to friendor or not?

The boy and I took a weekend trip to Madison this past weekend to visit his sister and while in route we found ourselves in, what else, wedding discussions. The topic this time? Music.

You see, DB and I are of the musical nature. We met in a music group, we have lots of musical friends, we routinely listen to music in the car that "normal" people would cringe at (and do!). So naturally, music is an important part of a big event as a wedding might be for us.

It all began with talking about the wedding party. You see - he has one sister and one brother and I have two brothers. Naturally, he wants his brother to be a groomsman and his sister to be one of my bridesmaids. No problem. Except what about my two brothers? If all is fair in love and war - my brothers would be both be groomsmen as well. But that doesn't leave very many spots left for DB to have friends in the line-up. So then I thought of the option of my brothers doing the ceremony music (not sure how considering one is an ex-trumpeter gone drummer and the other is a trumpeter). But DB countered with - "Um...have you not thought about the many, many friends we have that are excellent musicians that we could book for close to free?" and I'm all - "oh yeah."

the question at hand is this, my lovelies...do you use friendors or risk offending friends who have the same talent by hiring a "professional"?

We have numerous friends who have groups who could play at the ceremony, cocktail hour (will there even be such a think?), dinner and reception. But - would they rather enjoy the wedding instead of playing? Or would it be a smart move financially to hire a friendor instead of a vendor?

None the less - our wedding/reception will be a rockin' one...you betcha!