Hot Brown Smackdown

I'll split this review into two parts - them as a band, and them as an emcee/vendor. 1. As a wedding band - FANTASTIC. So talented. They aren't a cookie cutter wedding band, which was important to me. Although they know some popular classic rock/older songs that everyone loves, they play a lot of upbeat bluegrass that everyone danced to. If you are having a Kentucky wedding, they are so authentic and really add to the atmosphere. Lots of guests came up to me at the reception to tell me how great the band was. Additionally, they crushed the songs that they learned for special dances. People were on the dance floor all night for sure. Also, they are fairly affordable (compared to other wedding bands) and offered a discount if we paid cash. They easily provided audio and lighting and the lighting looked legit. 2. As emcees - not great. It was overall fine, and I was the only one who noticed most mistakes - but I had a few friends and relatives comment on the rough emcee work. They weren't overly organized and responsive in email communication - which was very important in planning a wedding from out of state. They missed some crucial details on the day of - even though I reached out twice the week of my wedding to make sure they had everything they needed to know (I never got responses to those emails.) They didn't have our first dance song ready so we had to stand around and wait for them to pull it up. When my planner told them to introduce my mom for the blessing, they introduced me and my husband - even though we were already sitting down at our table with food. Despite me telling them multiple times that I would have an honorary father daughter dance with my uncle because my dad had passed away...they introduced my uncle as my dad. That was probably the most uncomfortable, and it took away from a special moment for my uncle. Generally, their transitions between activities were a little rough - long quiet pauses, no filler music or took a while to get the right song queued up. I spent a lot of time on playlists and picking songs for each activity - I would have gladly made filler music playlists if they had told me it was needed. An alarm/text or something went off while they were playing one of my playlists on a phone when they took a break - not something they could really control but made me cringe. They told me there would need to be 2-3 breaks, so I planned extensively for that and gave them 3 playlists for breaks. They only took one - which was fine, but knowing that would have altered what songs I put on that playlist and saved me a lot of time creating the other two. There was some confusion with playing the last song and they ended up wrapping 30 minutes early but that was more of a miscommunication because a couple people were giving them instruction. Basically - not super organized which was a bummer because we paid extra to have them as emcees. Didn't ruin the night or anything, but had me frustrated a few times. Verdict - I'd still definitely recommend them as a band because they sounded awesome and brought the party, but unless they practice their emcee skills a lot, I'd ask a friend or hire someone else or a planner to act as emcee. I hope this is overall seen as a mostly positive review, because I think the band members are really nice and great - but just wanted to give some honest feedback for improvement on the emcee aspect.