Weddingbee Blog

Choosing whether to use a band or dj was one of the more difficult choices we thought we would make. Little did we know that once we chose to go with live music, the search for the perfect band would be intense! It’s really difficult from a thousand miles away to choose a band that will both fit our budget and our reception style. Sure, bands can say that they love to be energetic and get folks on the dance floor, but it’s REALLY tough to judge without actually seeing the band interact with the crowd.

Another tough thing about finding a band for our wedding is that we’re getting married in a small mountain town. I grew up there, and I know a few local bands. In fact, I went to high school with at least one of the band members of nearly every popular local band. They’re not exactly your typical wedding bands here in the good ole mountain towns, and most of the time they’re playing bar shows or “groove fests” in the winter. So the selection is very limited if you’re only willing to hire locally. The other option for us was to look at bands in Denver that would be willing to trek through the snowy mountains to entertain our guests. This is where I found Gigmaster to be so helpful.

Gigmasters is really a great site, because it allows you to search for different types of bands in your area, and it gives you a ton of feedback. You can search for bands, djs, and solo artists of all genres. The best thing though? Each band has sample songs and usually has sample videos of them performing. This was invaluable to us. It really allowed us to get a good idea of how they would interact with the crowd.

Using the search, we looked for bands near Vail that were dance and variety based. From here we were able to see the reviews and basic bio of the matching bands, along with their pictures and typical booking rate. We looked at a ton and ended up with a variety band from Denver called Deja Blu. The lead singer, Liz, was really accommodating, and she was willing to work with us on everything from the budget to the song list.

My mom actually still lives in Vail, and a few weeks ago Deja Blu happened to be playing at a music festival near her home. I asked her to do her first official MOB favor and attend the concert. I was so relieved when she said they were entertaining and had a great sound… finally, something that works with our budget and our expectations!

So after many many hours spent listening to various bands and sample CDs, we’ve finally sent in the deposit and I can cross one more thing off of my never ending list. I’m sure whatever band we would have chosen would’ve been ok, but we want one to get everyone smiling and more importantly moooovin! I know Champ and I will definitely be on the dance floor the majority of the night… crazy kids in love.

How did you find your ideal entertainment? Were you able to actually see your band perform before your wedding?