How much guitar?

[ladyciel]

We just got home from meeting with the classical guitarist who is going to play the music for our outdoor garden ceremony, and the question we have to answer now is whether we also want him to play during cocktails and dinner at the reception. The reception is at a hotel about 15 minutes away from the ceremony, but he''s willing to pack up and move for us. The difference in cost to have just the ceremony or ceremony + 2hrs with him isn''t enough to be a deciding factor (plus our DJ is a set price for unlimited time). What we have to really figure out is whether we''d prefer live guitar music or something played by the DJ (non-vocal jazz or something) while people socialize and eat dinner. At the ceremony, he will be playing 20-30 minutes of seating music followed by songs for seating our moms/grandparents, the bridesmaids processional, my processional, and eventually the recessional. His repertoire covers baroque, classical, renaissance, and Spanish romantic. He also plays some flamenco, but I think he saves that for cocktails/dinner rather than playing any of it during seating.

So, what do you guys think? As a guest, would you rather listen to 1-2 more hours of a talented guitarist, or would a mix provided by a DJ be more to your liking for background music. If you think the DJ is a better idea, what genres/artists do you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[pjean]

I would rather listen to the guitarist if I were able to hear him clearly. It depends on the size and acoustics of the reception room. Classical guitar is pretty quiet, and mingling guests typically are not. So I would be concerned that the guitar wouldn''t be heard too well.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[ladyciel]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that he has a nice PA system, so he can adjust his volume to the size of the room.

 

[MMM]

i love live music <3
i vote guitar

 

[bee*]

I think it would be lovely to listen to him during dinner. The only problem that I''ve noticed at any cocktail parties that I''ve been to is that normally the noise of people talking silence the music in the background so I''m not sure if I would have him play during the cocktail hour but during dinner I definitely would.

 

[ladyciel]

So am I being silly to think that 2.5 hours of guitar music might be too much for some people?

 

[HollyS]

Date: 1/22/2008 10:27:32 PM
Author:ladyciel
We just got home from meeting with the classical guitarist who is going to play the music for our outdoor garden ceremony, and the question we have to answer now is whether we also want him to play during cocktails and dinner at the reception. The reception is at a hotel about 15 minutes away from the ceremony, but he's willing to pack up and move for us. The difference in cost to have just the ceremony or ceremony + 2hrs with him isn't enough to be a deciding factor (plus our DJ is a set price for unlimited time). What we have to really figure out is whether we'd prefer live guitar music or something played by the DJ (non-vocal jazz or something) while people socialize and eat dinner. At the ceremony, he will be playing 20-30 minutes of seating music followed by songs for seating our moms/grandparents, the bridesmaids processional, my processional, and eventually the recessional. His repertoire covers baroque, classical, renaissance, and Spanish romantic. He also plays some flamenco, but I think he saves that for cocktails/dinner rather than playing any of it during seating.

So, what do you guys think? As a guest, would you rather listen to 1-2 more hours of a talented guitarist, or would a mix provided by a DJ be more to your liking for background music. If you think the DJ is a better idea, what genres/artists do you recommend?

Thanks!

We chose a wonderful, talented classical guitarist for our pre-wedding, the processional, ceremony, recessional, and a few minutes while people stilled milled about in the chapel. We wish we had signed him up for another hour for dinner music; but our wedding was small, sans DJ or band, and dinner/dancing music was jazz and standards on CD. We didn't get to hear much of his music, because we were taking pictures inside the inn while he was playing for the guests; and we felt cheated out of a real treat.

So I say, definitely have him play for the cocktail hour so that you can truly enjoy the music. Save the DJ for dinner, dancing, etc. Missing our guitarist's music is the only reason I wish we had had a videographer; I'd at least have it on tape. We had everybody tell us how wonderful the music was; too bad we missed most of it.