5 Reasons to Book a Classical Guitarist for Your Wedding

Classical Guitar: The Perfect Ambient Music

Whether you’re getting married in a church, stately home or back garden, a classical guitarist creates the perfect mood for a wedding. The soft tone and versatility of the classical guitar puts guests at ease and creates a harmonious background for your vows.

Classical guitar music is versatile and can fit the atmosphere for every part of your wedding, from the ceremony to the drinks reception and of course the wedding breakfast. The repertoire spans many centuries and styles allowing you to choose from classical, baroque, romantic, Spanish, Latin, jazz and, even rock or pop.

Flexibility

Classical guitar music is, at its core, elegant and traditional, with repertoire spanning several centuries, but it's the instrument's versatility that makes it so adaptable. A good classical guitarist can create bespoke arrangements of any given song - just talk to the musician about your favourite tunes in advance. For example, our classical guitarist Ed recently played a version of Newton Faulkner’s ‘All I Got’ for a wedding ceremony processional, and has arranged everything from John Williams movie scores to ‘Flight Of The Conchords’!

Repertoire

Ceremony music might include songs from the classical/baroque repertoire such as Bach's ‘Air on the G String’ and Pachelbel's ‘Canon in D.’ For the drinks reception, Latin and jazz numbers go well with champagne and canapés; our flamenco guitarist, Andres G has a fantastic repertoire of Latin, flamenco and world music, as well as jazz. The classics are instantly appreciated; ‘Summertime,’ always goes down well, and guests enjoy singing along to well-known tunes such as ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’. Classical guitarist Joseph Joshua has an extensive repertoire, and prides himself on being able to play almost any song on demand, providing he has heard of it!

Space

Space is an important consideration when booking a band, particularly if you’re getting married in a small venue, a garden, or at home. While a band will need plenty of space and and technical equipment, a classical guitarist can easily fit into a space of around 1.5m x 1.5m. This means they can set up almost anywhere on the big day.

You’ll need to think about logistics during the drinks reception or wedding breakfast. There should be enough room for your guests to move around and for waiters to serve drinks or food. By choosing a musician with a small performance area footprint, you can still enjoy live music even if your wedding venue is short on space.

Cost

While cost isn’t the only factor to consider, hiring a solo musician can significantly reduce the outlay for your wedding. If you’d like live music during your ceremony but don’t want to spend your entire entertainment budget on a string quartet, why not book a classical guitarist like Alan T instead? By saving a little on your ceremony music, you might even have enough left in your budget to book more live entertainment for the drinks reception, wedding breakfast or evening celebrations.

Written by Function Central's much in-demand classical guitarist Ed Patrick.