Like many wedding suppliers, Covid-19 has knocked me for six. As quite a new business, I was enjoying helping lots of you plan your big day and looking forward to my first full wedding season! Not only that, but most of my musicians saw their livelihoods wiped out in an instant.
But we’re still here, and starting to look to the future! With pubs and hotels likely to be reopening soon, it looks like small weddings might soon be possible too. At the time of writing, churches and venues can now hold wedding ceremonies with up to 30 guests. My musicians and I are looking at all the ways we can adapt our way of working, to give you the beautiful, live wedding music you always dreamt of. Here is a summary of all the things I’m working on.
If you already have a booking
First things first, I still have a handful of bookings this year which haven’t been cancelled or postponed. I’ve been in touch with most of you already to discuss the options. If you’re at all concerned about your booking, or would like to know what your options are, please do give me a call. The musicians and I have been working hard to find fair solutions for everyone who has had a Covid-19 affected wedding. Bride Lorraine wrote me a lovely review on Hitched earlier this month, after she postponed her wedding to next year.
If you have a wedding date but haven’t booked musicians yet
I’m sure you must be very frustrated, with your wedding planning put on hold. I imagine you’re also worrying about lack of availability now 2021 is likely to be such a bumper year for weddings! This is one of those times where working with an agency like Tailor Made Music Agency really pays off.
I have plenty of musicians to offer so availability is almost never an issue. You might not have quite as much choice if you leave it to the last minute, but you will still have options available. So whilst I would love to start talking about your wedding as early as possible, if you do need to leave it until much later, then we can work with that.
If you’d rather get on and start planning now (I know I would!) then get in touch. I’ve tweaked my terms and conditions to allow a bit more flexibility. This means if lockdown hits again and impacts on your new wedding date, neither you nor the musicians will lose out. I hope this will give you the confidence to go ahead and book your musicians, even in these uncertain times.
Can we have musicians at a socially distanced wedding?
There's likely to be restrictions on the number of people who can attend weddings for some time. If you book musicians it's likely you will need to make sure to include them in the total numbers.
While weddings are kept small, the focus will be on solo musicians and duos. Not only will this help with social distancing, but they’re also far more suitable for an intimate wedding. Anything bigger might be too loud and overbearing. Harpists, pianists, guitarists and string players are ideal for providing gentle background music and beautiful solos during your ceremony.
Musicians will take necessary health and safety precautions to protect you and themselves. We’ll need to ensure the instrument is set up at a suitable distance from guests but that you can still hear it! Every venue layout is different, but I will look at the space available and discuss the options with you before making my recommendations.
Have you had to postpone or cancel your wedding?
If you’ve already postponed your wedding, are you looking for a way to mark your ‘Would-be Wedding Day’? Check out my blog post on ‘lockdown weddings’!
