A Venue Guide from a Band's Perspective
The secret to a smooth wedding day (and a packed dance floor)
The vibe of your wedding will be shaped in a BIG way by your music. If you’re planning to have a live band, that choice should influence your venue just as much as your guest count or desired aesthetic. Not all venues are designed with live music in mind. From acoustics to layout to sound restrictions, the space you choose can dramatically impact the experience on the dance floor. Consider this your live band checklist for a seamless night!
Time to break it down….. literally
☑️ Sound Restrictions: Sometimes the best looking venues make it difficult to create a party atmosphere. If your guests can’t actually FEEL the music in their bodies, let alone really hear it, you’ll lose them the opportunity to make your night absolutely epic. forget to ask if a venue has any decibel restrictions. We’ve performed at multiple weddings where staff have decibel readers that monitor our every sound and volume fluctuation. Volume and energy go hand-in-hand. Make sure you’re allowed to crank it so your energy can build! Consider having your quieter moments like ceremony, cocktails and dinner outdoors, then shift the dancing to an indoor location where loud sounds won’t get you shut down. It’s not a good look when the police show up at your wedding!
☑️ Ample Space: A luxury band takes up a large footprint. There are multiple musicians, vocalists, a sound team– not to mention all of the instruments and gear. An ideal stage size to accommodate a 10-piece band (4 vocalists, two horns, drums, bass, keys, guitar) is 12x24 feet. Any smaller and we have trouble moving around the stage as we dance (no standing still in our bands)! Too much larger and the band could be dwarfed by the space.Make sure you ask if your venue can even accommodate a stage. While a stage is not necessary for a band to perform, it does give us the literal and metaphoric platform to shine. It also allows easier interaction between performers and guests because the band is visible to everyone, not just your guests in the front row.
☑️ Dance Floor Placement (and where is the bar!?): ur favorite dance floors come right up to the stage. Having a wide space between the dancefloor and foot of the stage creates a psychological barrier that prevents guests from really connecting with the band. That lack of connection affects the whole vibe - you want your guests to feel like they’re part of the music, not set back from it.Is your dance floor too small for your number of guests? A dance floor needs to be inviting - and large enough for most of your guests to dance at the same time.The biggest mistake we see venues (and planners) make from a party perspective is placing the guest bars far away from the dance floor or in another room entirely. Sometimes it’s due to space constraints and other times it’s just an oversight. But when your guests get thirsty, they shouldn’t be sent too far away from the dancefloor for a refill. When this happens, you risk losing them completely. When the bar is in a separate room, guests tend to congregate and you lose the dancefloor.
☑️ Load-In and Logistics: Sure, this happens behind the scenes so you may think it something that doesn’t concern you as the client, but it directly impacts the band’s ability to perform once it’s show time. Difficult logistics can delay setup, limit production, or increase your costs. Can the band easily load in? Are there lots of stairs or maybe gravel paths that make wheeling sound equipment impossible? The band/sound team may need extra dedicated personnel to make load-in possible, or the venue may be required to provide ramps or plywood for easier load-in, which means more money out of your pocket. Does the band have enough dedicated circuits so the power doesn’t blow? Ideally the band should have 5 dedicated 20 amp circuits to guarantee there will be no issues with power. If you’re outdoors, do you have a generator that can handle the power needs of sound equipment, amps, lighting, etc.
Don’t tell anyone we told you this…🤫
Low-key secrets for a high-key perfect night
Use horns to transition guests from location to location within the venue to create a seamless transitions.
Re-use flowers from your ceremony or cocktails along the base of the stage to create a beautiful tableau.
When making your seating charts, make sure your older guests are seated away from the speakers, which usually flank the sides of the stage. They will be the first to complain that the music is too loud. Keep your rowdiest friends and family close to the dance floor and at those speaker-adjacent tables –loud music won’t bother them because they’ll be on the dance floor, not in their seats.