A party ain't a party without a drum beat*

I can't believe that I haven't yet shared with you the band for our wedding! What started out being one of the most daunting tasks turned out to be one of the quickest and easiest decisions that we made!

One thing that few people remember about me is that during college, I worked for a record label. For two years, I lived and breathed music industry - going frequently to any concert I could get into, handling artist websites and street teams, and attending recording sessions. It was a great experience, but along the way I learned that I would not be pursuing a career in the music industry. However, music is very important to both Mr. Hermit Crab and myself, and we knew it would be a big part of our wedding.

We knew from the beginning that we wanted a live band and not a DJ. For a day time wedding, a DJ would feel a little bit too dance party, and while we want dancing (and A LOT of it), a discotheque is not what we are going for (but a totally awesome option for many people!)

We also knew that we wanted a lot of traditional Jewish music - of course the horah and the chair dance, but also Klezmer, Israeli music, and Jewish dance songs. We would pepper it with Top 40 favorites to include everyone, so we needed to find a band that could do both.

Dancing at our Syracuse engagement party

Being lifted during our Syracuse engagement party

(personal photos)

I started the search with this website. I contacted a few bands, asked for pricing, references and samples. However, I think I knew right away which one we would choose. They sent us demo cds - one with Jewish music and one with secular, and I quickly became their biggest fan! We set up a meeting in person, and found that we were all on the same page about the tone and ambiance for our wedding, and booked them that day. I know you must be on the edge of your seat waiting to find out who we booked...and they are:

Nafshenu!

Based out of New York, they will travel and play for weddings all over. They will be doing our cocktail hour, ceremony and reception. For the first parts, they will send a smaller band - strings, and maybe a flute, and then the whole band will join for the reception.

I know they are going to do a great job getting all 300 of our guests out of their chairs and onto the dance floor! We'll be working on our playlists soon, so stay tuned!

Did you fall in love with your music ahead of time? Did you decide to go with a band or a DJ, and how did you make this decision?

*a quote from one of my favorite bands, Virginia Coalition