It's what everyone looks forward to in their lives the big day, your wedding. It has to be special in every possible way not only are your emotions special but so should be all the arrangements for the occasion. You would obviously want to revel in the glory of your wedding reception which should have a right mix of food, music and flowers etc. However your music can give that added edge to your celebration by changing it from just another wedding to ‘The Wedding'.

So if you need to make that extra effort to thrill your guests and yourself on your special day, then do take care of some things while hiring a band for your wedding. Following are some steps to facilitate the task for you.

• Ask for names of bands from newly married people, wedding consultants and site coordinators or clergy.

• The wedding venue needs to be checked for any restrictions regarding noise or space restrictions.

• Then you need to decide what kind of an atmosphere do you need at your wedding, guests dancing in groups to country music? Or perhaps a mellow reception with soft jazz in the background? It's simply a question of your own taste and mood.

• You should ask the band to give you their audiotapes or a more reliable version would be video recordings of the band's performances.

• You need to keep in mind certain things like how do they interact with the audience and what variety of music do they play?

• Ask the band for their play list and make sure it has a wide variety of sons to suit the taste of maximum number of guests.

• Next is the question of the space that the band would require, the equipment that it would need and your personal room arrangements with regard to their space requirement. Another important thing to consider would be the number of band members and whether all of them are required or not.

• The next step will be the execution of a contract with the band. The playing hours, the number of sons, the number of breaks that they would take. The food rate, the cancellation and refund policy, the clothing the emcee etc.

• Now you need to know whether your wedding band has insurance or not?

• Also you need to know if your wedding band can act as the master of ceremony.

• You should also be aware of the number of years your band has been playing for weddings.

There are certain personal questions that can vary from person to person for instance if you want that for your dance with your parents as well as well as your first dance together you wish that the band should compose a new song then you should look into such details before finalizing your contract. The band is not just responsible for keeping your guests on the floor but also coordinating with the photographers, managers etc so that all the events are handled properly.

You need to take special care while choosing the band members as you need people who are not only good performers but fun, sensitive and excited and should be open to your suggestions too because the situation demands improvisation at times.

You should prefer a band that has played at wedding receptions before rather than going in for a novice band as the veterans are well familiar with the flow of events and can double as emcees too. You also need to ensure that the band arrives well in time as they would require time to set up their equipment and you don't want any unnecessary pressures on your big day.

Armed with this knowledge we hope that you will be able to have beautiful music on your very special day.