Category Archives: Artistrings

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

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Allie & Jonathan’s Wedding at The University Club of Chicago

Leave a comment

September 4, 2016
The University Club of Chicago
untitled-1

We love celebrating on holiday weekends. They are the perfect time to host a celebration because most people have the Monday holiday as a vacation day, and who doesn’t love an extended wedding weekend?! Allie and Jonathan’s wonderful Chicago wedding was non-stop fun at the University Club in breathtaking Cathedral Hall. There are a handful of venues in Chicago that have a timeless feel and impeccable service, and the University Club is one of those coveted locations.

Catering director Lychelle Lawrenz from the Club collaborated with Nicole Zenner from LK Events, and just like magic: these two ladies created a soiree guaranteed to be a serious mega-hit!

Allie and Jonathan began their wedding day with the Artistrings Pop String Quartet providing ceremony music. With Crazy Love/Van Morrison for the wedding party entrance, and a special arrangement of Sea of Love/Cat Power for Allie’s entrance, guests knew from the very beginning of the day that this was going to be a really special celebration. Artistrings kicked off the recessional with Signed Sealed Delivered/Stevie Wonder, and then went down to the Library to entertain guests for cocktails while all vendor teams moved swiftly to reset Cathedral Hall for dinner and dancing.

While the room-turn magic was happening in Cathedral Hall, cocktailing guests enjoyed a wide selection of pop tunes, including the “must play” requests of Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and Hedwig’s Theme. Love it!

Mouthwatering food is always one of the main reasons that families choose the University Club as one of the go-to places to host a Chicago Wedding. Four courses of pure culinary delight were enjoyed by over 200 guests who were gathered to dance the night away.

Dancing began with two special family dances, and then the dance floor erupted into a massive hora – Mazel Tov!

From our rotation of over 800 tunes, Allie and Jonathan selected a playlist of the best artists to read the pulse of the evening, which was a great mix of old and new. Bruno Mars, Pharrell, Whitney Houston, Michael and Janet Jackson, Lionel Richie, Justin Timberlake and DNCE kept this Chicago wedding band on our toes.

Be sure to check out the sweetest video moment of the evening at the opening of the montage below. Let me set the stage: the band is cranking out Pharrell’s Happy, and a barefoot two-year old steals the show with his breakneck fancy footwork! Happy Feet ❤️

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

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Caidi & Steve’s New Year’s Eve Wedding at The Union League Club

Leave a comment

December 31, 2015
Union League Club of Chicago

Happy New Year, everyone!

We can’t imagine a better way to begin 2016, and all our thanks to smooth coordination from the team at Soirée Weddings & Events. Celebrating Caidi & Steve with friends, family, and lots of great music was an incredible honor for us. Music began at the club with our Artistrings violins welcoming guests up the stairs for cocktails. Dinner started with tons of energy from the 17 piece Chris Sarlas Orchestra. We danced, and then the bride and groom shared their first dance: the DMB version of In My Life.

untitled-1

During dinner, we had fun creating a few different moods – our strolling violins on the dance floor serenaded with a set of holiday classics and standards. A little later, we featured our vocal quartet with cajon and acoustic guitar for a conversation friendly unplugged set.

untitled-1-2

Some dancing highlights from this fabulous celebration:

Every once in a while, we like to post an uncut video to show how we transition from tune to tune and keep the dance floor packed. Here’s what we did in the minutes leading up to the countdown to the New Year. Enjoy!

Of course, we had a few minutes for selfie stick fun at the end of the night. Love this band!

untitled-1-5

untitled-1-6

untitled-1-7

untitled-1-8

And….we’re blushing. Yes, we got a little misty reading this Wedding Wire review from Caidi’s parents. Can’t thank you enough, Marika & Evan!

OH WHAT A NIGHT! The Chris Sarlas Orchestra reached its consistent high level of achievement at our daughter’s New Year’s Eve wedding this December 31, 2015. They demonstrated their extraordinary dedication to insuring that this magical evening would be spectacular from the onset. True to form, guests danced the night away from the moment they entered the venue to well after midnight. No one wanted to leave and they kept chanting “One more song!” A true testament to their talent . . their energy . . and their interaction with the guests. From the strolling violins to the strong band performance, they were simply put . . . “incredible”.

Highly accomplished and multi-talented, their musicians with the leadership and perseverance for perfection by Chris and Carol Sarlas, made the evening of what dreams are made of and our guests have not stopped praising their performance. Job beyond well done!

Artistrings, Chicago Wedding Band, Chicago Wedding Ceremony, Chris Sarlas Orchestra

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Julie & Adam’s Wedding at Gallery 1028

Leave a comment

Gallery 1028
December 5, 2015

From start to finish, Julie & Adam were a breeze to work with, and their wedding was so much fun! Artistrings started with some great pop selections for their candle-lit ceremony, including A Thousand Years for the bridal party, and Julie made her entrance to Adele’s Make You Feel My Love. At the end, they sealed the deal with Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Love it!

After cocktails, guests entered back into the newly-flipped space, took a peek at their super cool Rice Krispie Cake, and we got down to business right away with dancing. Julie & Adam promised that their guests were going to dance all night, and they did not disappoint!

Jae & Tim sound amazing on this great new tune:

Many thanks to Carlene from Naturally Yours Events for flawless coordination of this beautiful celebration. Can’t wait for the next one, Carlene!

And….thank you Julie, for this amazing 5-star Yelp review!

Best.Band.Ever. Seriously. I’ve never posted a review before, but for this band I created an account because I wanted people to know how good they are. Our wedding was everything I could have hoped for and more. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like without the band, they made the wedding. From the second they began playing people were coming up to us asking who they were. Every text we received after the wedding telling us how much fun people had was followed up by, “who was the band? they were amazing!”
A few weeks before the wedding we asked them if they could learn a few songs that weren’t on their playlist – wasn’t even an issue. It made our first dance so special. They learned “Piano Man” and played it as the last song, it was everything I hoped for and more. Everyone sang along in a big circle, it was absolutely perfect. Without question, hiring this band was the best choice we made for our wedding. If you’re looking at a few different bands and trying to decide, the decision is easy – choose The Chris Sarlas Orchestra if you want the most amazing wedding ever, and get ready for a ton of compliments!

Congratulations guys, we hope to see you dancing at an event real soon!

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

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Carolyn & Christian’s Wedding at The Adler Planetarium

Leave a comment

October 31, 2015
Adler Planetarium

untitled-4

Carolyn & Christian’s Halloween wedding began in the Cafe of the Planetarium with a candle-lit ceremony and beautiful classical romantic music by the Artistrings string quartet. Christian’s sister joined us during the ceremony and knocked everyone out when she sang Adele’s Make You Feel My Love. As we witnessed later in the evening, this is one talented family!

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes before we opened the Cafe back up for dinner service.
untitled-1

When Carolyn mentioned that she’s a singer, she wasn’t kidding. We’re going to start with this video of Carolyn’s surprise song to Christian, because that’s exactly the way this amazing party started.

And then, we danced! Since it was Halloween, you’ll see some great costumes and beautiful masks.

Here’s Jae tearing up Empire State of Mind. Goosebumps, right?

Carolyn sent us this note after the wedding, and we’re blushing:

You guys were SO AMAZING! I have been recommending you to EVERYONE who will listen! I’ll make sure to leave reviews everywhere I can!

Thank you so very much! Your band literally made my wedding! Everyone was so impressed with every song! They said sometimes they forgot it wasn’t a recording of the artist because it sounded so spot on every time! I couldn’t believe how seamless your transitions are and everything! Just perfect!

We were honored to be included in this incredible wedding day. Flawless coordination from Tamar Westphal.