Aug
30
Question by Sandra: How much should I pay a wedding singer and pianist?
I want to ask a girl I know to sing at my wedding. She doesn’t sing professionally. She’s my friend and I want to know how much I should offer her to sing at my wedding and reception.
Same thing for a pianist. I know her and she is a family friend, not a professional.
Best answer:
Answer by Amanda
i would offer between $ 50-$ 100 depending on how much you want them to play/sing if its one or two songs then $ 50, if its like five songs then $ 100 or more.
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Facebook comments:
Usually a good rule of thumb is to pay them 50 percent of what a professional would charge if you are fairly close. If you are really close they may consider it their gift to you.
I just got married last month. My niece who graduated cosmetology school a few months ago did my hair, nails and make up and I paid a lot less than I would have a professional. In part because the price reduction was her gift to me. She did a terrific job.
If you are good friends you can ask them what they think is fair. Or they may tell you they don’t want any money. However, I would still offer it as a courtesy.
I’ve heard friends sing at weddings in the past. Unless they are very comfortable performing they tend to mess up. So you may want to have a back up disc of them singing it well just in case.
It depends on your area, and how much they think would be reasonable.
You could always ask them.
If they are friends then they might want to do it free as their gift to you on your big day.
If they’re not, then one or two pieces would be worth about $ 50, and any more than that would be about $ 100.
I usually think that $ 30 an hour is appropriate for amateur musicians, as one doesn’t really get rich playing weddings. If you can afford more, you should offer more. If they feel it’s too high, they’ll say so.
If you were to hire professionals you’d be looking at paying each $ 250-2000 (and even $ 5000 for some artists) for the wedding, so bear that in mind when you think about paying your friends.
A pretty good base rate would be $ 150 for the entire event. That’s not unreasonable. It’s significantly less than you’d pay a professional. When I used to play, it was $ 200 a set!