Wedding Music Tip #7

Should you tip the ceremony musicians who perform at your wedding? Is that really a question? OF COURSE you should tip the musicians!

I may be somewhat biased on this subject.

But seriously--if you feel the musicians braced and made an effort of a lifetime with their service, preparation and performance, by all means fatten their payment as you see fit. This is generally not expected, but, like a winning scratch-off lotto ticket, delightful when it occurs. Take for example a wedding my guitar-flute-cello trio recently performed at a club on Manhattan's East River. Although not contracted to do so, the trio agreed to arrive early to rehearse with their singers (family members of the bride) before the ceremony. The guitarist and I arrived super-early, just as the wedding director was lining up the wedding party to run a swift rehearsal. Discerning that their trial laps would probably be more productive with music rather than silence, and at the beckoning of the mother of the bride, the two of us whipped out our instruments to provide the processional/recessional accompaniment. Coupled with the additional rehearsal with their singers, this wedding would be an instance where a gratuity would not exactly be a freakish aberration.

But I digress. Whether or not we should have gotten a tip is not what I originally planned to expound on. At the aforementioned wedding, the point person for the musicians was the mother of the groom. We did not really discuss the logistics of payment beforehand, so when the ceremony came to an end it was up to me to go root out our payment. ASAP. Once the musicians pack up, they usually want to leave quickly. Think bats out of hell.

Nine times out of ten, the doling out of payment for the musicians is delegated to one of the groomsmen. Tuxedo jackets are handy for keeping envelopes full of Benjamin Franklins. In this particular case, no groomsmen approached us with his hand to his pocket, so I went to look for my point person--the mother of the groom. The wedding party and guests moved to the adjoining room and I had to pick through the crowded cocktail hour to find the mother of the groom. Trust me: you do not want your wedding musicians going through the receiving line to shake your hand and ask for their check! It's an awkward moment for everyone, but unless planned beforehand, a detail easily overlooked.

Wedding Tip #7: Choose a family member or groomsman to be responsible for dispensing payments to vendors at the time of the service.
And make someone's day--tip the musicians!
(But only if you want to)


Until the next wedding,

Alice Hamlet, Director
www.tenstringsmusicstudio.com