Part 5 - The Ringers
Our next big piece of the puzzle was the music. I thought the first big decision about music was band v. DJ. I was wrong. The first big decision was which band. DJ was ruled out prior to the beginning of the discussion. There were several times during the planning stages that I regretted this. Most notably was a during a conversation with a woman I work with who was getting married a month after me. She informed me that her DJ cost roughly 20% of what my band cost...hmmm. I will say this, the moment I entered the tent during our introductions was the moment I stopped regretting the decision. This piece of the story is not about the band we did chose however.
I had no idea how to go about finding a band. I didn't know too many married people who got married in Massachusetts and of those in Massachusetts I didn't know any who had a band. I asked my cousin if she had considered the possibility of a band and if so if she saw any she liked. She sent me the name of an agent. I looked on their web-site and they had tons of bands, several of which were quite good (one of which we eventually used). We sent away and got some materials like song lists and cds. The big problem here is that you aren't just paying a band, you're paying an agent too. I suggested we at least try some other options. We did.
Erin found a band that was reasonably affordable, that she had no trouble getting in touch with and that was willing to meet with us. The band leader informed her that he had a studio at his house and if we'd like to come and listen to them he had another couple coming in that weekend and we could join them. They were located in Auburn (near Worcester) but we figured it was worth the drive so we decided to go. How bad could it be.
We arrived pretty much right on time, Erin's parents came with us. When we got there the other couple was already there and waiting. My first impression was that the guy seemed a little old, but that's no big deal. We were expecting to head to a garage or an extension of the house to find the "studio." He took us to the living room where he had several speakers and amplifiers, a giant keyboard, a guitar, microphone and a few other instruments. The room was the size of a small office. There were only 4 chairs so he squeezed in 2 more. This is not quite the studio we expected. As we entered the room his dog (who was about Murray's size) started jumping on all of us. Now I'm not criticizing his dog for jumping on us. Anyone who's been to my house knows that Murray gets more than a little hyper when people come in the house. The people who come in my house aren't prospective clients. If they were, Murray would be somewhere else when they came over. Anyway, he moved the dog into the kitchen and fenced it off so no big deal.
We sit down and we start talking. The first thing he mentions is that 108 people came to see them in the past year and 106 of them booked the band. That number sounded really high to me. If it's accurate it seems unlikely that they have any weekends available for the next 2 years. Probably just a little embellishing, we all do it. He starts asking a bunch of questions, many of which we hadn't thought much about yet. He asks what we do. The other guy there is also an accountant. Their answers all seemed generally similar to ours. Whatever, maybe they are in the early stages too. I had the closest seat to the kitchen and when I look over at the dog I notice that he is in the middle of a pile of frozen peas. I casually mention to our entertainer that there are frozen peas all over his kitchen floor. He looks confused. I explain that the dog seems to have found and opened a package of frozen peas. His wife cleaned up the peas while we finished our discussion.
After awhile his wife (also in the band) joins him and they start the show. About 30 seconds after his wife starts singing the dog joins in. They don't seem immediately bothered by this. After several breaks in the action to yell at the dog to stop they decide it might be better if the dog were outside. I hadn't thought of that. Shortly after the start performing again the singer stops because she started coughing and wheezing. I guess it's possible she had a cold. As a former smoker and someone who spent a lot of time hanging out with smokers, I can usually identify a smoker's cough when I hear it. Pretty sure this was it. They spend about 15 or 20 minutes performing for us and then chat a little bit more about the band and about options. He asked if we had any questions. I think all four of us were equally ready to leave so we just kept our mouths shut. After a few moments of silence the woman from the other couple who had not asked any questions the whole time, didn't seem to know much about her wedding and never seemed particularly interested in anything that was going on (with no consultation with her future husband) shouts out "We'd like to book." Now she had mentioned earlier that she had seen them at a friend's wedding before, so it is at least conceivable that they came into this meeting knowing their intentions and just elected to go through it anyway. If you already knew that, why would you sit through this? Certainly nothing happened during this meeting that could have convinced them to book this band. I immediately decided the only logical explanation was that these folks were ringers.
We, on the other hand, did not book this band. We walked out and the first thing Erin's mother said when we got in the car was "Those people had to be ringers." Glad I wasn't the only one to pick up on that. The next day Erin informed me that we had a band for the wedding. The were called Intrigue and they were from the agent we looked at in the first place. She had sent their deposit. It was for the best that I didn't find out until after. I certainly would've hemmed and hawed about the price and we might have missed out on what turned out to be ab excellent wedding band.
I can only assume that of the 108 people who came to visit the reject band in the past year 106 of them were the same two people who booked them when we were there and we were the two that didn't.
I had no idea how to go about finding a band. I didn't know too many married people who got married in Massachusetts and of those in Massachusetts I didn't know any who had a band. I asked my cousin if she had considered the possibility of a band and if so if she saw any she liked. She sent me the name of an agent. I looked on their web-site and they had tons of bands, several of which were quite good (one of which we eventually used). We sent away and got some materials like song lists and cds. The big problem here is that you aren't just paying a band, you're paying an agent too. I suggested we at least try some other options. We did.
Erin found a band that was reasonably affordable, that she had no trouble getting in touch with and that was willing to meet with us. The band leader informed her that he had a studio at his house and if we'd like to come and listen to them he had another couple coming in that weekend and we could join them. They were located in Auburn (near Worcester) but we figured it was worth the drive so we decided to go. How bad could it be.
We arrived pretty much right on time, Erin's parents came with us. When we got there the other couple was already there and waiting. My first impression was that the guy seemed a little old, but that's no big deal. We were expecting to head to a garage or an extension of the house to find the "studio." He took us to the living room where he had several speakers and amplifiers, a giant keyboard, a guitar, microphone and a few other instruments. The room was the size of a small office. There were only 4 chairs so he squeezed in 2 more. This is not quite the studio we expected. As we entered the room his dog (who was about Murray's size) started jumping on all of us. Now I'm not criticizing his dog for jumping on us. Anyone who's been to my house knows that Murray gets more than a little hyper when people come in the house. The people who come in my house aren't prospective clients. If they were, Murray would be somewhere else when they came over. Anyway, he moved the dog into the kitchen and fenced it off so no big deal.
We sit down and we start talking. The first thing he mentions is that 108 people came to see them in the past year and 106 of them booked the band. That number sounded really high to me. If it's accurate it seems unlikely that they have any weekends available for the next 2 years. Probably just a little embellishing, we all do it. He starts asking a bunch of questions, many of which we hadn't thought much about yet. He asks what we do. The other guy there is also an accountant. Their answers all seemed generally similar to ours. Whatever, maybe they are in the early stages too. I had the closest seat to the kitchen and when I look over at the dog I notice that he is in the middle of a pile of frozen peas. I casually mention to our entertainer that there are frozen peas all over his kitchen floor. He looks confused. I explain that the dog seems to have found and opened a package of frozen peas. His wife cleaned up the peas while we finished our discussion.
After awhile his wife (also in the band) joins him and they start the show. About 30 seconds after his wife starts singing the dog joins in. They don't seem immediately bothered by this. After several breaks in the action to yell at the dog to stop they decide it might be better if the dog were outside. I hadn't thought of that. Shortly after the start performing again the singer stops because she started coughing and wheezing. I guess it's possible she had a cold. As a former smoker and someone who spent a lot of time hanging out with smokers, I can usually identify a smoker's cough when I hear it. Pretty sure this was it. They spend about 15 or 20 minutes performing for us and then chat a little bit more about the band and about options. He asked if we had any questions. I think all four of us were equally ready to leave so we just kept our mouths shut. After a few moments of silence the woman from the other couple who had not asked any questions the whole time, didn't seem to know much about her wedding and never seemed particularly interested in anything that was going on (with no consultation with her future husband) shouts out "We'd like to book." Now she had mentioned earlier that she had seen them at a friend's wedding before, so it is at least conceivable that they came into this meeting knowing their intentions and just elected to go through it anyway. If you already knew that, why would you sit through this? Certainly nothing happened during this meeting that could have convinced them to book this band. I immediately decided the only logical explanation was that these folks were ringers.
We, on the other hand, did not book this band. We walked out and the first thing Erin's mother said when we got in the car was "Those people had to be ringers." Glad I wasn't the only one to pick up on that. The next day Erin informed me that we had a band for the wedding. The were called Intrigue and they were from the agent we looked at in the first place. She had sent their deposit. It was for the best that I didn't find out until after. I certainly would've hemmed and hawed about the price and we might have missed out on what turned out to be ab excellent wedding band.
I can only assume that of the 108 people who came to visit the reject band in the past year 106 of them were the same two people who booked them when we were there and we were the two that didn't.