Guitarist and/or mento band recommendations

Hi,
Since you have all been so helpful before, I'm hoping you could help me figure out a guitarist for my wedding ceremony, and a mento band (or even reggae) for my reception (or a combination for both). This is not a necessity--although I would really like a guitarist for the ceremony--so I'm hoping to find someone pretty affordable. Wedding planners have quoted anywhere from 500-1000 per hour for a band and I would rather not pay that.

Would you recommend finding one in advance or trying to find one in Negril on the beach or something when we arrive? We will be arriving on a Saturday, and get married on a Tuesday.

Thanks so much in advance!! :)

I wanted live music for my wife's birthday party last year, and did fine just finding someone on the beach. We found a great three piece mento band on the beach, and they accepted my 1st offer of "Hey, can you guys stop by on Friday night and play for a half hour for Fifty U.S.?" We ended up tipping pretty well on top of that, but they were just perfect for what we were looking for. You would probably be fine doing the same thing, just hang out on the beach, see a musician or band you like, and make an offer. Shouldn't be too expensive.

Two good mento bands in Negril:

Sunshine Mento Band – here is youtube video of then performing at Firefly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwWwq...eature=related

The Overtakers – you can probably contact them thru the Lighthouse Inn on the west end as they were performing there regularly earlier this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyaNK...eature=related


If you want a guitarist/singer, you could contact Stephen West thru Seastar Inn. If he is not available for your date, he could suggest someone for you. He could probably suggest a mento band for you as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VVTf_lR_VI

and here is a link to a prior thread re wedding musicians
http://negril.com/forum/showthread.p...ighlight=ansel

here is another of a beach guitarist/singer, Kevin Sterling who is very good (singing a great wedding song)\
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C-SD...eature=related
No idea how to contact him, other than asking around (all of the musicians in Negril seem to know each other).