Editing this review to reflect the experience, at the justified request (albeit four years later...) of a member of the Christopher Michaels band. Editing the review for clarity and bringing it down to one star for having to think about how pissed off I was at being treated like a prince before the check cleared, and a schmuck after they had my money.
Original review edited: "I have to say first off that we had three different bands - a classical trio, a jazz keyboardist, and the Christopher Michaels Band.
The Christopher Michaels Band was amazing. Great energy, great selection. Have never heard cries of "Encore!" for a wedding band before ours. Great Job.
However, my bride and I had very specific requests for faze 4 and the classical trio that played the ceremony, including the songs we wanted them to play as we were each walking down the aisle. We had chosen a song that meant a tremendous amount to us, a very delicate and beautiful song, to be played as she walked down the aisle. She cried when I suggested it.
We went through several iterations with the owner of faze 4 (bob), including him telling us that we had to find sheet music for the songs we wanted the bands to play (well-known pop songs). How do you tell the client that's paying you north of $10 grand that they are responsible for finding music for you, the band? They ultimately found it (or we did, I forget which), but it was much more of a hassle than it should have been.
The worst part is, though, that after all this back and forth, the trio PLAYED THE WRONG DAMN SONG WHEN MY WIFE WALKED DOWN THE AISLE. We had it in writing, we confirmed 8 times with bob the owner (during the whole "Hey go find us the music, we don't do that, we're just a professional band" process). So instead of thinking about her, and she thinking about me, during the ONE time in our lives we walk down the aisle to be married, each of us was thinking "WTF, this is the wrong song." I asked bob for an explanation afterward, and never heard from him. I guess the "one time use" model applies here, as it does with most wedding vendors.
I know the reception band was good, but given the entirety of their lineup and the screwup of the classical trip, I'd rather have the right song played poorly, than the wrong song played well."
As long as I'm editing this, I'll mention that bob emailed me after the fact, quite indignant that I would leave him a negative review. The idea that he'd been content to ignore me until I went public speaks volumes. read more