How it works, from first email to the last song

Before you book: the date, and only the date

The first thing to check is whether the date is free, and it costs nothing. We answer within twenty-four hours, and the answer is yes or no rather than maybe, because we take one wedding per date. If the answer is yes, we hold it informally while you think.

Saturdays in June and September go twelve to eighteen months ahead in France. If your venue is booked, the rest moves quickly; if you are still choosing between venues, it is worth telling us which ones, because we may already know them and be able to tell you something useful about the curfew or the power supply.

After you book: two conversations and a document

The first conversation, by video call, is about the shape of the evening rather than about songs. What kind of wedding it is, who your guests are, how many are coming from abroad, whether there is a ceremony on site, and what you want people to remember. It usually takes forty minutes.

The document that follows is short: your must-play list, your do-not-play list, and the three or four songs that genuinely matter to you. The do-not-play list is the more useful of the two, and almost nobody thinks to write one.

The second conversation happens a few weeks before the date, once the caterer has fixed real timings. That is when the running order is locked: the hour of the drinks reception, the hour dinner is served, when the speeches happen, and therefore when the dancing starts. If we do not already know the venue, the site visit has happened by then, and it is included.

On the day

We arrive at least two hours before your guests, and more if the ceremony is on site or if the equipment has to be carried. Setup happens in an empty room: a setup done in front of the first arrivals sets the tone of the evening, and it is the wrong one.

Through the day, our job is also to hold the thread of time without it showing. Announcing, moving things along, lifting a room that sags, and absorbing the things that change, because something always does. A speech gets added, the cake arrives early, rain moves everyone indoors. None of that should reach you.

At the end we break down on our own, once the room is empty. Nobody in your family carries a speaker at four in the morning, and the venue is handed back as we found it.

What we need from you, and what we do not

We need the venue's name as soon as it is booked, your caterer's contact, the running order once it exists, and your two music lists. That is genuinely all.

We do not need you to visit the venue with us, to source any equipment, to provide power beyond a socket, or to coordinate between suppliers. If you would rather we spoke directly to your venue and your caterer in French, we will, and for couples planning from abroad that usually removes the largest single source of friction.