Many wedding musicians are hired to play for outdoor weddings. The obvious unpredictable factor is the weather. In our contract it states that musicians will not perform  in the weather “under 60 or above 90 degrees”.  Not so long ago, our string quartet musicians were hired for an outdoor wedding ceremony in Fox Chapel, followed by a two-hour dinner to be held outdoors as well.  During the ceremony the weather held up, staying in the mid-sixties, although very windy. By the time dinner started – the temperature had dropped to low fifties, with gusty winds. The musicians had overhead protection which did little for wind protection. Usually, in this case the musicians will leave, following the clause in the contract. However, the client was very understanding and accommodated the musicians with two portable heaters, and a wide wooden panel that when put up, protected us from the wind. In this situation, we were able to stay and continue playing dinner music – it turned out to be very nice event! That shows that there are exceptions to the rule and musicians can be flexible towards changes. With the team effort the issue was resolved without having to adhere to contract. 

 Several brides that have hired our musicians for wedding ceremonies have asked (and occasionally insisted on) them to attend wedding rehearsals, hence arises the issue whether or not musicians need to show up for these.

As a rule,  hired wedding musicians do not attend wedding rehearsals simply because there is nothing for musicians to rehearse and go over.  The wedding music  in our repertoire have been performed by them for many years, eliminating the need to rehearse.

When a song is requested to be played at the wedding that is not in our repertoire – the client will usually mail us the music a few days prior to the wedding ceremony to give musicians a chance to look it over.

However, quite often wedding musicians encounter situations where unfamiliar music has to be performed on the spot, without having a chance to practice it before hand; such performance is referred to as “sight-reading” and most professional musicians (ours included) are trained in sight-reading during their education period.

If, despite our explanations, the client still insists on musicians attending a wedding rehearsal, the hourly fee will be charged for each musician, including not only the time spent at the wedding rehearsal, but traveling to and from as well. 

On a personal note as a business owner: I have seen many music agencies advising their clients that musicians SHOULD attend wedding rehearsals, since in their opining musicians ARE part of the wedding party, hence forcing their clients to spend more money on musicians; the manager ends up getting a larger cut of the fee, and the client – spends unnecessary money on musicians. 

On of the most beautiful places I have played yet. It was a solo violin/viola job with the organist, who was the nicest gentleman and a great musician. We were situated in the loft  above, with a perfect view of the wedding ceremony which makes for an easy transition and flow of music during the ceremony.

A very convenient location to get to, with plenty of parking and good acoustical qualities for string instruments.  The church is very strict on the wedding music allowed to be played by the hired wedding musicians. 

This is mostly a warning for brides for times when they are in the process of choosing wedding music to be played at a church. Many churches, especially catholic, are still very strict on the allowed music to be performed at the weddings. Side note: I think that is one of the main reasons why many couples choose NOT to have their wedding at a church, but rather at a non -religious venue, where they have freedom on their wedding music choices.   As it happens, a few weeks ago, our wedding musicians played at a church in Pittsburgh, where the bride had requested  “Over the Rainbow” to be played during the prelude, not for the ceremony.  Our musicians were rudely  reprimanded by the music director and the priest of that church for playing that piece. Apparently, the mistake laid on the music director’s part who failed to double check bride’s music selections, since it is music director’s responsibility to approve the appropriate music at that church. Musicians simply got caught between the two parties, the bride and the music director.  Bottom line – it is always a good idea for brides to approve the final wedding music list with the church’s staff before the musicians play it. In my opinion, the bride should have a lot of freedom for that special day in her life, and be able to play the music that means something to her and her fiance, but that is a different subject.  

This hotel provides plenty of different halls and conference rooms for musicians and weddings.  Parking might be tricky at times, especially if several events are going on at the same time at the hotel.  The garage is big but could be full at times. Overall, the staff is attentive, but again, if there are several weddings are going on at the same time – it could be challenging for musicians to get someone’s attention even for such a simple things as getting chairs.

The exchange of the e-mails below (I have omitted the groom’s name for privacy), is an example of how some issues during weddings can affect musicians in a negative way, regardless of our efforts to make everything clear. The wedding mentioned took place at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA, place with many gardens, indoor and outdoor facilities for wedding ceremonies. The red e-mail is my question to the client, followed by his response in blue.  

 —–Original Message—–
From: tatyana swanson [mailto:tatyana@chambermusicians.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 7:52 AM
To: ——–
Subject: wedding musician
T,
One thing that  we never confirmed – where at Phipps the wedding is? Conservatory is pretty big, and has many places. What room are we in, so I can tell other musicians? Thanks! Tatyana.

The ceremony and reception is in the Tropical forest reception hall, which is the large area in the back of Phipps. Once you enter the main entrance of Phipps, you will go up the staircase and head straight back to the Tropical Forest.  I would imagine that it is marked as well for all the guests.
From his e-mail it is very clear that the wedding ceremony is to take place inside, since the phrase “reception hall” implies indoor venue.  On a side note: you may notice from the date of the e-mail – October wedding with unpredictable weather.

A couple of issues happened as soon as musicians arrived for the wedding ceremony. We found out that the location for the wedding ceremony was changed to a different spot at the venue, quiet a walk away, especially if you have instruments, music, cumbersome cello case, stands. However, we are flexible with such a change, mild inconvenience at best.
Second issue, however, was more serious.  After walking to a new site for the ceremony, we found out it is to be outside,not inside. At that point I have politely confronted the groom, asking him why the location has changed from indoors to outdoors. Sadly, he got upset, stating that the ceremony was ORIGINALLY planned to be outdoors if it didn’t rain, that it was NEVER to be indoors! Again, refer to the e-mail above – “reception hall” means indoors. I made an attempt to remind him of the e-mail, but it didn’t help the situation, it only brought more aggravation. As a result, we were “stuck” playing outdoors. It was an evening ceremony with a 6:30pm start, getting cold, dark. At 6:30 the temperature was 61 degrees – NOT good for musicians or for instruments, and it was getting colder as time went by. If the musicians were notified about the change ahead of time – we would have been prepared for playing outdoors: warmer clothes, bringing outdoor instruments which are a little bit more “rugged” and not as fragile as our “indoor”, more expensive and delicate, sturdier music stands, winds clips. Basically, items that musicians need to have for outdoor wedding that clients are not aware of – which is why we ask for the location of the ceremony.  
It is not often that our needs are not considered by our clients, but this was an example of a blatant mistake on a groom’s part and the musicians did not get an apology, but just the opposite. The result? Confrontation minutes before the wedding ceremony, bad moods, frustration on our part and a desire to finish our job ASAP so we can leave fast after an embarrassing performance due to cold fingers and cold instruments.
I believe the incident affected us, the groom, even some guests who witnessed the aggravated exchange between us and the groom and it set a somewhat negative tone to the entire ceremony. There seemed to be other minor things that did not go well:the person administering the ceremony was stumbling every other word, forgot to tell the guests to be seated after the bride walked in. Guests remained standing for the duration of the entire thirty minute ceremony! The musicians observed quite a few rolled eyes from guests, head shakes, and confused looks. The microphone was in and out. People were cold. It is possible that some of them, just like us, were told that the wedding ceremony was to be inside – many women were wearing dresses that implied so. 
Bottom line – as musicians we try to communicate very clearly with our clients.  We hope that the same courtesy can be achieved by the clients towards musicians, even if we get paid.

How do our wedding musicians choose prelude music for wedding ceremonies?

When we work with wedding clients, the primary concern is to put together music for the wedding ceremony, while not much thought goes into prelude music.  Most of the time musicians play their own choices of wedding music selections, depending on the setting of a ceremony.  If a wedding ceremony is outdoors – the musicians will play music that is on the bright side volume wise, making sure it is heard by wedding guests as they arrive.  The absence of good acoustics during outdoor venues is to blame. If a wedding ceremony is to take place indoors, the prelude music choices might be on the softer side, more mellow, especially for church weddings: traditionally, prelude music is played quietly for these.  

In summary, here is the list of some of the factors that our wedding musicians consider when making choices for prelude music.

• The location of the wedding ceremony
• The style of the wedding ceremony
• For indoor wedding ceremonies – acoustical qualities of the room/hall where musicians are to play
• The number of wedding musicians playing
• The amount of time reserved by the client for prelude music
• Client’s requests for prelude music should match the rest of the music selected by the musicians
• The prelude music should not be more “exposed” than the first piece for the wedding ceremony
  

Although weddings are the most common event that our Pittsburgh musicans perform at, several time a year we are asked for violin players to play at funerals, usually at funeral homes during viewings for families and friends. 
   The most common questions here is “how many musicians should be playing for such an event?”.  Obviously, money is the first factor.  Aside from the budget – most often we would suggest either a solo violin player, or possibly two musicians, violinist and a violist, or two violin players.  Very rare would you need more than two musicians.  It is an atmosphere for soft, somber music that should not be the “center piece” of attention.  People usually converse quietly at funeral homes and it might even be viewed disrespectful to play loud.  As far as music selections – just like for wedding ceremonies and other occasions our musicians have a repertoire that would be appropriate for funerals.  We have music from religious repertoire; quite often the musicians would plays a song or a piece of music that was a favorite of the deceased at the family’s request.

Although Mozart composed this piece for a string quartet, this is a string trio version of the famous “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”, performed by Pittsburgh string trio musicians: violinist, violist and a cellist.