Let's say you've always dreamed of having live musicians at your wedding—a DJ or, God forbid, an iPod, just won't do. Live music is more romantic, right? The Budget Guru asked Anne Roos, the author of The Bride's Guide to Musicians, for her advice on the unromantic matter of fees. (Anne has been playing the Celtic harp at weddings for thirty or so years, and she lives in South Tahoe, CA.)
Anne says, "Most musicians may charge a first-hour rate and then a reduced rate for subsequent hours (for instance, $299 for the first hour and $200 for each hour thereafter)." Or, they may simply charge you a package fee for the number of hours that you need them. There could be other charges added to this performance fee, which may include:
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1. Travel fee: If the musicians are traveling outside of their regular performing area, get a firm quote for their travel fee to your wedding venue. This fee may be based on mileage, driving time, highway tolls, public transportation, and/or accommodation expenses.
2. Rehearsal fees: If you want the musicians to attend your wedding rehearsal, they will certainly charge for their time.
3. New song fee: Learning new songs will involve practice on the part of your musicians, and it may even involve rearranging your song requests to accommodate the type of instruments they play. Therefore, they may charge you extra.
4. Cartage fee: Musicians may charge an extra fee if they need to haul their equipment to more than one location. For example, if you are having your wedding ceremony in a church and the reception in a restaurant, they may bill you for the time spent packing up their equipment at the church and then setting up again in the restaurant.
5. Setup fee: Do the musicians need to haul more equipment than usual? Do they need to do a run-through with your cousin, the vocalist, before your guests arrive? Do they have to get to the mountain ski resort early because the trams only depart every half-hour? These are the kinds of legitimate reasons why musicians charge extra for setting up at a wedding location.
6. Extras: Musicians may itemize everything when they are charging per hour versus offering a package that includes all your needs. If they are itemizing costs, they may charge extra for amplification, special attire and other items or equipment that they must rent for your wedding. To avoid extra fees, try to supply as much as possible. Get them any equipment that they need so that they will not have to rent it themselves and pass on the cost (and probably more) to you.
7. Roadie and sound-tech costs: Musicians will pass on to you the cost of hiring extra personnel, such as people to load, unload, set up and run errands. Alternatively, this cost may be included within their performance package quotes.
8. Hassle fees: Most musicians will charge an additional price to play at venues that are difficult to access, have no loading zone, charge parking fees, and so forth.
— Susan Schneider
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