Ask The Experts: 5 Awesome Socially-Distanced Live Music Options For Your Wedding

Choosing your wedding entertainment can be a hard enough job at the best of times, so much to choose from, so many options and so many different budgets to work with. However Covid and all the limitations it brings with it has brought about new challenges when wedding planning. If you are currently planning a Covid friendly wedding then I have some first class entertainment advice for you today from Jonny Venvell from Encore Musicians. Jonny brings with him years of entertainment experience and is here to help you plan the perfect wedding entertainment for a wedding in today’s climate. We hope you find his advice helpful.

5 Awesome Socially-Distanced Live Music Options For Your Wedding

The Travelling Hands

Organising your wedding during lockdown certainly isn’t a walk in the park. You’re frantically trying to keep up with government guidelines, dramatically trimming down your guest list, and working out the most aesthetically pleasing place to supply hand sanitiser…
But we’re here to make sure finding the right wedding band for your special day is as simple as possible!

At Encore, we’ve helped match thousands of couples with the perfect musicians for their day. In this article we want to share with you our top 5 most popular COVID wedding music picks.
The options we’ve chosen are designed to work well at a wedding where the number of performers is limited and the performance may need to be outside.
The good news is, there are plenty of acts out there which work well at a safe distance. So you can book them with confidence, knowing they can still perform whatever the government guidelines are.
Let’s dive in!

String Infusion

Acoustic duo

• Price: £300-£600
• Styles: pop, folk, vintage covers

A staple for receptions and ceremonies for folky style weddings, an acoustic duo is perfect for creating a contemporary, rustic vibe. Comprised of a singer with an accompanying instrumentalist (usually a guitarist), these bands often have huge back catalogues of covers to pick from and they’ll often welcome suggestions from couples, so you can get the playlist just right!

Plus they’re very portable. Want them to sing you down the aisle? No problem. Perform at the reception? They’ll be there in a flash.

Check out one of our favourites, Social Season Duo below for inspiration:

Live band

• Price: £600-£1000 (3-piece band)
• Styles: upbeat, folk, jazz, mariachi

Looking for something a bit different? Why not book a small live band who can stroll around your reception entertaining your guests (at a safe distance of course!).

The most popular types of roaming bands are:

• Mariachi bands: great for an alternative wedding, mariachi bands will light up your dance with their traditional Mexican music and bright outfits. Usually 3-5 members.
• Ceilidh bands: they guys bring the folk music of Scotland and Ireland to your event and will have your guests dancing in no time. Ideal for anyone with celtic heritage (or anyone who likes to pretend they do)! Usually 3-5 members.
• New Orleans marching bands: get your guests tapping their feet to the tunes of Tin Pan Alley with some 1920s dixieland swing. These bands are perfect for a traditional English garden party style wedding or vintage Gatsy themed knees-up. Usually 4-6 members.

Here’s strolling band The Travelling Hands showing what they can do:

Pianist

• Price: £150-£300
• Styles: pop, jazz, classical

A pianist is the perfect COVID-friendly option. They’re incredibly versatile and play pretty much any style of music you could want everything from classical to hip hop. Plus they’re compact and won’t take up too much space – many will also bring amplification with them so you simply ask them to turn up or down the volume depending on whether they are background or ‘foreground’ music.

Here’s Encore pianist Michael Raggatt for inspiration:

Harpist

• Price: £250-£350
• Styles: classical, film music, jazz and pop covers

A harp is the perfect option for a sophisticated traditional wedding. The sight of these huge golden instruments being plucked is immediately striking enough, even before you hear the beautiful music they create.

The instruments are expensive, so if you’re having your wedding outside, they will need to be under cover.

Here’s harpist Elinor Nicholson performing at a wedding:

String quartet

• Price: £400-£1000
• Styles: classical, film music, jazz and pop covers

If you have a bit more space at your wedding, a string quartet is a classy COVID-friendly option. Firstly, they make their music without using their breath (like singers and wind instrument players) – so you could even ask them to mask up. Also, they can expand and shrink in size depending on your guest limits. Short on space? Just book a string duo – a violinist and cellist pairing who’ll be able to provide similar repertoire to a full quartet. Don’t have a tough numbers limit? You can go for a trio, quartet or even more if you can maintain social distancing!

Here’s our recommendation String Infusion showing how it’s done: 

We really hope you found our recommendations useful!

If you’d like to receive accurate quotes from available bands (anywhere in the UK), simply head to encoremusicians.com (or drop us a call on 020 3111 1480 and one of our booking specialists will be able to help you there).

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