Weddings
Live music for a Colorado wedding.
A guitar starts the processional, and everyone turns toward the bride. An hour later those same guests enjoy a jazz duo over cocktails. By the end of the night, they’re shaking it on the dance floor.
3 different jobs for the music - one booking covers all of them.
Learn more about: the ceremony, where an acoustic or Spanish guitarist plays the prelude, the processional and the recessional, and the cocktail hour, where a jazz or acoustic duo plays at a volume guests can talk across. For the reception, a DJ hands out late night bangers.
Trusted and booked by
The look
A courtyard, and a guitar outdoors.
Picture Spanish guitarist, Gary Meyers (aka Dirty Flamenco) in the courtyard serenading your guests, and an acoustic set in the open air during cocktail hour.
Two distinct sounds Colorado weddings enjoy the most.
wedding day music
Three moments, three different jobs.
- The ceremony
- The one stretch of the day where everyone - friends and family alike - are paying close attention to it. The music is exposed and the timing has to be precise. A guitarist or a violinist plays the guests in, plays the processional, plays softly under the ring exchange if the couple wants it, and plays the recessional. Want to know more about how the different parts of the day come together, or how many songs each act needs? Learn more on the ceremony page
- The cocktail hour
- This is the hour when the vibe turns from formal to slightly less so. As the couple leaves for photographs, guests stand with a first drink feeling out what kind of night is ahead. The venue may be turning ceremony seating into dinner tables behind a wall.
A duo covers the whole hour at a level guests talk freely over. What plays, how many songs, whether anyone notices and whether a duo is enough for seventy guests are all answered on the cocktail hour page. - The reception
- You want the dance floor to stay active for hours, and that's a DJ's job. An open-format DJ reads the crowd from the first dance to the last song. Where a wedding wants live musicians for dinner and a DJ after it, that's easy with Signet. One contract.
“Our guests couldn’t stop talking about how amazing he was, and we loved how he read the crowd and kept everyone engaged. He went above and beyond to make our day special, even learning a few of our favorite songs just for us.”
What live music costs across Colorado, format by format and price by price, is in the cost guide. The same duo can play a Sunday brunch the morning after, or an engagement party months before the day.
The formats
What act to book for a wedding
Four sizes of musical act can cover nearly every Colorado wedding, and the guest count influences that quite a bit. Each entertainment option is spec'd below with a link to their own page for more details.
- The solo guitarist
- The smallest booking here, and the usual choice for a ceremony. A solo guitarist can play a processional without amplification in most indoor spaces. Find out more on the solo guitarist page.
- The jazz duo, and the trio
- Upright bass and guitar playing standards, the most common booking for the cocktail hour, and it can carry straight through dinner. The trio adds drums played with brushes for a bigger space or a longer guest list at the same conversation volume. Find out more on the jazz duo and trio page.
- The acoustic duo
- The same footprint with the set turned toward singer-songwriter covers, for a wedding that wants the songs one notch more familiar than standards. Find out more on the acoustic duo and trio page.
- Spanish guitar
- Nylon strings, booked as one Spanish guitarist for the ceremony or the cocktail hour, or as real flamenco played by Dirty Flamenco as a trio, with a set piece your guests will stop and watch.
For a small sample of music some acts perform, check out the repertoire page.
For a wedding in Colorado Springs, the Colorado Springs wedding page covers the venues and the drive. We also have pages for Boulder, Fort Collins, Vail and Telluride weddings, each with the venues and the sound rules for that town. For jazz from the ceremony to the last dance, check out the jazz band for a wedding page.
For whomever is running the schedule
Wedding dates get decided ten to twelve months out, and twelve to eighteen for a mountain venue or a fall Saturday. We see that music tends to be shopped for 9 to 14 months before the date.
Send a date and you get a yes or a straight no on an act's availability with more details and other recommendations should you desire them.
Most of a wedding's music questions are really timing questions, and those details are on the planners pages: Things like stage footprints, and power requirements, load-in and strike time. How each moment hands off to the next can be found on the run of show page, and altitude, curfews and mountain-venue detail on the mountain corridor page.
Our Preferred Vendor List has the photographers, planners, videographers, caterers, florists and venues we’d recommend to our own clients, each with a link to their site.
Wedding music questions
- Can one booking cover the ceremony and the cocktail hour?
- Yes, and it's the most common way to book it. The same musicians walk from the ceremony space to wherever cocktails are happening, on one contract, which also covers the gap while the couple is away for photographs. Signet Artists books wedding musicians across Denver and the Colorado mountains.
- Do we need a band for the whole wedding?
- Most Colorado weddings are better served with live musicians for the ceremony and the cocktail hour, where volume and attention need a person reading the crowd, and a DJ for the reception, where you want your dance floor to stay active for hours.
- How loud is it?
- The ceremony and the cocktail hour are gentle enough that guests greet and easily talk over them without raising their voices. The reception plays like a dance floor, up to what the venue allows and the guests prefer
- What paperwork comes with the booking?
- A certificate of insurance naming the venue, and one itemized invoice come in the same email as the contract. A personal contact's mobile number is reachable from setup to strike.
- Do you play outdoor weddings in Colorado?
- Yes, and many of them are outdoors. Outdoors adds three requirements at any size: a covered, level and dry performance area, power run to it (depending on instrumentation), and a "move-indoors" call before the day.
Book the ceremony, the cocktail hour and the reception on one contract.
Live music for your event, from a solo musician to a full band, with sound support that’s the right size for the venue and a personal contact for the night.