In my series of wedding-related reviews, it's now time to pull out the hate (salt) and judgment (pepper) shakers. They make life spicier.
My mother-in-law saw High Society at another wedding, and she had to book them for our wedding because their performance was so stellar.
She was right about the music. They read the crowd very well, and kept everyone moving on the dance floor. There were horns, there were strings, and it was awesome. One of the singers even broke the cardinal rule of Karaoke -- no Guns N' Roses, because NO ONE can do Axel Rose justice. Except this guy. Woah. They'll rock your reception, no doubt.
My complaints are mostly about their management, who is surprisingly difficult to work with, and does not communicate with the band well. High Society is not cheap. In fact, they are several thousand dollars more expensive than getting some of my favorite bands to play a private show. My expectations of what kind of working relationship we should have matched the money we paid.
Specific complaints:
(1) For the ceremony, we had a single pianist. My only "special request" for the night (I was given up to two songs that weren't on their list) was the bridal processional. I selected Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins. Huge Pumpkins fan. And everyone I know knows it. My friends would roll their eyes, smile, and go, "Oh, here comes Laila." The dreamy melody was also perfect for the site of the ceremony before the cool blue-lit dolphin tank at the Shedd Aquarium.
As the manager explained it to me, I would be the only person walking to that music. That was important for the selection because I knew it took 1:10 to walk the aisle, and the song is only 3:40. There were 3 people in the bridal party besides me.
I sent the manager the sheet music by email and by fax, and I sent a Youtube link to the piece so there was no mistake about what I was asking for. This was about a month before the wedding (on August 20th for a September 18th ceremony).
The Tuesday before the wedding, I call the manager to ask for the contact information for the pianist so I could talk to him about the wedding, per the manager's earlier email instructing me to do so. The manager tells me that he didn't mail the pianist the music until that day. What?! I call the pianist anyway, and after some phone tag we finally get in touch on Thursday morning. He is a super-nice guy. He still had not received the sheet music. I sent it to him by email and again the Youtube video. We go over the ceremony music and the set-up at the Shedd. At the end of the conversation, the pianist just tells me to have fun and not to worry. Totally nice guy.
Day of the wedding, I'm lined up to go behind a curtain with the entire bridal party in front of me. I hear Mellon Collie suddenly start playing. My stomach flips. I'm just thinking, "Shit, this isn't right. He's going to run out of song."
But the bigger issue was the song was barely recognizable because it sounded like he had only looked at the music the day before (because he had), and probably never played it before. About half my friends had no idea what song it was. Chicago wedding. Chicago band. Biggest selling double album of all time. No clue. Yikes.
(2) For the ceremony's recessional, I asked the manager if he had the piano coda to Eric Clapton's Layla. You know, the beautiful, romantic piano piece where you hear how much that mad man really loved that woman. I made it explicit that I meant the outro/coda/end of the song over multiple emails. I also, again, sent a link to Youtube for the piece so there was no mistaking what I meant. He said he had the music and his pianist knew it, and it was no problem. Awesome.
Only when we get to the recessional, the pianist starts playing the acoustic version of Eric Clapton's Layla. Not what I asked for. Not appropriate for a wedding recessional either. I was also embarrassed because I didn't want my guests thinking that I picked that!
(3) I worked very hard to get Alex a surprise wedding present that was a recorded greeting and performance from his favorite band for our first dance. We set it up to play on a laptop and projector, and we hooked the laptop to the band's sound system, which I was told was no problem. I went over what the DVD contained and how important it was to me that it go well with the manager, the pianist, AND the president of the sound company that partners with High Society.
They started to play the DVD without turning up the sound. 20 seconds of video with no audio. Sweet. After the performance, the manager cued the band without waiting for the video to end, and cut off the a parting wish.
(4) My husband's only "special request" was specifically that the band does NOT play that familiar racist anthem, Sweet Home Alabama. In fact, Alex crossed out the song on their music list when we sent it to them. They played it.
Bottom line: fabulous band, terrible management. read more
