Your wedding day is arguably the most important day of your life and great planning can ensure that everything runs smoothly and that you and your guests have a truly wonderful day.

Choosing to have music at your wedding is part of your preparations. Having a wedding pianist play either for the ceremony, the wedding breakfast or for the cocktail / reception can create a wonderful atmosphere and provide a talking point for the guests.

The important thing is to choose the right musician for you and for the atmosphere that you wish to create.

Sometimes wedding pianists are recommended by the wedding venue or by word of mouth. Another way to find wedding pianists is to look for music agencies, they can be found in bridal magazines through internet search engines or via wedding websites. Otherwise you can contact pianists themselves directly via the Internet.

Ideally it will have been best to have heard a pianist play before, then you know exactly how they will sound on your special day. So if you can contact a wedding pianist and see them play beforehand then that can only be a good thing, it would also give you an opportunity to ask any questions about music, or about the organisation of the day.

If you are unable to see a wedding pianist live, then it is worth listening to a demo CD, or to mp3 sound clips from the Internet.

It is worth thinking about the style of music that you would like for the wedding, would you like to employ a classical pianist, a cocktail pianist or a jazz pianist.

Most cocktail and jazz pianists will vary the music that they play according to the atmosphere and will be happy to take requests and even learn music specially for the wedding day.

Finally most pianists will provide an electronic piano if an acoustic piano is not available, but all would prefer to play on an acoustic upright or grand piano, the sound quality is not really comparable and pianos can be hired from a number of different suppliers.