How to book a wedding band: cost, booking sites and the contract

The short answer

To book a wedding band, set the entertainment budget first (most US couples spend $3,000 to $15,000, with about $5,000 typical), shortlist three or four bands that play your genre in your market, watch unedited live video of each, then ask for a written quote and a hold on your exact date. You can find bands on a marketplace such as GigSalad or The Bash, or contact bands directly. Marketplaces are faster to search and carry a payment guarantee, but GigSalad adds a 10 to 12 percent service fee to your booking; booking direct usually costs less and gives you the details in writing from the people who will be on stage. Sign a contract with the date, times, headcount, fee, cancellation terms and a backup-performer clause before you pay a deposit.

We are a working live wedding band and we take bookings both ways, off marketplaces and straight through our own office, so this page covers the process from the side that answers the inquiries. Fees quoted below come from each platform's own published help pages and were re-checked in July 2026. Last updated July 2026.

★ 200+ shows · Insured & contracted · Backup performers on every date

Booking at a glance

The five numbers that decide it

Typical US band fee	$3,000 to $15,000
What most couples pay	around $5,000
Usual deposit to hold a date	25 to 50 percent
Lead time, peak Saturday	9 to 14 months
GigSalad planner service fee	10 to 12 percent

Fee figures are from GigSalad's and The Bash's own published help documentation, checked July 2026. Band price ranges reflect 2026 US vendor pricing and national wedding-cost surveys.

See our own package pricing

Two minutes, your setlist

Start by hearing what you would be booking

Before you compare platforms, decide what you actually want the night to sound like. Build a program from the songbook we perform, then check your date against our calendar.

The program desk

Build your show program

1 · The occasion

2 · The mix

Motown '64 Northern Soul Soul, but 2026

Tonight leans .

3 · Show length

4 · Your first dance

Chosen: , arranged for your night.

The process

How to book a wedding band in seven steps

This is the order that keeps couples out of trouble. Skipping step two is what produces the panicked email eight weeks out.

Fix the entertainment budget

Decide the number before you look at anyone, because every band you watch will feel worth stretching for. Entertainment usually lands between 8 and 12 percent of a US wedding budget. Under $2,500 you are shopping for a DJ, not a band, and we say so on our wedding band vs DJ page.

Check the calendar before the catalog

Bands sell dates, not slots. Falling for an act whose Saturday went 11 months ago wastes the best weeks of your search. Email your date first, in the subject line, and only invest time in the acts that come back available.

Shortlist three or four, by genre

A band that plays everything plays nothing especially well. Pick the genre your guest list actually dances to, then find the bands who specialize in it. Soul and Motown travel furthest across a mixed-age room, which is the case we make on our soul band page.

Watch unedited live video

Promo reels are cut to the best four bars. Ask for one continuous take of at least three minutes from a real event, filmed on a phone from the crowd. If a band cannot produce that, you are looking at a studio project, not a working live act.

Get the quote itemized

One number hides the add-ons. Ask for the performance fee, travel, ceremony set, extra hour, vendor meals and any platform fee as separate lines, so the quotes you are comparing are actually comparable. Our package pricing is public for this reason.

Interview the bandleader, not the profile

Fifteen minutes on the phone tells you more than a week of browsing. Ask who is on stage, what happens if one of them is ill, and how they handle the dinner-to-dancing transition. The full list is in our questions to ask a wedding band guide.

Sign the contract, then pay the deposit

In that order, never the reverse. A deposit paid against a verbal hold is not a booking. The contract should name the date, the venue address, arrival and performance times, the number of performers, the total fee and schedule, cancellation terms, a backup-performer clause and proof of liability insurance. Deposits usually run 25 to 50 percent and are typically non-refundable, which is exactly why the cancellation language matters more than the deposit size.

Where to actually search

GigSalad vs The Bash vs booking direct

These are the two marketplaces most US couples end up on, and they largely list the same acts. We are listed in this world too, so here is the honest version, including where the platforms beat dealing with a band directly.

What you are comparing	GigSalad	The Bash	Booking the band direct
Fee you pay as the client	A 10 to 12 percent event planner service fee on the booking price, per GigSalad's help center	No separate client service fee. The 5 percent booking fee is charged to the performer, so it is usually built into the quote	None. You pay the band's fee
What the performer pays	5 percent for free members, 2.5 percent for paid members	5 percent per booking, $20 minimum, plus an annual membership	Nothing, which is the lever you can negotiate against
Catalog size	Largest. Broad entertainer categories well past music	Smaller and more filtered, since profiles are paid	One band at a time. Slow to browse
Typical price level	Wide. Party bands often listed from roughly $800 to $2,500 alongside full production acts	Skews to higher-budget private and corporate events	Whatever the band charges, minus the platform margin
Payment protection	Yes, on payments made through the platform	Yes, on payments processed through the platform	Only what the contract and your card issuer give you
Reviews you can trust	Tied to completed bookings on the platform	Tied to completed bookings, and the company has run since 1997	You have to chase venue and planner references yourself
Speed of a first shortlist	Fastest. One form reaches many acts	Fast	Slowest. Individual emails, individual replies
Customizing the night	Possible, but the thread is templated and quote-shaped	Possible, same caveat	Best. Set times, ceremony sets, key changes and first-dance arrangements get discussed properly
Who you are actually talking to	Often an agency or a booking rep managing several acts	Often an agency or a booking rep	The band's own office, and usually the bandleader before you sign

The practical way to use all three: search a marketplace to build the shortlist, because nothing beats it for finding out who exists in your market. Then, once you know which two or three acts you want, look them up on their own site and talk to them there. You keep the discovery speed and you lose the service fee. If a band has no site of its own, that is worth noticing in itself.

One caveat in favor of the platforms: if you are booking a band you cannot see live, in a city you do not live in, the payment guarantee is worth real money. Paying a 10 percent fee to not be the person whose band never shows up is a defensible trade. We would just rather you spend that 10 percent on an extra hour of music.

Before you sign

How to tell a working band from a good profile

Nearly every bad wedding-band story starts the same way: the profile looked great, the price was low, and nobody asked who would physically be in the room. A listing is marketing. These five checks are how you get past it.

Ask how many dates they played last year. A working band plays dozens. A band that played six is assembling a lineup for you from whoever is free.
Ask whether the people in the video are the people on your date. Depping is normal in this business and not a scandal, but you deserve to know before, not after.
Ask what happens if a performer is ill two days out. The answer should be a named policy, not "that has never happened."
Ask for the certificate of insurance. Most US venues require liability coverage from every vendor, and a band that cannot produce a COI on request will be a problem for your venue coordinator, not just for you.
Ask who runs sound. A band that brings its own engineer sounds different from a band that plugs into a house system nobody is mixing.

The nine clauses to check in a wedding band contract

Timeline

When to do what

Months out	What to do
14 to 12	Set the budget, email your date to a shortlist, watch live video
12 to 9	Phone the bandleaders, collect itemized quotes, sign and deposit
6	Send the venue contact so the band can advance power, space and curfew
3	Choose the first dance, parent dances and any special request
1	Lock the run sheet with your planner and the band, confirm meals
Week of	Final balance, load-in time, parking and a name at the door

Peak Saturdays in major metros go 12 to 18 months out. The full month-by-month curve is in our booking lead time guide.

Booking questions, answered

How do you book a wedding band?

Set an entertainment budget, shortlist three or four bands that play your genre in your market, watch unedited live video of each, then request a written quote and availability for your exact date. Hold the date with a signed contract and a deposit, usually 25 to 50 percent. Most couples run this whole process 9 to 14 months before the wedding.

How much does it cost to book a wedding band?

In 2026 a US wedding band runs about $3,000 to $15,000, with most couples paying near $5,000. A trio starts near $3,000, a 7-piece with horns runs $6,000 to $13,000, and a 9-piece production show starts around $12,500. Travel, an early load-in, a ceremony set and vendor meals sit on top of the headline number.

Is GigSalad or The Bash better for booking a band?

They mostly list the same acts, so the difference is fees and depth. GigSalad adds a 10 to 12 percent event planner service fee to your booking price and has the larger catalog. The Bash charges the performer a 5 percent booking fee instead, so the client-side number is cleaner, and it skews toward higher-budget private and corporate events.

Is it cheaper to book a band directly?

Usually, yes, by roughly the size of the marketplace service fee. Booking direct removes the 10 to 12 percent planner fee a marketplace can add, and it lets you negotiate the details, the set times, the ceremony add-on, the travel line, with the people who will actually be on stage. What you give up is the platform payment guarantee.

How far in advance should you book a wedding band?

Book 9 to 14 months out for a peak Saturday between May and October, and 6 to 9 months for an off-peak or weekday date. Good bands in major metros lose their prime Saturdays first, often 12 to 18 months ahead, so if your date is fixed the calendar is the constraint, not the money.

What should be in a wedding band contract?

Nine things: the exact date and address, arrival and performance times, the number of performers named, total fee and payment schedule, cancellation and refund terms, a backup-performer clause, who supplies the PA and lighting, power and space requirements, and proof of liability insurance. If any of those are missing, ask before you sign.

More of what hosts ask before booking lives on the FAQ page, and if you are still choosing a format, start with wedding entertainment ideas.

Keep planning

Skip the middle step. Ask us direct

Tell us your date, venue and budget. You get an itemized quote, the contract terms up front, and no platform service fee on top.