TL;DR - We paid $3,600 for 45 minutes of play (contract was for 90 minutes) - the band knew they brought an incapable vocalist - we had to cut them short at our wedding - The guests complained that they were terrible and half the guests left our reception room during the first set.
///Preface///
My husband and I just had a wedding the past weekend at the Ritz Carlton. We worked very hard and saved a huge portion of our incomes just to make our dream hotel come true. We poured $200,000 into our savings and hours and hours and hours into this event to make sure we gave our guests an experience of a lifetime.
Toronto Jazz Collective were the last vendor I could possibly predict to ruin our wedding - I was wrong.
///Planning Stage///
I found Toronto Jazz Collective online. Their youtube videos with their performance looked fantastic. My planner wanted us to use a band that was more well-known and established in Toronto. However, I wanted to give these guys a chance. Against my planner's wishes I contacted Toronto Jazz Collective.
The planning with them was far from ideal:
1. Josh Lane, the manager of the group was very pushy with deposits. He emailed us numerous times asking us to 'pay by this day or else'. I brushed this off as over-enthusiastic sales.
2. The band said their gear was not compatible with our equipment so they charged another $800 for an AV technician bringing the total from $2,500 to $3,300
3. The band refused to play past 11pm. Given we invested so much on many different acts, even though the planner asked if they could even do 11:15pm they refused
4. The band demanded dinner which at the Ritz Carlton costed $50/person x 5 = $250 and valet at the hotel ($50/car)
I should have seen the signs but I just wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.
///The day of the wedding///
I made sure the band was the main event and I hyped them up for all my friends and family. I made sure to give the Toronto Jazz Collective the room on a high - The room was buzzing as the dance troupe finished a fantastic act. Everyone sat in excitement as the band started their first song - which I made sure was also our first dance. The moment the vocalist started singing I knew I made a big mistake. The vocalist was not anyone I saw on the youtube videos or any of their marketing material. I wanted to cry. I stood up and looked into my husband's eyes and put on my biggest smile for the cameras, but inside I died a little.
The next song was the same - quiet, painful, drawn-out. The vocalist just drowned away with the instruments. Out of courtesy my guests came out to dance with us for the second song. By the third song, the high, buzzing room went flat as half my guests left the room. As I sat at the head table watching the empty dance floor and half empty reception room, 4-5 guests came by to ask when the band would stop playing. Another ten minutes later my own mother came by to ask if we could cut the band short and go on with the cake-cutting so that her friends could go home because the music was making them sleepy.
I called my planner over and asked her if she could speak to the band to see what she could do to fix this situation. She came back to say 'its been taken care of' and the DJ continued to play the night. It turns out nothing was taken care of - The band demanded their money for the full set because it is what the contract.
I do not blame the Toronto Jazz Collective for asking for the full amount as per laid out on the contract.
However, I do blame them for bringing on a really incapable vocalist that was not up to the standards of their price tag. The performance was nowhere near what their youtube videos and online marketing showed. Based on my conversation below it became clear to me that this vocalist was new and that Josh Lane knew that the vocalist was to blame:
I called Josh to understand what happened and asked him truthfully (without mentioning the vocalist) if he felt the performance was up to his standards - if he "truly" felt the band brought their best that night. He himself replied with 'the vocalist is not always the same as what is on our videos'. This statement proves that the general manager himself knew the vocalist was the reason I made that call.
I would not recommend this band to others as based on my experience they are not reliable and their performance is not dependable. Their performance ruined our $200,000 wedding and they still demanded full payment even though they knew themselves they brought an incapable vocalist.
The band cost us $3,600 for 45 minutes of play. They made more than I do working for a month in less than 45 minutes. read more
