[Callers] Rates for private events (weddings etc)?

Sat Mar 26 12:51:06 PDT 2016

Jeff Below says:
Weddings are a lot of hassle. I find most weddings a joy.

I used to do mobile DJ. Doing that it was easy to see I was primarily part of the service industry, and often it was just a gig. Since I now do only calling, and only with live music (even if it’s just me and my fiddle), I find that I almost always wish I knew the people who are getting married, and often enjoy the whole wedding. Yes, there are still a few when I feel more connected to the caterers – the other servers of weddings.

They are a hassle in the way that there are other things you need to check in about:
                Dress
                First Dance
                Father/Daughter, Son/Mother
                Special events
                Dollar Dance?
                Boguet and/or garter Toss?
Etc.
The caller ends up being more or less the emcee of the evening.
As Jeff points out, if you’re bringing the sound system, you often have to get there prior to the wedding and stay until the end. Often the sound system gets used for toasts. A wireless hand-held mic can come in handy!

Money: A musician friend of mine once showed me an article on how music is at the bottom of the pay list. Thousands on a wedding dress, thousands on catering, a hundred on music. And, when doing a good job at leading those four or five dances, you hear back that that is what people remember about that wedding!

We folk musicians often undercut ourselves. I know I do. I have a hard time asking for $500 a person, where a swing band might have no problem with that. I’ve been getting better at it. And, I’ve been getting better—and think it works better—saying package rates:

$1600 for three of us and a sound system
$1200 for two of us and a sound system
$700 for me and my fiddle

Of course these are the start of negotiations. For repeat groups like schools and churches that have yearly get togethers I charge what they can afford. Actually, the same is true for weddings, I do try to ask what they’re budget is, and often work with it. I still do these kind of gigs for $200 to $300 per person, and less for friends. But it is more than 3 times a normal dance in our area (where one might get $75 or $80…)

I did write a book on this subject called Old-Time Dance Calling for Weddings, Parties, and One-Night Stands. $20 includes postage & handling.

~erik Hoffman
                oakland, ca

From: Callers [mailto:callers-bounces at lists.sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Jeff Kaufman via Callers

I would ask for about 3x more for a wedding then for an evening of dancing:

* weddings are a lot of hassle

* you're only playing/calling for a short time, but you need to be there very early and schedules are not reliable at weddings -- this may be worse for bands than callers

* people spend so much at most weddings these days that they're typically willing to pay whatever (once I let someone negotiate me down a lot by them saying they were trying to save money and when I got therei found out that the food cost more per guest then they were paying each of us)

* I'd charge much less or free for a friend, especially if I would be at their wedding anyway: it's like a wedding gift
On Mar 26, 2016 2:23 PM, "Michael Fuerst via Callers" <callers at lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:callers at lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
Central Illinois where I live?  $35-50, although our local callers would probably do such for free.
NYC?  $2000, but  $3000 if on a weekend

Michael Fuerst      802 N Broadway      Urbana IL 61801      217 239 5844<tel:217%20239%205844>

On Saturday, March 26, 2016 1:13 PM, Maia McCormick via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:callers at lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:

Hey folks,

I've just been asked to call a wedding, and I don't have a good idea for what the going rate for these things is. What do you all charge for a wedding (say, 30 mins-an hour of dancing)? (And how might you adjust this rate for NYC?)

Thanks,
Maia

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