through the first dance one last time acoustically, out of earshot of the guests - don't want to spoil the surprise!!
8:15pm-9.20pm - We announce the cutting of the cake, which is a great way to get all of the guests near to the dance floor, so we can start the first dance with everyone already gathered around. Then it's time to ROCK THE PARTY with our first set.
9:20pm - We have a break so the guests can have their evening food. During the break we grab a drink, and get ourselves hyped for the next set. Sometimes there are photo booths, and if we are encouraged to do so by the Bride and Groom we will enter the Photo Booth and see what madness ensues! Here is the result of a typical Photo Booth photo...
10:00pm - We play the second set. - WE ROCK THE PARTY
10:50pm - Take another quick break.
11:10pm - midnight - WE ROCK THE PARTY for the final time. Before we go, we like to grab a quick 'wedding selfie' with the wedding party! Here's a recent one...
Midnight - after the encores are finished we start packing up and load into our cars. Workout number 3 begins - by this point our biceps put Arnold Schwarzenegger's to shame - "What's the matter Arnie, CIA got you pushing too many pencils?"
1am to 3am - We begin the drive home. Usually this is accompanied by lots of coffee and loud metal music to stave of the micro sleeps.
3am - Bed time at last! We'll probably have a nice long lie in tomorrow...
So there you have it, a day in the life of a wedding band! Of course, not every band works quite like Mister Kanish, but the vast majority of bands, particularly those we have listed on The Band Boutique website will have a very similar schedule and will operate in a similar way. If you want to find out more about Mister Kanish you can have a look at their website here.
Here's a little infographic we made up for you in case you found this useful information for your own wedding or event. Feel free to pin it over on Pinterest.
Thanks for reading, and let us know if you have any questions!
