Eight harpists, string ensembles and pianists say on their own sites that they play Long Island ceremonies, and exactly one publishes a rate card. That makes this the least transparent category we track. So the page is built around what each one does put in writing: the ensembles, the repertoire, the hours and, in one case only, the insurance a catering hall will ask for.
Great NeckWoodburyMontaukSag HarborBayvilleRiverheadSmithtownCutchogueOyster BaySayvilleGlen CoveRonkonkomaSoutholdWestburyHuntingtonGreenport
Great NeckWoodburyMontaukSag HarborBayvilleRiverheadSmithtownCutchogueOyster BaySayvilleGlen CoveRonkonkomaSoutholdWestburyHuntingtonGreenport
8 ceremony musicians say on their own sites that they play Long Island weddings
Publishes no price. From intimate ceremonies to grand receptions, our team offers full music production services for weddings of any size and location. Choose from a variety of.
Publishes no price. Wedding ceremonies and cocktail hours: Most of my wedding work entails playing for the wedding ceremony, the cocktail hour, or both. I play in every kind of.
Publishes no price. From intimate wedding ceremonies to grand corporate galas, professional string quartets and ensembles led by violinist Stanislav Nikolov since 2014.
Only 1 publishes a price, which is the worst transparency of any category here
1 with a price
We can put that plainly because we track the same question across every category on this site. One of the eight prints an ensemble rate card. Everything else is quote on enquiry, which means the only way to compare is on what each one puts in writing about players, repertoire and hours.
One figure to ignore if you go looking: a harpist's page names a five figure sum, and it is the replacement cost of the harp rather than a fee. We have kept it off this page for that reason, and it is the sort of number that ends up in a comparison table by accident.
There is one more priced option already on the site. After Hours publishes string quartet and trio prices by the hour on its own site, filed under DJs because that is its main business: After Hours Live Music and Entertainment.
What to compare when nobody publishes a rate
Ask how many players the quote covers and for how long, because a string quartet and a duo are different bookings with the same job title. Ask whether the prelude, the processional, the recessional and the cocktail hour are all inside the price or sold separately, since that is where the hours go. Ask who will actually play on your date, by name.
Then ask about insurance. Long Island halls ask vendors for a certificate, and exactly one of these eight mentions handling that for you. Nobody else addresses it at all, which is worth a question rather than an assumption.
Hank Lane Music is a Manhattan company that publishes its own Hicksville office, which is why it qualifies. SPN Events is a New York City company whose own heading for the Long Island list is where else we perform, and we have kept that honesty. The New York Virtuosi publishes no town or street address at all.
Two more publish no town: one of them measures its travel fee from an office it never locates. Each profile says exactly what the site says, and nothing more.
One correction we made to our own research while building this. A large agency in this set publishes no named ceremony ensemble, no harpist, no quartet and no prices, so treating it as a ceremony music specialist would have flattered it. Its profile says what it is, a booking agency.
