Three of the acts at the top of this page give Mount Eliza itself as home, with no drive at all, and the rest are four kilometres up the road in Mornington. That is rare. On most suburb pages on this site the nearest ten are pinned to a city centre twenty minutes away, so if having someone genuinely local matters to you, this is one of the few places where you can have it.
The trade-off is that none of these ten carries reviews, because the archived sites they came from never collected any. That is not a quality signal either way, it just means you cannot shortcut the reading. Open the profiles, look at what they actually play and where, and ask for footage from a room like yours.
Top picks are the nearby performers with the most visible reviews, then rating, then the closest; further afield the closest come first, and premium listings break remaining ties. Distances are straight-line from Mount Eliza. Ask each act whether they travel to your venue and what that costs.
Some of them, yes. The top of this list includes acts who give Mount Eliza as their home address and show no distance at all, then a run of performers based in Mornington a few minutes away. That is unusual on this site and it is worth using, because a local act has no drive to price and already knows the roads and the venues down here.
Split the day rather than asking one act to cover all of it. A solo pianist or a singer with a guitar handles a ceremony and drinks on a lawn without a stage or much power, and a duo or a small band takes the reception once everyone is inside or under a marquee. Some acts do both with a change of lineup, which is cheaper than two bookings, so ask before you book twice.
The good Saturdays between November and March go a year ahead down here, and the acts who work the vineyard and garden circuit are the first to fill. If your date is in that window, start enquiring as soon as the venue is confirmed. Autumn is a quieter and honestly a nicer season for an outdoor ceremony, and it is far easier to book.
An afternoon off the bay takes a singer's voice sideways and topples a light stand without much effort. Ask what battery gear the act brings, whether they need a power point near the ceremony spot, and where you would move if it turns.
With no review histories on the nearest acts, footage is what you have to judge on. Ask for something recent from a similar event, not a polished promo, and listen to whether the sound is theirs or the room's.
Mornington sits four kilometres away and has its own page drawing on the same performers. There is nothing extra to find by searching both, so pick a trade and compare inside it.