Reception Schedule for Live Band?

[Haven]

Hi, ladies,

I''m curious about your reception schedules, especially if you''re hiring a live band. FI and I are marrying on Friday, July 4th at 11 AM. The ceremony will probably only be 30 minutes long, so with everyone mulling out of the sanctuary and into the garden for cocktails, the cocktail hour will probably last from 11:45 to 12:45.

Now here is where I''m stuck. We''re having a buffet brunch with multiple stations, and a live band. We''re trying to figure out the following things:

- How many pieces did you hire for the band (we''re looking at 7, 8, 9, or 10)
- How should we arrange the music during the reception? (quartet with no vocals, full band playing, etc.)

So, we''re thinking that we don''t need the band full-on during the meal, maybe a only a quartet, but I''m not sure. Or should we just have the band playing full swing the entire time? I like the idea of a calmer atmosphere during the meal, but I''m not sure if that is best.

The reception is ending at 6 PM, so we''re working with about five hours of music, here.

What would you do? How long would you wait until you have the band playing full on?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Haven]

We just received more schedules from the band. Do you think we need the band to begin playing before 2:30, or is the solo piano enough? They could also play iPod music during that time, too, but I prefer the piano.

Cocktails (11:45 - 12:30): recorded music from iPod
Brunch (12:30 - 2:30): solo piano
Dancing (2:30 - 5:30): 8 piece orchestra

Thank you for your input!

 

[swimmer]

Haven,
Does the band do weddings a lot? My band just sort of told me that they were going to "play light conversational jazz during dinner, then kick it up for a bit, then cake, then kick it up some more." That is a quote from them. I asked them when they would suggest doing the Hora and chairs, (Jewish wedding), and they told me when they normally did it, so I didn''t have to worry about making decisions, they just let us know what they usually do. If it worked at hundreds of previous weddings, I figure, who am I to second-guess? If your band is used to doing weddings, you could get their expertise on what to do.