Hiring a wedding band in New Orleans

Price depends on four things far more than on the band's name: how many musicians are on stage, how many hours you need them, whether the band is also covering your ceremony and cocktail hour, and whether a second line parade is involved. A compact combo for a small reception and a twelve-piece show band with horns and production are different products at different prices. Ask every band you talk to for an itemized quote rather than a single number, so you can compare like for like.

As a rule of thumb: under about 100 guests, a compact rhythm section with one or two vocalists fills the room. Between roughly 100 and 250 guests, adding horns is what makes a dance floor feel full rather than adequate. Above about 250 guests, or in a ballroom with high ceilings, a larger horn-driven lineup carries the room properly. Sugar Shaker's lineup is modular for exactly this reason — the same band scales to the room.

Yes. The City of New Orleans requires a parade permit and a police escort for any second line that moves through public streets, under City Ordinance #17271. You file a Master Special Event Application plus the Supplement C parade form with the City's One Stop Shop. Published planning guides put the parade permit at roughly $200 and the minimum police escort at roughly $385 for a standard-size parade, with additional officers costing more for larger groups — confirm current amounts with the City, since fees change. File early: the city's stated minimum is 15 days out, but planners routinely recommend 60 to 90 days.

Shorter than most couples expect. Police escorts are typically scheduled for about 45 minutes, and most wedding second line routes run six to eight blocks — usually from the ceremony venue to the reception, or from the reception out and back. The brass band, umbrellas for the couple and handkerchiefs for guests are the standard package.

The honest answer is that it depends on your crowd and your budget, and plenty of great weddings have used a DJ. What a live band gives you is a show — musicians reading the room in real time, changing arrangements on the fly, and giving guests something to watch as well as dance to. What a DJ gives you is note-perfect original recordings and no set breaks. The middle path, and the one most large New Orleans weddings take, is a band with an in-house DJ covering the breaks, so the music never stops.

Ask this of every band you interview, because the answer varies a lot. Some bands go silent, some run a playlist, some bring a DJ. Sugar Shaker includes an in-house DJ who covers every set break, so there is no dead air between the first dance and the last song.

Yes, and it usually costs less and coordinates better than hiring three separate vendors. A typical New Orleans wedding day runs classical or acoustic musicians for the ceremony, a jazz trio or duo for cocktail hour, a brass band for the second line, and the full band for the reception. Sugar Shaker provides all four under one contract and one point of contact.

For prime dates — October and November, and March through May — twelve months out is realistic and six months is late. New Orleans is a destination wedding city with a compressed season, so the strongest bands are booked well before couples expect. If you also want a second line, book earlier still, because the permit and police escort need lead time.

Yes. Sugar Shaker's book runs 143 songs, and we regularly learn a first dance, parent dance or special request that isn't in it. Get the song to us about four weeks before the date and it will be in the set.

Many do, and it is the single most common surprise for out-of-town couples. Historic venues, hotel ballrooms and courtyard spaces in and near the French Quarter frequently have sound limits, hard end times, and specific load-in windows and elevator access rules. Ask your venue for its sound and curfew policy in writing before you finalize your timeline, and send it to your band — a band that has played the room already will know how to work within it.

Five that reveal the most: Who exactly is playing at our wedding, and is that guaranteed in the contract? What happens on breaks? What are your power, stage and load-in requirements at our venue? What is your policy if a musician is sick? And what is included in the quoted price versus billed separately — travel, lodging, sound, lighting, overtime?

Yes. Sugar Shaker regularly performs across Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, the Carolinas, and in Las Vegas, California and New York, and travels for destination weddings beyond that.