Wendy Mazur said she was “stunned and amazed” to see her favorite pop singer, Goldford, emerge with a guitar during her first dance at her April 2022 wedding to Jerry Bedwell.
The couple considered the ballad “Upside Down” their song and made it the theme of their reception, which took place at Nashville's City Winery — for example, the guest book was a custom puzzle of the “Upside Down” cover art.
Mr Bedwell, 55, who works in information technology, surprised Ms Mazur, 47, by hiring musicians to perform live love songs.
“I still get teary-eyed when I think about the time Jerry had Goldford be a part of our wedding,” says Mazur, a technology consultant and freelance writer. “It was such a loving surprise.”
Instead of opting for a simple recording for the first dance or a playlist for the after-party, some couples are inviting surprise performers — like Broadway stars, singer-songwriters, or Grammy-winning artists — to their weddings, giving friends and family an unexpected and meaningful experience.
Celebrity performances at weddings have become a hot topic recently: In April, Ankur Jain, CEO of loyalty rewards company Built Rewards, hosted singer Robin Thicke and electric violinist Lindsey Stirling at his wedding to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler Erica Hammond in Cairo.
Rihanna took to the stage with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan at the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in Jamnagar, India, while Mariah Carey sang her hits for fashion retail executive Umar Kamani and model Nada Adel at their wedding reception in Antibes, France, in May.
“A surprise headliner is a new experience for most guests, even if they've been to dozens of weddings,” says New York City event planner Tracy Taylor Ward, who recently organized a wedding performance for Flo Rida. “It makes it a very memorable and fun event.”
Booking a headliner isn't cheap: Vendor fees can range from a few thousand dollars to $3 million, Mr. Ward said, and can reach $5 million for a top artist like Rihanna or Lady Gaga, said Josh Friedman, owner of Elan Artists, a New York entertainment-services company that books performers for weddings and other events.
Friedman said couples have been requesting songs by famous musicians more often over the past decade, and that trend has intensified since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Popular requests include John Mayer, John Legend, Flo Rida, Maroon 5, Zac Brown Band and Andrea Bocelli.
Marshall Weinstein, who runs the event production company SET Artist Management, worked with Ward to surprise his wife, Ariel Moses, with a performance by one of her favorite artists, Mr. Cheeks, at their wedding reception at Gotham Hall in New York in February 2016.
He thought having Mr. Cheeks rap about his 2001 hit “Lights, Camera, Action” would be a playful “nostalgia moment.”
“The look on her face was priceless, so I did it,” Weinstein said of Moses, the publicist. “I'd do it again and again.”
Weinstein paid Cheeks about $10,000 for one song performance.
Friedman divides headliners into two categories: slower background music for the ceremony, dinner and first dance, and upbeat party tunes for the reception and after-party. He's coordinated a variety of performances, from John Mayer performing “Daughters” for a father-daughter dance to Lady Gaga jazzing up her hits during dinner to Pitbull kicking off some high-energy dancing late into the night.
He urges couples to think not only about their favorite musicians, but also about who will work with their guests and destination. He suggests Shaggy for an island wedding and Bocelli for an Italian one. If the couple wants a dance party, he suggests Ne-Yo or Flo Rida, whose hits have spanned generations. Couples on a budget can consider hiring a Los Angeles Opera tenor or a Broadway star, but avoid Idina Menzel, he said. (The budget for the so-called megastars is $150,000 to $250,000.)
Eddie Kaye, 41, a computer engineer, and Alex Zhou, 32, a recent PhD graduate in economics, put their audience first, hiring singer Katherine Ho to sing in both English and Mandarin for their Saratoga, Calif., wedding in April. Ho is known for her Chinese cover of Coldplay's “Yellow” in the film “Crazy Rich Asians,” and Kaye felt the performance would be well-received by the Chinese families in attendance, many of whom don't speak English.
Author and podcaster Evan Ross Katz, 35, and engineer Billy Jacobson, 30, wanted someone “iconic” to marry when they tied the knot in New York City in May, so they enlisted Mandy Moore, who performed her 2000 love song “I Wanna Be With You” and her hit “Candy” as guests hit the dance floor.
When hiring a music star, couples also have to consider expenses like travel, lodging, food, production equipment and even green room requests, which can inflate the overall cost, said Jordan Kahn, who runs an eponymous music company in Dallas. The headliner's touring schedule, wedding location and number of songs to be performed can also all increase the price, he said. And the headliner is often not the only thing couples have to consider; they may also have to cover the costs of security teams, managers, assistants and other entourage.
A mini-industry has sprung up as vendors try to help couples navigate the wedding process. Music companies such as Khan's company and Elan Artists, which provide DJs and wedding bands, often act as liaisons between talent managers and couples to secure the talent and produce the final show.
Rachel Dalton, president of the New York production company of the same name, uses her background as an entertainment lawyer to help couples negotiate and close contracts with talent. Her team also personally escorts performers to the venue and ensures all technical requirements are met. Her production company has worked with celebrities such as Chris Stapleton, Alicia Keys and The Rolling Stones.
“Everything should be included in the artist agreement so that the couple is protected,” Dalton said. “It's a real investment and should be treated as such.”
When David Levy, 29, a music rights executive, married Megan Carty, 29, a pharmacist, in Brooklyn in May, he hired Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade to perform three songs and a sound engineer and DJ to help with arranging the equipment and logistics on the day.
Sanders sang “Miserable at Best,” one of Carti's favorite songs, for the couple's first dance, followed by two other hits, “I Swear This Time I Mean It” and “Your Song.”
“Derek didn't just sing and leave, he took pictures with our guests and signed the guest book. He was so kind,” Levy said.
Many musicians enjoy performing at weddings and often include a meet and greet with guests as part of their performance package.
“This is not a faceless corporate event. This is not a concert,” said Jay Segan, who books up to 200 weddings a year for popular artists such as Celine Dion, The Killers and Wu-Tang Clan through his Santa Barbara, California-based company Jay Segan Presents.
“This is the single most important thing that's ever happened in my life,” he said.
