What does live music for your wedding REALLY cost

I know I know, this is a topic no one wants to talk about - money! It's a bit of a 'taboo' topic isn't it, and even amongst suppliers, sometimes we're not all that keen on sharing exactly what we charge - and there will be reasons why. I am here to say, whatever those reasons are, they are okay, and each supplier has the right to share or not to share their pricing.

Personally, I want to share my pricing for live music for weddings as clear as day on my website, as I want my couples to know what they might be looking to spend for their wedding music if they book with me. For example, if you only have £150 to spend on live music, but are wanting a full day of music, then I'm not going to be the right live musician for you. Having my pricing on my website allows you to see if the budget you have available for music fits with the services I offer.

I do offer mid week and off peak discounts, and occasionally run competitions for free upgrades as well, but generally what you see on the website is what you'll be looking to pay in the region of for your wedding music.

But what actually goes into this cost? Here's a break down of some of the costs that go into every wedding booking:

• Working time - from the time we leave our house to the time we get back into our house is classed as our working time, which includes travelling to and from the venue. If you think that quite often wedding working days can be 10-12 hours from the travel time, set up, wait times, performance times, pack down and travel home, and for a duo booking there's two musicians, that gives you a good starting point of what this cost can equate to.

• Accommodation costs - if your venue is over 3 hours away, we will often add accommodation costs as well, as travelling for 3 hours prior to a full days work won't give you the best version of your musicians!

• Travel costs - depending on where your venue is, there may also be travel costs on top of your package price, or included within. We offer 50 miles with no additional charges, but anything above this we will add a standard fuel rate on. This helps to cover petrol costs, and also wear and tear on our vehicles.

• Purchasing or creating new tracks - most weddings have a bespoke element to them, which means either I have to source a track, or we have to create one ourselves. I am lucky enough to have access to recording equipment, and a sound engineer boyfriend (also guitarist!), who can help with this, but the time and cost associated with this has to be considered. Creation of a new track from scratch can be a couple of days work in total.

• Rehearsal time - even if it's just me as a soloist, I put hours and hours of time into rehearsing your songs, to ensure these sound as good as possible on the day. This time escalates if you've booked a duo package, as we will spend time making sure the keys and tempos are correct, and also making any changes to tracks too. If you've booked the band, this time then quadruples to factor in four musicians getting together and rehearsing.

• Insurance - this is a must, public liability is a requirement of pretty much every venue I have performed at, and we always make sure this is in place - but guess what, there's a cost factored into this too!

• PAT testing and electrical safety - we always take the time to check all our equipment is in full working order, and that means checking the electrical standards and safety through PAT testing.

This is already a hefty list, but let's then add on the running costs of the business, which we don't reflect in your package price, these are absorbed by us and come as part of the job:

• Website costs - time for editing, uploading new content, and hosting costs

• Wedding shows - time and costs associated with attending shows

• Marketing - time to create new blog posts, social media content, and website material

• Vocal/Physical health - time and costs associated with staying healthy, including vocal coaching, vocal health, physical health such as looking after our joints (PA systems are heavy!)

• Time to learn new material and update our song lists - this is ever changing, and is part of our ongoing business growth

• Attending shoots - time and costs associated with getting new images and video footage to keep our brand fresh

• Equipment and maintenance - I own 4 separate PA systems, which gives me so much choice and scope when it comes to making your wedding sound fabulous, but each of these PA systems need regular checks, to make sure they are at their best on the day. Occasionally they will need a service, or parts replacing, which takes time, and costs as well.

• Upgrades to equipment - we always keep checking if we are staying ahead of the curve with our kit, and look to upgrade where we can to make sure our clients get the best experience possible.

So, you might feel that wedding suppliers add a zero when they hear the word wedding, and truthfully I can't speak for everyone - but I can speak for us, and our pricing is a true reflection of what you get on the day of your wedding, including everything that we do to prepare, to make sure you have the best day of your life.

I'll never cut costs or take risks to save money, it's just not worth it, and I'd rather you have the peace of mind that everything is hunky dory, and that your wedding day goes without a hitch. By adding in all of the above steps, that will be our guarantee.

If you'd like to find out more about our packages, please visit our services page here.