Balkan brass band: a wedding guide

Your wishlist

Answer these before you meet anyone.

• What lineup are you picturing?

• Where would you love the band to play?

  Brass at the doors and the procession is common even where another band plays the meal.

How it’s usually priced

Usually priced as one flat amount.

Possible extras: Procession (fetching the kum and the bride), Extra hour, Travel fee.

What you settle once booked

• The procession route

  Each house in order — the groom's, the kum's, the bride's — with the addresses, and where the band walks and where it rides.

• The dances and songs

  The kolo or oro the kum leads, the groom's mother's dance, a čoček, and the songs your family must hear. The band has played most of them; name your family's versions.

• Money at the tables

  Guests give money as they dance — to the couple, and to the musicians who come to play at their table. Settle with the band what goes to whom.

• Indoors or out?

• Handoff with the DJ or other band

The day-of sheet

Confirm arrival, finish, who to call, access, a meal, and what is due.

Across the whole day

Choose which moments to include.

• Brass for the procession
• Brass