Three one hour films which are being transmitted in March 2013 on BBC2. ‘A Very British Wedding’ is an observational series looking to explore the subject of weddings among different religions and cultures. Our contribution to the series was our performance at a Jewish Wedding (episode 3), showing the first dance and Israeli music discussions with the happy couple Ben and Natalie.

As one of the leading Jewish wedding bands in the UK (see our Jewish Wedding page)  it really was an honour to be asked to take part in the TV series. The focus is going to be on our Israeli dance sets which is such a big part of a Jewish wedding.

A Very British Wedding

You can see Lucy (our Keyboard player) being filmed by the BBC camera crew talking with Alan Shalks the wedding planner before our band performance.

‘A Very British Wedding’ is an observational Series looking to explore the subject of weddings among different Religions and Cultures in the UK today, through their planning, whether this is organized through more formal Planners, family members or the couple themselves.

It has been commissioned by Religion And Ethics at the BBC. Within the Series, they aim to give an intelligent understanding and insight into the practices, customs and traditions which each Culture and Religion approach weddings and in turn allow an insight into contemporary multi-cultural British life. They follow, in detail, the planning of weddings and the events themselves.

A photo from the braodcast off 'A Very British Wedding' for BBC2

A photo from the broadcast of 'A Very British Wedding' for BBC2

‘A Very British Wedding’ should be a great TV series – hope they get my good side!!

Any couples planning their wedding for next year look no further than The Choice the UK’s No 1 Jewish wedding band, to Israeli Dancing to our our acclaimed party sets.

In the spirit of transparency I’d like to point out that you are reading this blog from our band’s website www.thebandchoice.com so clearly we have a vested interest in the subject matter. Hopefully you’ll find this blog interesting however as it does offer a perspective from a band’s point of view –  from people like us that actually work in the industry! 

It’s also important to us (and our industry) that the right sort of bands get booked for the right events because a bad experience with a “not so suitable” band can ruin future gigs for all of us.

Before the internet took such a stranglehold over our lives, to book a band you would have had to contact an entertainment agency. These agents became the voice of recommendation. You would tell the agent what style of band you were looking for and he/she would then recommend the most suitable band for your event.

Importantly the bands that were recommended would have a working relationship with the agency. To continue that relationship the band would have to create great feedback and generate more work (future gigs). So the circle would go on, the agency would book a band they would in turn get more work for the agency….. a level of quality guaranteed.

This third person recommendation has all but vanished from the scene unless you have been personally recommended a band from a friend or colleague. If you do have a recommendation then tip number 1 go with that recommendation!

As a band ourselves we get a lot of referrals and of course some of the time we are not always available. In this situation what we always try to do is to recommend colleagues that run similar bands to us and are of equal quality.  It’s that third person recommendation again that’s all important, we want to make sure that the gig gets covered properly with a great band that will do a great job!

There are lots of agency websites on the internet these days and indeed we are on a few of them but do beware. We know of occasions where bands turn up for the event and the collective musicians involved  haven’t even met each other before!  These bands are not necessarily bad but certainly not experienced at working and jelling together as a professional band should be, also these “put together” bands tend to have a very limited repertoire.

I think it’s really important to make sure that if it’s a “wedding band” you’re after for example make sure the band is performing at weddings regularly. How do you know this – well most established bands have a Facebook page. Whether you like Facebook or not it is very informative. It’s also  much more transparent as far as testimonials are concerned, it’s very easy to write a lovely testimonial page on a website but it’s not so easy to have lots of comments on a Facebook page.

You will also find that bands will always post gigs on their Facebook page so it’s easy to see just how much a band is working – the more work generally the better the band.

That’s it from my first blog on the subject, next time I’ll talk about band website content and reading between the lines.

Good luck with your hunt for a great band – if you’re in any doubt email me or just book  The Choice and be done with any worries!!

As the leading wedding band in Essex we have performed at most of Essex’s top wedding venues including: Down Hall – Essex | Three Rivers Golf & Country Club   –  Essex  | Stock Brook Country Club – Essex | Layer Marney Tower – Essex  to name but a few!

The Choice have performed at 100’s of weddings over the last few years especially around the Essex area so we know what’s needed to make your wedding a night to remember. We also know what’s going to make your friends and family talk about your Choice of band for months to come!

It’s important to us that every eventuality is covered which is why the person you talk to from the very initial enquiry is the same person who will be performing on your big day – ME!

I’ll make sure that everything we discuss is carried out exactly as per your wishes, so there’s no mis-communication on the way! We pride ourselves on making sure that this really will be the best day of your lives!!

Budgets are always a difficult area – we hear time and time again from couples that as soon as a wedding is mentioned the price triples! Well we have the same problem, to cheap then we can’t be much good, to expensive and you can’t afford us!
The problem being no one wants to let anybody know what exactly they have to spend so a merry dance goes on.
We try to keep our price as reasonable as possible (especially around the Essex area) sometimes with room to maneuver sometimes not (according to the time of year)  but PLEASE give us a clue what you wish to spend and as a professional band we will always try to accommodate.

Take a look at our comments from both the 2012 and 2013 wedding Industry Award blogs.

Great weddings don’t just happen, they take planning, they take care and they take a special kind of band full of  experience and enthusiasm to cover up the fact that they took so much planning!

Please take a look at where we have performed (appearances page) and for who and make the best decision you can for your big day and book THE CHOICE – hundreds of brides have put their faith in the band…you should to!!

Check out our facebook page for up to the minute feedback on the band www.facebook.com/thechoiceband

As the leading wedding band Hertfordshire we have performed at most of Hertfordshire’s top wedding venues including: Hanbury Manor – Hertfordshire  | Hatfield House  – Hertfordshire  | Moor Park – Hertfordshire | Brocket Hall – Hertfordshire  to name but a few!

The Choice have performed at 100’s of weddings over the last few years especially around the Herfordshire area so we know what’s needed to make your wedding a night to remember. We also know what’s going to make your friends and family talk about your Choice of band for months to come!

It’s important to us that every eventuality is covered which is why the person you talk to from the very initial enquiry is the same person who will be performing on your big day – ME!

I’ll make sure that everything we discuss is carried out exactly as per your wishes, so there’s no mis-communication on the way! We pride ourselves on making sure that this really will be the best day of your lives!!

Budgets are always a difficult area – we hear time and time again from couples that as soon as a wedding is mentioned the price triples! Well we have the same problem, to cheap then we can’t be much good, to expensive and you can’t afford us!
The problem being no one wants to let anybody know what exactly they have to spend so a merry dance goes on.
We try to keep our price as reasonable as possible (especially around the Hertfordshire area) sometimes with room to maneuver sometimes not (according to the time of year)  but PLEASE give us a clue what you wish to spend and as a professional band we will always try to accommodate.

Take a look at our comments from both the 2012 and 2013 wedding Industry Award blogs.

Great weddings don’t just happen, they take planning, they take care and they take a special kind of band full of  experience and enthusiasm to cover up the fact that they took so much planning!

Please take a look at where we have performed (appearances page) and for who and make the best decision you can for your big day and book THE CHOICE – hundreds of brides have put their faith in the band…you should to!!

Check out our facebook page for up to the minute feedback on the band www.facebook.com/thechoiceband

As one of the leading wedding bands Bedfordshire we have performed at most of Bedfordshire’s top wedding venues including: Wobun Abbey, The Sculpture Gallery – Bedfordshire |  Luton Hoo –  Bedfordshire |  Wrest Park –  Bedfordshire | The Mansion House – Bedfordshire to name but a few!

The Choice have performed at 100′s of weddings over the last few years especially around the Bedfordshire area so we know what’s needed to make your wedding a night to remember. We also know what’s going to make your friends and family talk about your Choice of band for months to come!

It’s important to us that every eventuality is covered which is why the person you talk to from the very initial enquiry is the same person who will be performing on your big day – ME!

I’ll make sure that everything we discuss is carried out exactly as per your wishes, so there’s no mis-communication on the way! We pride ourselves on making sure that this really will be the best day of your lives!!

Budgets are always a difficult area – we hear time and time again from couples that as soon as a wedding is mentioned the price triples! Well we have the same problem, to cheap then we can’t be much good, to expensive and you can’t afford us!
The problem being no one wants to let anybody know what exactly they have to spend so a merry dance goes on.
We try to keep our price as reasonable as possible (especially around the Bedfordshire area) sometimes with room to maneuver sometimes not (according to the time of year)  but PLEASE give us a clue what you wish to spend and as a professional band we will always try to accommodate.

Take a look at our comments from both the 2012 and 2013 wedding Industry Award blogs.

Great weddings don’t just happen, they take planning, they take care and they take a special kind of band full of  experience and enthusiasm to cover up the fact that they took so much planning!

Please take a look at where we have performed (appearances page) and for who and make the best decision you can for your big day and book THE CHOICE – hundreds of brides have put their faith in the band…you should to!!

Check out our facebook page for up to the minute feedback on the band www.facebook.com/thechoiceband