How to Make Money as a Wedding Singer

First, you can niche yourself into a particular kind of wedding. For example, you might be a specialist in Jewish weddings. In this case, you'll have collected hundreds of appropriate Jewish wedding songs over the years. You've got to have a larger repertoire than your competition, and you've got to be good at it all. That means your backup musicians, too, must be fluent in this niche. Of course backup musicians can always be given lead sheets (charts, sheet music) that they can read - but of course they must be at the top of their sight-reading game. And you're the one who must supply them with the charts.

You yourself, no no no, you cannot use a lead sheet. You must know the songs by heart, you must know them well enough that you're not going to get nervous about forgetting lyrics or format, and you must be able to sing these songs while multi-tasking. For instance, you might be singing and m.c.ing at the same time. You might be singing and conducting your pick-up band at the same time. You'd be amazed at how often wedding guests come up and talk to you and/or your musicians while you're up there singing.

The second type of wedding singer is familiar with a myriad of religions, spiritual leanings, and even non-religious wedding styles. You'll want a repertoire that can reach different age ranges of brides and guests. Don't let this scare you off. It's not as hard as it sounds. Anyone who has been singing, especially if you've studied formally beforehand, has a huge repertoire already.

Keep your lead sheets in looseleaf notebooks, each notebook labeled with the spiritual or religious type of music it contains. Plus, you'll need other notebooks for non-wedding specific music that people will want to dance to, during the reception. Sort these books in whatever way makes it easiest for you to find a requested tune.

Organizing for the Wedding