Choosing Music for Your Day-Two Wedding Party

Here's the thing nobody tells you: day two isn't a smaller wedding. It's a hangover with a guest list. Half the room went to bed at 4am, the other half never did. Your music has to meet them where they are — and that's not on the dancefloor at 2pm.

Don't open with a band. Ever.

The biggest mistake I see is a full band kicking off at lunchtime to a room of people nursing soup. It's too loud, nobody can talk, and the band looks like they're playing to an empty hall. You've burned your best act on your worst hour.

Open with something people can talk over: a trad session in the corner, an acoustic duo, a singer with a guitar. Trad in particular is gold here — the Yanks and the cousins from abroad love it, the older crowd sings along, and nobody has to stand up.

The turn happens around 6

You'll feel it. Food's done, the second wind arrives, someone asks for a Garth Brooks song. That's when you lift it — sax and DJ, a pub-style duo going electric, or a tribute act. Save the energy for when the energy's there.

One act that can do both beats two that can't

If budget only stretches to one booking, pick an act that can play an unplugged set early and a full set later. Plenty of duos and trios do this. You get two moods for one fee, and one load-in.

Know who actually stays for day two

Be honest. If it's aunties, uncles and the GAA club, lean trad and singalong classics — Galway Girl, Dirty Old Town, The Wild Rover will do more than any chart hit. If it's mostly your college friends, a DJ or party band will go till they're thrown out.

Then tell the act. A good act wants to know the crowd. A great one will ask before you tell them.

Questions I'd ask every act

How many sets and how long are the breaks? Do you play music between sets? Do you bring your own PA and lights? How much floor space and how many sockets? Have you played this venue before? That last one saves more headaches than all the others.