Great! - your wedding venue has a piano. What you can rightly expect from them if you are hoping to

I play in all sorts of wedding venues throughout London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. Some have pianos and some don't. Either is fine, I can provide my own full sized digital piano and amplification for any venue that doesn't have a piano.

For any venue that does have one, to make sure you and your guests enjoy the piano music as much as you should - the wedding venue needs to do their bit...

Wedding venues charge a lot of money to host you and your guests for the day, hoping they will provide the back drop for what should be one of the greatest days of your lives and with this in mind, I think that means that you can be a bit demanding! - even if it isn't naturally your style on a day to day basis.

Pianos are amazing instruments and all of them unique in style and tone. But they need looking after - especially in public settings, where they may be exposed to varying temperatures during the year, are regularly moved, 'played' by small children and/or drunk people and have had more than the occasional glass of wine, diet coke and candle wax spilled in them! I applaud all of this! Pianos should be played and it still great that today as much as ever, they can so easily be the centre of a great night but just so long as they just get some much needed TLC in-between the more eventful moments.

What you can rightfully ask your venue to do in advance of booking a wedding pianist.

1. You can ask them to get it tuned. It will cost them only around £70, and pianos should be tuned roughly every three months anyway. An out of tune piano isn't pleasant for anyone!

2. Ask them to ensure that the tuner mends any keys that may be sticking, and also to ensure all the pedals are working. All are needed to make sure your chosen wedding pianist can play as they would normally.

3. That the grand piano is rightly 'set' for the room, and not too loud for guests as this isn't enjoyable for anyone, it should be background music.

It isn't a big ask and will make all the difference on the day.

#Hertfordshire #London #weddingpianist