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Every cliche’ about wedding planning revolves around the pitfalls and missteps of creating the perfect day. But one of the most difficult details to lock down often is the wedding music. Live band or DJ? String quartet or cousin of the bride? Factor in creative venues and family traditions, and there are a lot of options to consider.

The Powell Tribune spoke to musicians and brides about all the factors that need to be weighed when it comes to choosing the music that’s right for that memorable wedding.

Winter Dance Band

Cassie Pope is in the process of planning her January wedding, in a location unique for this time of year — Bear Lodge, near Burgess Junction in the Bighorn Mountains. She and her fiancee, Chance Berry, have been planning their nuptials since April. 

“My fiance and I just love winter,” said Cassie. “We love winter sports, snowmobiling, ice fishing. I’ve always just kind of pictured myself getting married in the winter, and we picked Bear Lodge specifically because we spend a lot of time up there in the Bighorns.”

Pope said that finding just the right musicians to play for the snowy mountain venue took some doing.

“I thought it would be fun if I could find somebody that would want to go up there in the middle of winter and play,” she said. “But Google had zero results. I mean, everybody is from Idaho or Denver, and I knew people wouldn’t be able to come that far.”

Pope said she spent a significant amount of time searching the web. She found a resource called “The Bash,” which connects musicians to venues; she put a message on the Facebook group “Cody Music Scene,” and did the same on a similar page for Billings musicians. But ultimately, it was word of mouth that connected her to a band out of Buffalo, called the Wyoming Saddletramps.

“They’re nice and close to the venue and everything,” said Pope. “They play all over the place, and they’re booked all the time. They have a really great blend of old country music and new country music. They had great reviews, a great set list, and a really great price as well.”

Summer DJ

Michaela and Allen Doyle were married May 31 at the historic poker church in Cody. Although they had many decisions to make to create the perfect wedding day, Michaela said they always knew that a DJ would be their choice for music at their reception.

“Dancing is sort of a new phenomenon for me,” she said. “But when Allen and I first started dating, he told me he loved to dance. And the first wedding I ever went with him to, I had so much fun on the dance floor, and I wanted to almost replicate that moment for our own. And so a DJ was just at the forefront of both of our minds.”

When it came to choosing one DJ over the others, Doyle said that a well-designed website by “My Custom DJ” helped them make their decision.

“We started looking at his website, and we were really impressed with the amount of detail that was put into it,” she said. “And so we started going through his contact form, and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ We hadn’t even thought of all these moments in the reception that would need music. Clearly he’s very experienced.’’

Wedding Singers

While brides and grooms only need to consider these types of music decisions just once (if all goes well), wedding musicians go through the process repeatedly.

Ty Sammons is the front man for the Big Horn County-based band Smokin’ Aces. He said he and his bandmates, Rick Ramsey from Powell and Adam Flores and John Palato from Billings, are more often booked as a dance band, but they have played for a number of weddings.

“We probably play two weddings a year,” he said. “Some years more, some years less.” 

He said they don’t market themselves as a wedding band, but are often recommended by friends, or are approached by people who hear them play. That’s how Kalyn Beasley, a Cody-based singer-songwriter, often gets booked to play for ceremonies. 

“People ask, ‘Hey, I saw you at this bar. Could you come play at my wedding?’” he said. 

Traditions

The Doyles’ goal was not just to create a memorable event for themselves and their guests, but also to honor family. So they considered long-time traditions when choosing the music for their ceremony and their reception.

“One thing that we talked about a lot was moving from cocktail hour into the first dance, and then the father-daughter dance, and the mother-son dance,” she said. “We thought long and hard about the dances with our parents, and what song feels most authentic and representative of our relationships with them, so the song for me and my dad was ‘Vienna’ by Billy Joel, and the song for Allen and his mom was called, ‘I Got Your Back,’ by the Secret Sisters.”

That first dance for a couple is a big deal, said Beasley, and he takes it seriously.

“I’ve had to learn so many songs over the years just to play for somebody’s first dance,” he said. “And it’s one of the most important moments of their life, so I’ve learned songs that I’ll never play again for somebody’s first dance.” 

Although traditional dances like the first dance as a couple, and dances with the parents, are here to stay, over the years, Sammons said he’s seen some other dance traditions come and go.

“The dollar dance used to be a big thing, the bride and the groom would get out there and people would start pinning dollars to the (bride and) groom,” he said. “But that tradition’s kind of faded away.”

The Playlist

There are some songs that are staples at weddings, say the musicians.

“For a long time, ‘Amazed’ by Lonestar was always a big one, but that one’s kind of faded off lately,”said Sammons. “And then for the longest time, the Faith Hill-Tim McGraw, ‘It’s Your Love’ was always a big one. And still to this day, ‘Keeper of the Stars’ by Tracy Byrd is a pretty commonly requested one.”

Beasley said he’s often asked to play songs by Ed Sheeran or Thomas Rhett.

“Thomas Rhett’s ‘Die A Happy Man’ was really popular for a while,” he said. “One summer, I think I played it at like five different weddings.”

On the other hand, as the Doyles determined, there are some songs that they decided they did NOT want played at their reception.

“One night, we just kind of started spitballing, and it just turned into this whole long conversation,” said Michaela Doyle. On their do-not-play list were staple songs like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and even Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” 

“If any of these would have been played, it would have been totally OK,” she said. “It came down to songs that either felt cliche/overplayed or included messaging that felt strange for a wedding reception.” 

But Sammons pointed out, if there are specific songs that a bride and groom want played at their reception, it’s best not to wait until the last minute to request them.

“This wedding we played last month, I had been talking to the parents of the bride, and asked them if (the bride and groom) had any specific songs, and they said, ‘We’ll have her get it to you.’ But they never did until the day we’re setting up at the wedding venue,” said Sammons. “And they were kind of pop songs, and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, there’s no way that we’re going to have this learned and play it tonight, so if you guys don’t mind, we’re just going to play it over the PA system.’ And they were fine with that.”

Dancing

Wedding dances have changed over the years, said Sammons. 

“Polkas used to be kind of a big deal once upon a time,” he said. “But that’s kind of faded away.” Organized dances are still a thing, though, said Sammons.

“There was a wedding I played in Cody one time at the Elks, that was when the Macarena was big,” he said. “I bet we played that thing over and over through the PA system for 45 minutes, and everybody got out there.”

Doyle said she and her husband were determined to be prepared before stepping out on the dance floor as husband and wife for the traditional “first dance.”

“Allen and I had started taking a few dancing lessons before we even fully decided on our song,” she said. “We were like, we should learn something so we’re not out there doing the middle school sway.”  

Family Ties

Including family and friends in the musical aspects of the wedding day is something many couples choose to do. Pope has included her brother, who sings and plays guitar, in the ceremony itself. And while Allen Doyle’s family is quite musical, according to Michaela, rather than having someone from the family play during the ceremony, they instead paid tribute to Allen’s grandfather with the final song of the service.

“Allen’s grandpa liked playing Toccata (From The Symphony for Organ No. 5 in F minor, Op. 42, No. 1) by Charles-Marie Widor each day to ‘keep his fingers well stretched,’” she said. “And then Kristopher Michaels, who played piano at our wedding, learned that organ piece to play at the end.”

Additionally, one of her best friends sang a song during the reception as a special tribute to the bride and groom, even though Doyle was hesitant to ask her to prepare a song for the ceremony.

“We’ve been friends now for like, 25 years, and I was thinking that I wanted her to be able to enjoy the day, and not feel like it’s ‘work’ for her,” said Doyle. “So her singing at the reception was just such a special moment.”  

Venues

One of the perks of being a wedding singer is that you get to play in some unique locations. Sammons said this past summer he played at a new venue in the Bighorns, on a private ranch. 

“We were actually set up on a stage and a snap together dance floor, with hanging rope lighting around it,” he said. “And it was literally on the side of the mountain. We started just about dark, and just the scenery and the atmosphere was really cool up there.”

Sammons, who has been playing in bands for more than 40 of his 53 years, has hundreds of venues to compare to. 

“I’ve played American Legions, VFW, Eagles (lodges),” he said. “I played a few (weddings) on private ranches, up around Red Lodge, and then just through the years, with different bands, for anywhere from 75 people to a couple hundred people.”

Beasley said he’s traveled many miles to provide the soundtrack to someone’s wedding day.

“I’ve gotten to go to places that I would normally not ever go, high end places, or really exclusive locations that I wouldn’t normally get to go to,” he said. “I’ve traveled clear up to northern Montana, to Whitefish. I’ve gone to Jackson Hole.”

Getting What You Paid For 

Both Sammons and Beasley said they try to keep their rates reasonable.

“We usually get between $700 and $800 for a wedding,” said Sammons. “But I know there’s some bands that’ll charge $1,500 to $2,000, even though they’ll go play a bar gig for $400.” 

The hours can get long, though, Sammons said.

“I was doing a fill-in gig in about 2005, I think, and we ended up playing, like, nine hours,” he said. “We started around one or two in the afternoon, and we did four hour-long sets, and then we took a couple hours break, and then we started back at nine that night and played till like three in the morning.”

Beasley said he tries to keep his rates affordable, but pointed out that there are also more tasks asked of a wedding singer than just playing music.

“It’s a job to make sure that sound-wise, everything goes without any blemishes or errors, so if you’re doing your job right, you end up doing a little bit more than what’s asked of you,” he said. “Making sure that you have a microphone that can reach somebody, or a sound system that’s portable, to be able to facilitate somebody’s vision for their wedding.”

“Sometimes there are some extracurricular things you have to deal with, with private parties and weddings, that you don’t normally deal with in a bar setting or a club setting,” agreed Sammons. 

Making the Decision

Beasley pointed out that when it comes to choosing the right musician for a wedding, it’s important to consider the style of music desired for the occasion.

“I think one misconception about people who play music is that they’re just kind of a human jukebox,” said Beasley. “And some of us are, but a lot of times we kind of have a specialty, whether we write our own songs or we lean towards one genre or another. It’s important to try and get a feel for what your musician does and who they are as a musician.” 

Doyle feels that the music choices that she and her husband made had a large influence on the feel and mood of their special day.

“We picked many of our songs intentionally, not just because we liked them but because they helped create specific moments we wanted to share with our friends and family,” she said. “Overall, the music elevated the atmosphere and made celebrating our marriage even more special.”