Everything couples ask me

For a Saturday between May and September, nine to twelve months is normal and some couples book eighteen months out. Midweek and off-season, you'll often be fine with far less, and I've taken bookings six weeks before the day.

The honest version: send me your date whenever you have it, even if you're nowhere near ready to book. It takes me a minute to check and it costs you nothing to know.

Within 24 hours, and usually much sooner. It'll be a real answer from me telling you whether I'm free, not an acknowledgement saying I'll be in touch.

A 50% deposit secures your date. The balance is due one month before the wedding.

Nothing is due to ask me whether your date is free.

Almost everything I do outdoors has an indoor version, and I'll have agreed it with your coordinator before the day so nobody is making decisions in a downpour. I carry enough cable to move somewhere sheltered and still be in the right place, and my PA has a battery option so I'm not tied to a socket.

The realistic answer is that I've played plenty of weddings where the ceremony moved indoors an hour before it started. It's fine. Your coordinator has done it before too.

In over ten years I have never missed a wedding, and I plan my diary so I'm never travelling far the day before yours. If something did go wrong you'd hear it from me the moment I knew, not the week before.

In the event that Tom is unwell or unable to perform, a full refund – including deposit – will be provided to the client. A suitable replacement performer will also be sought by Tom, wherever possible.

That is written into my terms, not a promise made in an email.

Yes. I've got a battery-powered PA for gardens, fields, clifftops and anywhere else without a plug socket. Worth telling me early if there's no power, because it changes what I bring.

45 to 60 minutes per part of the day, with the wedding breakfast being two sets of around 45 minutes. The ceremony works differently because it's three short moments across half an hour or so.

Quieter than you're imagining, unless you've asked for the evening set. During drinks and the wedding breakfast the whole skill is being audible at the back without stopping people talking at the front. If it's ever too loud, tell me and I'll turn it down. Nobody has ever offended me by asking.

Yes, and I do it for most weddings. Send it over and I'll record a version and send you the mp3 so you know how it'll sound before the day.

The only time I'll say no is if a song genuinely doesn't work with one guitar and one voice. If yours is one of those, I'll tell you honestly and suggest two that would.

Please do. It's one of the best parts of the job. If there's anything you'd rather I avoided, tell me beforehand and it will never happen.

Loads of couples do, and it's usually the right shape. I cover the day, from the ceremony through to getting people up after the first dance, and then a band or DJ takes the night. I'll often plug into the DJ's speakers so there's no second setup and no gap between us.

If you can only afford one, and your priority is a full dance floor at eleven at night, book the band. If your priority is the ceremony and the day, book me.

A guitar, a vocal microphone, a compact PA that works indoors or out, a loop pedal so one person sounds like more than one, and a backup of everything that could fail. It all fits in a car and sets up in about twenty minutes.

Yes, I'm fully insured. Most venues require PLI before they'll allow a live performer, and I carry my certificate with me to every booking. My equipment is PAT tested too, which some venues also ask for.

Give me your venue's email and I'll send the certificate over without you having to chase either of us.

Prices are per part and they add up: ceremony £400, afternoon drinks £500, wedding breakfast £600, evening drinks and turnaround £500, evening party set £400, first dance £300. Every price is on the prices page, with no “from” hiding behind it.

You can read the full price list before you speak to me.

No. You're booking me, not an agency, so the number on the prices page is the number you pay.

Yes. Travel is 50p a mile from Stansted, Essex. I will always tell you the figure before you book, never after.

Destination weddings in Europe are quoted separately, and depend on flights, kit hire and how many nights I need to be there.