This is a plain summary of what the performance agreement says about canceling, moving a date, and refunds. The agreement itself is what counts; if this page and your agreement ever differ, the agreement wins. The numbers here are the roster defaults and are written into every agreement.
The deposit
A deposit of 30% of the musician’s fee is due when you sign, together with the PrestigeMusicians service fee of 5%, which is charged once and with the deposit. It holds the date. A wedding date is booked a year or more ahead, and holding it means the musician turns other work away, so the deposit is not refunded if you cancel, whenever you cancel. It is refunded, in full, if the musician cannot perform and no substitute is accepted, or if the event cannot go ahead for reasons beyond anyone’s control and no new date can be agreed.
If you cancel
Write to the musician. The cancellation takes effect the day they receive it. What you owe depends on how much notice they have to find other work for the date.
| Notice | You owe, in total |
|---|---|
| More than 90 days before the event | The deposit only |
| Between 90 and 30 days | 60% of the total |
| Less than 30 days | The full total |
If you have paid less than that, the rest is due within fourteen days. If you have paid more, the difference is refunded within fourteen days. The table concerns the musician’s fee. The PrestigeMusicians service fee of 5%, paid with the deposit, is separate and is not refunded where you cancel.
If you need to move the date
Tell the musician as soon as you know. If they are free on the new date, the agreement moves to it on the same terms, once, at no extra cost. If they are not free, or the date has already moved once, the original date counts as a cancellation under the table above, and the new date needs a new agreement.
If the musician cannot perform
If illness, injury or a failed journey means the musician cannot perform, they will tell you as soon as they know and will first try to send a musician of comparable standing at no additional cost. PrestigeMusicians assists in finding one from the roster. If you accept, the agreement continues with the substitute. If no one suitable can be found, or you would rather not, everything you have paid is refunded within fourteen days, the PrestigeMusicians service fee included.
If the event cannot go ahead for reasons beyond anyone’s control
Severe weather that closes the venue, a government order, a strike or closure that makes travel impossible: neither of you is in breach. You first try to move the date. If no date can be agreed, everything you have paid is refunded, less travel costs the musician has already paid for this booking and cannot get back, shown to you with receipts and never more than the deposit. The PrestigeMusicians service fee is refunded in full.
Your own or a guest’s illness, a change of heart, or the venue canceling on you is not covered here. That is a cancellation under the table above, and it is what wedding insurance is for.
How refunds are made
Every refund is made from the musician’s Stripe account to the card or bank account the payment came from, within fourteen days of the cancellation taking effect. Where the PrestigeMusicians service fee is refundable, it is returned in the same refund, as a single amount. No request for bank details in order to make a refund will ever be sent by email; any such request does not come from PrestigeMusicians.
If a refund you are owed has not arrived within fourteen days, write to bookings@prestigemusicians.com stating the booking, and PrestigeMusicians will take it up with the musician.
Overtime and extras
Playing beyond the booked end time is by agreement on the day, in half-hour blocks at the rate in your agreement, and is paid through the same link within seven days after the event. It is not refundable once played.
Questions
Ask the musician first; they know your booking. For anything about the platform, the link or a refund that has not arrived, write to bookings@prestigemusicians.com.