Shall we talk about music at your destination wedding for a minute? I think we should, and I’ll tell you why. It is by far one of the hardest things to get right when getting married abroad.

Music taste is really subjective and unless someone is totally rubbish at singing, what sounds amazing to one person might not sound great to another. Simply because taste in music varies from person to person.

When getting married abroad you have a tough decision to make. Should you hire a band? Or should you hire a DJ? What about classical players? The problem is, you probably have never heard any of them playing in person, with exception of a few clips on their website. So how do you know that they will bring the kind of energy you are looking for? If you had the budget I would say: fly your favourite band / DJ in from your country. But if you don’t have the kind of budget that would allow this, then TRUST is what you need. And a few hours to research too. Where to start?♥ First off, ask your wedding venue for recommendations. They have bands and DJs playing at weddings every weekend, so they will know which ones seem to be doing a great job, have the best feedback, not to mention collaborate and respect the rules of your venue (absolutely vital!).

♥ Ask your venue if there is a wedding the day after yours and see if they can find out who their band / DJ is. Having a wedding at the same site for two days in a row might make a positive difference to the cost, and if after listening to some of their work online you like what you hear, it might save you a huge amount of hours searching for the right one.

♥ While bands and DJs don’t always seem to get a credit on blogs, there are times when they do. Use blogs as your directory. Search for real weddings in the region where you are getting married, go straight down to the credits of each real wedding you see and compile a list of all the entertainment suppliers you can see.

♥ Get in touch with a live music bookers, such as My Fabulous Wedding Ban / LM2 Entertainment or Live Music International. They will be able to look at the portfolio of musicians to see if there is anyone who matches your requirements available to travel to your destination.

♥ Lastly, the wild card. If you decide that this process is too long and laborious, you could either hire a wedding planner for her supplier search services, so that she can come up with at least 3 options that are based on your needs and budget, or go down a DIY route. If you choose the do it yourself option, you will need to talk to the venue about their sound system to understand if you could use it and if it is suitable for the space (an outdoor reception will require a system that is considerably more powerful than what you would use in an enclosed space), or if you need to hire a better amp and speakers. Next download “WeddingDJ – Plan and play your wedding music” app from iTunes. It will allow you to plan the music for your entire day in easy, straightforward playlists (i.e. pre-ceremony, bride entrance, welcome drink, etc.). The app is only £5.99 (bargain!), so all you need to do is taking care of populating it with your favourite tunes.

I hope these few suggestions help!

xo Betta

Credits top to bottom: image unknown, via Colin Cowie // Colin Miller via Colin Cowie // own screenshot

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