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Chicago Wedding Band, Chris Sarlas Orchestra, Unplugged Vocal Quartet - Dinner Music

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Kate & Brett’s Rustic Farm Wedding

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August 26, 2017
Seymour, IL

The day that Kate & Brett got engaged in Washington, D.C., they prioritized their band and the location for their wedding celebration. Within two weeks, the decision was made to host the celebration at Kate’s family farm in Seymour, IL, and that Chris’ Chicago wedding band would be making the trip down to keep everyone dancing. The one sure thing they told us right away was this: “it’s not going to be a black tie affair, we can tell you that much!” “Think country chic, Chris.” We love it!

When our Chicago wedding band performed for Kate & Brett’s rustic farm wedding, their machine shed was repurposed into housing the best country-chic evening celebration you can possibly imagine. Of course, this also meant that we could drive our van right in and unload. This, my friends, was the easiest load-in of our 18 year career….so far. (Can you hear the sound crew applauding?) What a refreshing change from the congestion of the city. You feel peaceful just looking at these next two pictures, right?

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Andy sounded fantastic on All The Way/David Nail for Kate & Brett’s first dance. Their Goldendoodle, Lincoln, was the sweetest first dance bomber we’ve ever seen. This video makes us smile, every single time.

Guests enjoyed our unique “Unplugged” option for dinner service:

And then, we danced the night away!

Brett’s words on Wedding Wire mean the world:

We found Chris and Carol on WeddingWire and immediately found Chris’ responsiveness and attention to detail very comforting. He took the time to get to know us as a couple and what we wanted from our wedding band. They crushed it! Guests of all ages were dancing for hours. We also appreciated the band’s willingness to learn a new song for our first dance. Also – the acoustic dinner music was incredible and something we’d highly recommend to anyone else. We gave Chris and Carol five stars all around – we had a blast and our guests are raving about the music at our wedding. Thanks to Chris, Carol, and the band for everything!

Kate & Brett, your party was a blast, and we were thrilled to celebrate with you both!

Artistrings, Chicago Pop String Quartet, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Wedding Band, Chris Sarlas Orchestra, Unplugged Vocal Quartet - Dinner Music

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Molly & Angelo’s Wedding at Drake Chicago

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July 15, 2017
The Drake Hotel

Molly & Angelo met while working together at NBC in South Bend, IN, and they chose one of our very favorite ballrooms for their Chicago wedding day, the Gold Coast Room at the Drake.

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From our first conversation together, we knew that this party merging Irish, German, and Sicilian traditions was going to be off the charts! Our Chicago wedding band performed for Molly & Angelo’s wedding at the Drake Chicago, and there were so many special moments to remember: Artistrings pop string quartet kicked things off for cocktail hour, family friend and tenor Tony Milioto brought down the house with O Sole Mio and Nessun Dorma during dinner, dancing featured an extended tarantella for all guests to enjoy, and we learned Allentown/Billy Joel in honor of Angelo’s home town.

Check out Angelo and his dad singing a special Italian song together – one of the sweetest moments ever!

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Molly & Angelo wanted to celebrate with an East-Coast style (New York style) wedding, so once we entered the Gold Coast Room for dinner service, we got everyone up to dance for a few minutes. We love how a NY style wedding gets the energy of the wedding up from the minute the reception starts, it’s so much fun! Here’s an uncut video clip of part of this dance set, so you can see how we transition between tunes to keep everyone on the floor.

We featured this smaller 8 piece Chicago wedding band for dancing between courses, and then our Unplugged vocal quartet with acoustic guitar and cajon during dinner service. For dancing after dinner, we expanded to the full 11 piece band (with horn section) for all of their requested favorites including Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind and Fire, James Brown and Bruno Mars. One of the best moments of the night was watching the dancers tear up the dance floor with another special request: Mambo Italiano!

There’s more video coming up soon, and our most sincere thanks to Nicole Zenner and her team from LK Events for making everything so easy 🙂

Carol Sarlas Orchestra, Chicago Corporate Entertainment, Chicago Wedding Band

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Annie & Mike’s Wedding at Westmoreland Country Club

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June 24, 2017
Westmoreland Country Club

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Annie & Mike’s wedding was an amazing summer night in Wilmette, with flawless coordination by Loreen and her team from Clementine Custom Events. From cocktails on the Crabapple Patio, to dinner in the tent, and dancing inside the club, these party-goers were there to celebrate the union of a bride from Milwaukee and a groom from Connecticut. From classic rock to current hits and country too, we played it all, and ended the night with their favorite tune, Van Morrison’s Caravan. With the dance floor chanting for an encore, we brought out one more tune that ended the night perfectly. Your Song circled everyone around Annie & Mike, and ended spontaneously in the best group hug we’ve ever seen.

Congratulations, guys. What a party!!

Artistrings, Chicago Pop String Quartet, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Wedding Band, Chicago Wedding Ceremony, Chris Sarlas Orchestra

Chicago Wedding Band Performs for Emily & Michael’s Wedding at Chicago Cultural Center

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May 20, 2017
Chicago Cultural Center

When the bride records herself singing Make You Feel My Love/Adele as a surprise to the groom for their first dance, you know it’s going to be a fantastic night! Our Chicago wedding band performed for Emily & Michael’s wedding at the Chicago Cultural Center, and we loved every minute working with these two.

The evening began with Emily & Michael’s wedding ceremony in GAR, featuring classical music selections from the Artistrings String Quartet. The bride’s brother, Billy, wrote and performed a special composition for Emily’s entrance into the room which overlooks Michigan Avenue. This is one talented family! The ceremony concluded in elegant fashion with the Overture to the Music from the Royal Fireworks. As everyone headed into cocktails, Artistrings showed why they are the most versatile string quartet in Chicago, and did a 180 degree turn into performing all of Emily & Michael’s favorite pop and rock requests.

Kirsty from LOLA Event Productions spearheaded organizing all details for the soiree, leaving no aspect unattended!

After a lively cocktail celebration, guests headed over to the other side of the building into Preston Bradley Hall, where our Chicago wedding band Chris Sarlas Orchestra welcomed them in for dinner & dancing. The biggest surprise of the night happened when Chris introduced the bride & groom into the reception and they transitioned right into their first dance. Emily’s voice soared under the Tiffany dome as they danced, and we all (including Michael) smiled from ear to ear. We live for magical moments like this.

Emily & Michael wanted a unique dinner music option that was conversation friendly, so they chose our Unplugged vocal quartet with acoustic guitar and cajon. It created the atmosphere they were looking for during dinner service, and then we kicked it into a full blown dance party!

Midway through our dance set, we invited Billy up to perform again, and the crowd went wild. ROCK STAR!

Emily, thank you for lighting up Wedding Wire with your kindness.

We cannot say enough wonderful things about the Chris & Carol Sarlas Orchestras. Our guests danced the whole night long and couldn’t stop raving about the music! We worked with many vendors for our wedding, but Chris and Carol were our absolute favorite to work with. They made sure we had the wedding experience we wanted, and didn’t try to sell us any pre-packed ideas or concepts. They make sure your day is your day and customize everything to what you’re looking for. We even had couple last minute requests (and by last minute I mean the night before the wedding) and they were able to accommodate and make it a seamless evening.

You don’t need to look anywhere else if you’re looking to have an amazing musical experience for your special occasion–Chris and Carol have it all.