Pairing the Perfect Music with your Perfect Wedding Venue

So you’ve booked your wedding venue and you’ve got your heart set on what you want for your wedding reception music too… BUT what if there’s no space for your wedding band to set up… how late can they play...what about licensing or noise limits?!

Here are the AMV Live Music tips and tricks on picking not just the right music for you, but for your venue too!

While a wedding DJ may have a fairly small footprint, a full wedding band with a drum kit and amplifiers tend to take up a little more space, which could cut into your dance floor in some rooms.

Equally, while it may seem obvious, an electric trio with all their equipment set up will take up less room than a 5 or 6 piece band, so if you’re stuck between two bands in a cosier venue, it may be worth opting for the smaller outfit!

Similar principles apply in larger rooms. A solo singer might seem lost and very much background in halls whereas a DJ can adapt their equipment and music level to fit the space easily.

At AMV we’ve most likely played weddings ourselves at your venue so we can advise you right away if we think it could be a bit of a squeeze! We can also provide rough ideas of how much room bands or DJs require, as well as other details like power sockets etc.

Something that we bet you’d never think to ask your venue about would be noise limits! Many venues have decibel limits, where they require music to keep below a certain level, usually for neighbours or the surrounding area. This can be particularly true of hotels or marquees/tents.

Every room is different but normally if the limit is 95db and above, you should be able to host a band without any major issues.

As a rule of thumb, providing you brief your venue early on with your intentions to book evening music there’s usually no need to worry.

Again, all the staff at AMV are working musicians in wedding bands and we know all about which acts would be suitable for each venue, so with us you’d never end up in a situation where you’d booked an unsuitable band for your venue.

One other thing to check is timings for the venues music license. While you’d be happy dancing until the wee hours of the morning to your favourite band, the local authority might have other plans.

Generally, there will be different rules for live music and DJs so where live music may need to cease by midnight, a DJ could continue until 1am for example.

Finally, just remember a band playing at an intimate wedding party may be a little louder than you’d imagine in smaller spaces (sadly as much as we try we can’t ‘turn down’ the drummer or the horns!).

We can ensure you’re not booking an all-singing all-dancing party band while looking to still be able to hold a conversation across the table in a relaxed small gathering; perhaps an acoustic trio might be more up your street and at AMV we can help you find the right option for you, your party and your venue.

See a full list of our live artists or email us with any questions.