Wedding Blog

My first experience with a band was about 8 or 9 years ago, when I attended my very first wedding. It was for one of my BM’s older sisters, and it was a lavish NYC affair. I remember walking into the reception hall and seeing a swing band perform for the first time. I had so much fun listening to the band that from then on, I knew that one day when I got married, I would want a band too.

Fast forward a few years to when I attended a wedding for a friend. It was the first wedding I attended that wasn’t for a sibling of a friend or family friend (yes, she was the first of my friends to go). It was a gorgeous NYC wedding in a loft, and when I walked in I was pleasantly surprised to see a band playing as well! They were just soooo good and it just reconfirmed my hopes in having a band (although the whole “swing” phase has long since died off).

If you know me you know that I’m a huge fan of concerts and live music. Years ago my friends and I would spend our weekends cheering for local bands at nearby bars, and I’ve even been to Bon Jovi concerts FOUR times, among many others.

Last year Mr. Martini and I attended the wedding of our friends Susan and Sam. I forget how the conversation started, but during the cocktail hour I briefly mentioned that the one thing I’ve wanted for a long time was a band on my wedding day. I was ok with cutting costs on anyyyyything else, but it had been a long time wish to be able to listen and dance to live music in a wedding dress. When I told Mr. Martini my hope and dream of hiring a band, he just thought it would be a waste of money.

That is, until we walked into the reception hall half an hour later and HE heard a band playing for the first time. I looked up at him with eyes that pleaded, “See? SEE? Totally worth the upgrade, no?” He nodded his head and admitted they were pretty damn good. Over the course of the night, this band really had the party going! They played everything from Usher to AC/DC to… yes….. BON JOVI’s Living on Prayer, which is like my personal anthem! I fell in love. This was the absolute perfect band.

When we got engaged I pretty much wanted to work the wedding date around the availability of this band (lol!). We were all set to hire, until we realized the cost to hire them, and we were on a budget. I was devastated. We did everything we could to arrange the budget around to work everything out. It took a while - many phone calls, editing and reediting of the budget, and even moral support from Susan, (who hired this band after seeing them perform at another wedding)…. but I am so excited to say that we have finally signed the contract to hire RESPEKT as our wedding band! We will definitely be cutting corners left and right for the rest of the wedding, but in the end it will be worth it. I can’t wait to play air guitar again with the main guitarist and his bright red guitar!

I was able to find a Youtube video of their sample music, but it really does not do the band justice.

Is there one wedding vendor you absolutely had to have?