If you’re on the hunt for some excellent wedding entertainment, we’re on the case this afternoon at Brides Up North HQ. I’m really happy to welcome Helen of Brides Up North Sponsor and wedding entertainment agency Silver Dog Music to the wedding blog. Silver Dog Music is here to help you hit the high notes with your wedding music choices.
Let’s
strike up the band
….
What is the story behind the business and your background?
Silver Dog Music launched over 8 years ago. One of the Directors is a professional vocalist with many years of industry experience behind him with the other a considerable event industry background. We knew we were both had the skills to make a very successful agency thus Silver Dog Music was born!
What does Silver Dog Music do?
Silver Dog Music provides live musicians and bands for weddings throughout the UK, for the wedding ceremonies themselves to drinks receptions and full on party entertainment in the evening.
Where are you based and what areas do you cover?
Silver Dog Music is Cheshire & North West based but our acts are placed all over the UK. We also regularly send musicians to Europe and beyond for wedding clients getting married abroad.
Why should a Bride & Groom use Silver Dog Music?
Silver Dog Music has a small, select roster which are handpicked by us with the knowledge they are top quality. Most agents simply put you in touch with bands after the booking has taken place but we continue to offer support and advice from the enquiry stage to the wedding day itself.
How can a Bride & Groom use your website to help find their wedding entertainment?
The website has separate categories depending on whether you are looking for party bands, bands for vintage weddings (swing & jazz) or solo/duo acts. Each act has a full page with glossy photo galleries, songlists and music samples, Most also have live videos.
Explain your bespoke service – how can your agents help Brides & Grooms to find an act to suit their requirements?
We often find that brides & grooms feel very overwhelmed when looking for a band and we really like to encourage them to get in touch with us explaining a bit more on what they would like musically. We can often point them in the right direction on what may work/suit them. As much information the better, we love to get a picture on what their guests are like, what kind of atmosphere are they trying to create etc.?
If clients have something in mind but don’t necessarily see this on the website please still get in touch as we have an enormous amount of musician contacts. Once such recent example was a bride looking for musicians for her drinks reception who would play music from a very specific region of Spain which we successfully sourced.
What happens once a Bride & Groom have chosen an act?
Once a Bride & Groom has chosen one of our acts we secure the bookings with contracts and take a deposit. Balance payments are due 2 weeks prior to the wedding. Every client is assigned a dedicated agent thereafter. We work through itineraries, send out playlists for input, liaise with the venues on logistics and send the bands final, comprehensive notes ahead of the wedding.
What about insurance?
All our bands have full Public Liability Insurance.
Tell us about the range of musical acts available to book via Silver Dog Music?
We can offer party bands (anything from compact trios to large 8/9 piece bands) playing rock, pop, soul, funk, indie. We have a fabulous vintage section with swing/jive/jazz bands and even offer Irish, Latin and French acts. We also offer guitarists, sax players, string quartets – anything you can think of!
Are your bands recommended by you personally?
Many of our acts are personally recommended and we do receive a lot of applications as musicians are very keen to work with us. We are fussy though, only 1/10 acts on average are deemed good enough quality to be on our books as we strive to keep a very high standard.
We don’t just look at the musical ability of the musicians, we also assess how much security the band can offer to brides/grooms on their wedding day, if a key member was ill on the day how able are they to replace the musician, how secure will the booking be? We also do look at the way the bands communicate with us – it seems a small consideration but it is very important that we send out musicians who are flexible, co-operative and charming.
It can be a stressful time and we want to ensure everything goes smoothly.
What would be your top five tips for Brides Up North when choosing their wedding entertainment?
- Choose music that reflects you as a couple and how people know you
- Make a top 3 list of acts you like and ask your friends/family their opinion
- Consider your guests and try and look for options that encompass as many tastes as possible
- If you have a themed wedding e.g. vintage – book acts that can complement this
- Book through an agent as they offer more protection.
Which acts would you recommend where money was no object?
There is no particular act I would recommend but if budget allows, I do recommend hiring live music for the drinks reception/afternoon as well as the evening.
What about for brides on a budget?
We can always help brides on budgets to have some element of live music on their wedding day and encourage them to get in touch.
How can Brides Up North get in touch to discuss their requirements or book an act?
You can visit our website at www.silverdogmusic.co.uk, contact us by email at helen@silverdogmusic.co.uk or call us on 0845 838 3514. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Anything else we should know?
We offer all brides and grooms a £20 Marks & Spencer voucher if our agency is featured in a Brides Up North wedding blog! We love to share the details of your big day with Brides Up North’s readers.
