Family and Friends Sitting In? Why Not?

Occasionally, we get asked if a friend or a family member can sit in with the band. And our answer to this is a resounding yes. You’d like your cousin to hop on stage to rock out on guitar for American Girl? Sure thing. Your best friend to join the band’s vocalists for Crazy in Love? Absolutely. As a rule, wedding party songs are exponentially more fun when they’re performed by people you know. And it’s even better when it’s the immediate family: the bride’s father, the groom’s brother, or the bride or groom themselves.

Everyone wants a wedding that’s memorable and that’s unique. And showing off your talented guests is one of the many ways to achieve this. Whether your guest performer has professional experience as a singer or musician – maybe they even work for a live wedding band – or whether they just play for fun, the crowd will eat it up. Regardless of how awesome the band’s vocalists are, the loudest applause from the night might very well be when the groom gets on stage to sing Don’t Stop Believin’.

And it can be fun for the band, as well – we get to follow a new performer for a change, and we also feed off the energy from the audience, who’s loving every second of it. And even if it’s not a technically flawless rendition, the sheer entertainment value and enjoyment from the crowd will more than make up for it.

There are a few caveats, of course.

First off, we wouldn’t recommend allowing more than a few songs for your guest artist. One song is great; two songs is great; five songs starts to become the Uncle Charlie Show and could detract from the night’s festivities.

Second, try to ensure that the songs chosen are fun, high-energy, and well-known; there’s a long wedding party music playlist to choose from. If your guest of honor gets up to perform a tune where nobody knows the words, or that barely anyone has heard of before, it’s going to kill the dance floor and the party vibe. If your guest wants to sing a ballad, maybe the best time for that is during the dinner set, as opposed to during one of the dance sets.

Also, make sure you lay down the law with this friend or family member in terms of being respectful of equipment and of the performance, in general. They’re most likely borrowing one of the band member’s instruments, which is often vintage and incredibly important to the musician, so please – no power slides a la Michael J Fox from Back to the Future, as entertaining as that might be!

And finally, although it might go without saying, make sure this is all planned out. Impromptu additions to the bandstand have the potential to go haywire, but if the wedding musicians and the guest artist are well-prepared, it’s sure to be a smash hit.

So if one of your friends or family members suggests getting up on stage – or, even better, if your family is encouraging you to do it – we say go for it. That might just be what everyone remembers from the night.