5 Ways to Book More Wedding Shows for Your Band

Are you a wedding band looking to get more shows? These days, it's easier than ever to tell the world about yourself. Follow these easy tips and fill up your calendar!

1. Be Active Online

These days, brides and planners do extensive online research to make sure they're choosing the perfect wedding band. Want your band to be found? Create online profiles!

You probably already have personal Facebook pages, but Facebook's free business pages can be a great way to promote your band. Create a profile, upload photos, videos, create events and more. If you'd like to get a little more advanced, you can create a website using a service like Wordpress, which allows you to create a site for as little as $10. Wordpress offers free themes so you can customize the design of your site and also includes plugins to collect email addresses, integrate your social media profiles and more.

⚡ Pro tip: Put the links to your online profiles on your business cards.

2. Play Shows That Aren't Weddings

"Play shows that aren't weddings? But we're a wedding band!"

Hear us out. Sometimes, you can only communicate your true musical awesomeness through the power of your live show. And, because most weddings don't sell tickets at the door, potential clients may not have the opportunity to see you play if you only play weddings. Contact your local promotors and book periodic live shows at bars, outdoor events, etc. This will help your overall visibility and be a great way for brides and planners to come see you if they’re interested. Don't forget to bring your business cards!

⚡ Pro tip: List your non-wedding show dates on your online profiles so that brides and planners know when you're playing and can come see you.

3. Learn Popular Wedding Songs to Cover

Your band may have written some killer original songs, but the reality is that most people want to hear songs they already know. If you're looking to play more weddings, make sure your band has a big music catalogue for your clients to choose from.

Frequently, wedding planners will have requests, and you need to be flexible and willing to learn new songs. Digital sheet music services like Sheet Music Direct are perfect for quickly finding and learning new songs. Search for the requested song, instantly download the sheet music and be rewarded with extra happy clients (and maybe an extra big tip!).

⚡ Pro tip: Learn a few wedding standards and upload videos to your Facebook page or website.

4. Offer Bonus Services

What if your wedding band could also MC the grand march? Or DJ background music before and after your live set? What if you could provide all the sound and lighting equipment so the planner doesn't have to worry about it? Being versatile and able to cover multiple portions of the day will increase your chances of getting the gig.

Make the planner's life easier by limiting the amount of decisions they have to make. They have enough to do already!

⚡ Pro tip: If you're doing more, make sure to charge more. Try offering discounts on service packages.

5. Have Fun!

Finally, just have fun! If you're just going through the motions, people will be able to tell and your reviews will suffer. You're getting paid to do what you love - play music! A great performance can create customers via word-of-mouth reviews. Your next client could be sitting at table 5!

⚡ Pro tip: Impress the wedding planner and trade business cards if possible.