FAQs

If you want to know more about our musical acts, entertainers and extras, their availability, prices and how to book, there are 3 easy ways to get in touch:

1) Call us on 01243 778 892 for a chat about your ideas
2) Contact form - fill it out with as much detail as you can about your event
3) Email us at [email protected] with your requirements

Not found what you’re looking for?
Let us know, as we are able to tailor our acts to suit most needs.

Not even sure what you are after?
Don't worry that's what we're here for. We have loads of experience and can chat through your ideas and requirements, considering all aspects of the event to help you find the right entertainment solutions for you.

What happens next?
When you are happy with your choices, we can take you through our quick and simple booking process and get your selected acts secured for your event date.

We don't work with ballparks, we like to be accurate according to individual requirements. Each act will offer a range of packages to suit your budget.

There are a number of factors that determine the exact price such as:

- Number of personnel in the act
- Distance travelled to the venue
- Required timings on the day
- Which line-up or package you are interested to book

Once you can let us know your requirements by phone, contact form or by email, we will be able to provide you with a specific quote that accounts for these details.

Live band and DJ
Best of both. Having a DJ to warm up the party, take over in the band's break between sets and to also create a memorable wind-down, will ensure your event will never go flat, drop in energy or fun.

Live band (no DJ)
Enjoy incredible dance floor interaction and high energy performances. We supply a professionally managed playlist option, which will keep the party music flowing in those between moments when the band are taking a breather.

DJ (no live band)
Whilst the levels of interaction, audience engagement and tangible energy and emotion that you get from a live band, cannot be easily matched by a DJ alone, there are options that will up the impact. Adding a live act component to your DJ, (such as sax player, percussionist or vocalist) will bring that live interactive element straight to your dancefloor.

Other considerations...

Your budget
How important is the entertainment in comparison to other elements of your wedding day, party or event? Only you can decide how to carve up your budget to reflect this. We will work with you to get the best package for your buck.

Your vibe
What kind of atmosphere are you hoping to create? What do you want people to do? How do you want people feel? What should they remember?

Venue space
On a practical note, do you have room for a DJ booth and a live 7 piece band? Where will there be seating? Are you including a special dancefloor?

Sound
Does your venue have a sound limiter? Check whether the band or DJ you like are happy to work with that. Also, what time is the venue's noise curfew? Always check before booking your entertainment.

Audience
Ok so you might love a bit of drum and bass or a mariachi roaming band, but what about everyone else? Think about all your guests.

Providing a little something for everyone is more important than using your wedding or event to showcase your very own personal music tastes.
Trust us, if they are happy, you will be happy.

We sure can.
We have loads of event management experience and would be delighted to organise your event from top-to-tail.

We are very used to working alongside other reputable services including luxury venues and marquee suppliers, professional photographers, high-end caterers and bespoke decor stylists.

Having established relationships with a wide network of trusted and reliable contacts means we will pull the right people together to cover every element of your event, so all you have to do is share your ideas with us, turn up and enjoy.

It's very simple.

Get in touch...
- You chat to us about what you'd like
- We will check the act's availability
- We provide you with a quote

When happy with your choices...
- We send you a contract to read, sign and return
- You pay a deposit
- We liaise with your chosen acts and secure them for your required date

Then what?
- The act will be in touch with you personally to discuss song choices and any special requirements

- We will still be there every step, to help you with anything else you need

One week before your event...
- You pay the outstanding balance
- The act check in with you to finalise any last details

- We check you are 100% happy with all the plans

The big day
- The acts turn up on time and do their thing
- You and your guests have the best time!
- We ask you how it all went (ie. fish for compliments)...

When you make a booking, we will send you an email with an invoice including payment details.

In the email, there are instructions on how to make a payment by bank transfer.

Our acts are available to perform anywhere in the world. We will work out and discuss travel options with you and our quotes include travel costs so there are no hidden extras.

Most live acts require between 1 - 1.5 hours to set up and sound check.

DJs will require a minimum of 45 minutes set-up time and a slightly shorter soundcheck (up to 15 minutes).

You can request a quote for an early set-up if that works better for your venue.

All live music acts and DJs will need to perform a soundcheck after setting up their equipment. This is an opportunity for them to test out levels, and to ensure the sound is mixed correctly for your venue.

Soundchecks are noisy, so it is worth noting if your function room will be occupied throughout the day.

If you wish for the act to do this out of the way of your guests, we offer an early set-up option, which comes at a small additional cost.

Live bands
Most of our live acts play for up to two hours, divided into either two 60 minute sets or three 40 minute sets, which usually works well for an evening event needing to finish by midnight.

Toast DJs
They can cover an entire evening or fill the gaps between sets or other acts.
If booking for a daytime event, we will arrange something to suit, according to your needs.

Soloists, Duos & Entertainers
These are usually booked by the hour but we can be very flexible. If you have specific requirements on the set length just simply give us a shout so we can discuss and arrange the best solution for you.

Yes.
This is a great way to maximise on value for money and see the raw talent of your chosen band in an up-close and personal capacity.

Our bands are very flexible and happy to provide a scaled-down acoustic performance, ideal as ambient background music to a drinks reception, garden party or networking do.

Use your act to your advantage and entertain guests throughout an event.

(With Wedding bookings, it is not uncommon for our acts to sing live at the ceremony, provide acoustic background ambience at the drinks reception and wedding breakfast, and then rock the evening party too)!

Yes, if your chosen song is suitable to be played live, many of our acts are very willing to learn your first dance for you for no extra charge. (Some tracks may need to be adapted to suit the chosen band line-up).

Extra song requests can also be discussed and included in your quote.

Our DJ service is totally bespoke so you can request your first dance track in advance and have the freedom to choose as many other song requests as you like.

We like to show a sample of a band's repertoire but many of our acts can play more songs than we can list! Feel free to chat with us about any specific songs you'd love so we can do our best to accommodate your requests.

Yes, all our acts have PLI (Public Liability Insurance) and PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) certificates which we are happy to supply to you on request.

For Toast's cancellation policy, please refer to our terms and conditions here - https://toastlive.co.uk/terms-...

We are here to provide support and guidance to you and our community of artists throughout the current COVID-19 crisis.

I want to make a change to my booking
If you have an existing booking you can request an amendment by getting in touch with us on 01243 937138 or at [email protected]

Moving the booking date
Under entertainment booking contracts there is usually no automatic right to transfer a booking to another date if a force majeure event causes a booking to be cancelled.

Toast have introduced a temporary goodwill policy for clients whose events can't happen due to Covid restrictions. In this case, the booking deposit will be credited to your account and can be used against the deposit due, on re-arranged bookings or new bookings.

If you need to make changes to your original booking due to Covid, you will receive 100% of your deposit as credit to use towards any future booking deposits for events before 2024.


The following conditions apply:
- Due to the serious hardship now facing our industry, we are not enforcing an additional administration charge, but are requesting a small voluntary contribution towards this extra service.

- If you want to move your booking to a peak date (any Saturday) from 1 Jan 2022 onwards, there may be a restriction on the amount of credit you can use towards a new booking. This is because when you ask us to move a booking to a peak date, not only do we incur the additional cost of extending the cover on your contract, but we forfeit the booking deposit that would be paid by another customer to secure the artist for that date.

- Where a booking has been moved, postponed or cancelled for a non-force majeure reason, an artist may be entitled to seek fees to cover any loss of income (see the Force Majeure and Artist Cancellation sections below).

Am I covered by force majeure?
Force majeure is a clause in your contract that can help protect you and your artist when an extraordinary event or a circumstance beyond your control prevents either you or your artist, from fulfilling contractual obligations.

In the current situation where official Covid restrictions and tiers are changing all the time, judging whether force majeure will apply to a booking change can be a tough call. In providing the guidance here, we’ve used our best guess based on our experience. Where you’re in any doubt, we will be happy to chat through your individual situation and offer further advice.

Your booking changes will probably be covered by force majeure if:
- Social distancing laws prevent your event from taking place
- Social distancing laws prevent your artist from delivering their service
- You or your partner are ill with Coronavirus, or need to self- isolate, on your event date

You are less likely to be covered by force majeure if:
- It is not yet clear that social distancing laws are likely to affect your event.
- Restrictions on guest numbers have a limited effect on your event. (E.g. Guests numbers have been reduced from 120 to 100)
- Your personal circumstances have changed since you made your booking
- You have vulnerable or overseas guests who might not be able to attend


Cancelling Your Booking
If your booking has been prevented by Covid and you cannot reschedule:

- If you can move or postpone your booking, this is usually a better option than cancelling completely, with the least disruption to your plans.

- But if you're not able to reschedule your event right now, we will credit to your account 100% of the deposit you have paid, which you can use towards any new booking deposit made before 2024, as per the guidelines at the top of the page.

- You can also transfer this credit/any remaining credit to a member of your family or friends.


My artist isn't available for my new date
We’ll help with replacements and artist swaps:

- If you’ve already moved your event to a new date but your artist is unavailable, we will help you find a replacement.

- Artists typically wouldn’t seek any cancellation fees if you are rescheduling for a force majeure reason, even if they are unavailable for the new date.

- For all other scenarios, an artist swap might be possible. This is where Artist A and Artist B may both have cancellations and are not available for their clients’ alternative dates but they are available for each other’s proposed date.

- By mutual agreement, clients can effectively swap their artist with the available artist and avoid paying the artist any fees for loss of income. We will be happy to chat through your options - please give us a call.

Reserving an artist for a potential date
This is your backup plan should your original event fall through:

With so many bookings being moved from this year to next, some of our most popular artists already have packed diaries for 2021 and 2022.

If you have booked a popular artist and there’s a possibility that your date might be affected by Covid, making a plan B that secures your artist for a ‘backup’ date would be sensible.

The good news is, you can reserve your artist for a potential date in the future while still keeping your contract in place for your current date.


Here’s how it works:
- We will contact your artist to check availability and get mutual agreement.

- You will pay a Reserve Fee to secure your artist for a potential ‘reserve date’ should anything go wrong with your original date.

- A Reserve Fee is not the same as a deposit. As it is for a booking that you might not need, and we can no longer sell the artist on that date, Reserve Fees are non-refundable and non-transferable.

- We will take the artist ‘off-the-market’ for the reserve date. No one will be able to book them for that date while your reservation is in place.

- If your original booking can go ahead, your reserve booking will be cancelled.

- If your original booking can't go ahead, your reserve booking will kick in.

- Any deposit credit will ‘leapfrog’ your original date. It will instead be available should your reserve date fall through due to Covid.

- If your reserve booking also needs to be moved as a result of Covid restrictions, you’ll receive 100% deposit credit to use towards the deposit due on a third date.


What if I have Wedding or Event insurance?
Check your policy before you make changes.

It’s a good idea to check your policy to see under what circumstances you are covered before cancelling. This may help recover some, if not all your costs.


What about when the COVID-19 situation changes?
We will do our best to keep our information up-to-date.

It is a good idea to keep tabs on the UK Government's official restrictions here.

If you need more help, please email, or give us a call on 01243 937 138 We’re here to help wherever we can.

You may find it useful to visit:
UK Gov - Social distancing guidance
UK Gov - COVID response
UK Gov - Travel advice