Now that Macy and Ethan have been named the winners of our Dream Day Giveaway, they’ve got a wedding to plan! You’re invited to accompany them as they plan each element of their big day with our partner vendors, leading up to one special celebration on September 10 at The Mason Dallas. If you’re planning your own wedding, be sure to follow along for tips and insight on what to expect with each step, what to know going into every meeting, and how to make sure your path to the altar is a smooth one.

You’ve just said “I do,” danced together for the first time as a married couple, and sliced into your wedding cake…it’s time to get the party started. One of the top concerns many couples have for their reception is making sure their big day is an enjoyable event for everyone. Whether you’re going for a relaxed, dinner-party vibe or want everyone up on their feet boogieing to “Sweet Caroline,” a band who knows how to read the room can make that happen and more. We spoke with Carl Poposki of Emerald City Bands on what exactly couples should be looking for when booking their wedding band, how to handle off-the-cuff guest requests, and the advantage of having a live band!

Tell us about the decision to join the Dream Day vendor team!

It’s always nice to have an opportunity to give back to the industry and to the community! It’s something that’s always been important to our CEO, and we love staying involved and seeing the industry evolve in that way.

What advice do you have for Macy and Ethan to make sure their wedding is an enjoyable event for everyone?

They’ve got a great team of experts working on their big day. Being clear about what they’re looking for and allowing us as a team to collaborate and create a great day for them will allow them to let go and enjoy it!

What do you think the advantages are over choosing a band over a DJ?

Both are excellent options. We believe that a live band brings a particular type of energy to the performance in terms of interaction and sort of an organic feeling. Our industry experience allows us to create parties, as opposed to just playing songs! We make a very concerted effort to read the room, interact with the audience, and try to play the right song at the right time. We keep the energy high, keep the party flowing, and pack the dance floor the entire night.

Should clients meet with their band before the wedding? What should be discussed? 

It’s always good to meet with the band, and we love to do that because our goal is to provide a five-star gold standard of service to our clients. We like to learn more about who they are as a couple, how they met, how long they’ve been engaged, what their personal story is. That’s always helpful to us as we translate those details into the performance. And, of course, we want to find out what genres of music they like and what genres they don’t love so much. And then how we can best cater what we do and our experience to provide the party that they want.

Do you accept full song lists or do you take recommendations? 

We do have song lists on our website that are representative of the types of music that we play. Those are organic documents that live and evolve as time goes by. Our bands can play anything from Sinatra to what’s on the radio right now. And in fact, oftentimes, when we’re booking wedding clients months away, we may have different songs in the playlist that aren’t even on our website, or haven’t even come out yet. That being said, choosing genres is the best way to go about it for us. That allows us to stay within that framework while at the same time appealing to everyone who’s there.

During the wedding, can guests come up and request songs? How do you handle that?

That’s definitely something we work out ahead of time. Oftentimes, clients have very specific requests and won’t want us to take any requests from guest. You never know what uncle whoever will come up with, ha!

Should clients listen to you perform before booking you? 

I always recommend that people come to see any band before you buy it. Seeing is believing and hearing is believing in our industry. So that’s one of the things that’s great about our bands is we’re working bands, and we perform publicly. So there are many, many opportunities to come see the bands in different settings. People understand that once they come to see the show, they see what we can do!