Advice needed about hiring a band

[sphil]

It's my Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding in September and my sister and I are trying to organise a party for them. It will probably be outside, possibly in a marquee, and we'd really like to have some live music. Music has been very important to them throughout their marriage, but the problem is that their 'favourites' playlist would be extremely varied - from Gilbert and Sullivan to Harry Belafonte to Mozart.

Is it possible to hire bands that will play requests - obviously given in advance - or do they all tend to have a fixed repetoire?
And does anyone have a recommendation? We're in Somerset.
TIA

No recommendations but a decent band would be able to play a variety but you might want to consider two bands, a classical one for the food bit and a dance band for the bit after.

Make sure you get a demo cd of their stuff, rather than relying on references (although v useful too). I used www.functionjunction.co.uk to pick my wedding band based on a friend's recommendation, and they were v good.

Make sure that they agree to not change any band members without letting you know. I have booked a band before for our wedding, loved the lead singers voice (on demo cd), band came on, started singing, realised straightaway it was a different singer. Not in a good way either. I was really dissapointed.