Category Archives: Chicago String Quartet

Artistrings, Carol Sarlas Orchestra, Chicago Jazz, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Wedding Band, Chicago Wedding Ceremony

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Kristina & Kevin’s Wedding at Rockwell on the River

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From day one, Kristina & Kevin’s infectious energy was such a joy to us. We loved their choice of the new venue Rockwell on the River, and our Chicago wedding band couldn’t wait to fill those walls with music!

Beautiful weather allowed us an outdoor ceremony on the river, with the Artistrings quartet setting an elegant romantic mood. Expert coordination and many thanks to Dana from Clementine Custom Events. Here we are, set up and ready to go, before the guests arrived. See? Gorgeous.

The grandparents, parents, and bridesmaids made their entrance to The Swan/Saint-Saens, while Kristina & her dad floated down the aisle to Debussy’s Clair De Lune. Their music choices were a breath of fresh air on a lovely day. The end of the ceremony introduced the married couple to Higher & Higher/Jackie Wilson, which definitely set the tone for the rest of the night.

While everyone was enjoying cocktails in one segment of the room, the band was ready to go behind the curtain. Hi all!

And the tables? Gorgeous, again 🙂

Starting out, here’s some instrumental jazz to draw guests in from cocktails:

Kristina & Kevin chose to have a New York style reception, which means that they danced a bit between courses. When we opened for dinner, we started the evening off high energy with the full Carol Sarlas Orchestra, which was SO much fun! The bride & groom were introduced to Footloose, which is Kevin’s signature song, and everyone knew it! We all danced to a couple of tunes, and then everyone gathered around for their first dance, Hey Jude. We really can’t imagine a more perfect beginning to this celebration:

Once dinner service began, we played a lot of conversation-friendly music with different segments of the band. Our vocalists took turns singing ballads during dinner service. We love hearing Thair sing this one:

And, there’s a time and a place for groovy instrumental tunes too 🙂

Dancing later in the night was the absolute best.

Kristina & Kevin, your words on Wedding Wire mean the world to us. Hugs all around!

“Sarlas Music exceeded all expectations!
Working with Sarlas Music was one of my favorite experiences from the entire wedding planning process. From our very first meeting, we were confident we made the right decision. It was important for us to maintain a dance party from beginning to end, which is exactly what we had. Chris and Carol listened to all of our ideas and requests, and provided wonderful suggestions, too – proving that they’re truly experts at what they do. We received numerous compliments from our guests, and kept the dance floor packed all night long. Best. Band. Ever!”

Artistrings, Carol Sarlas Orchestra, Chicago Jazz, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Wedding Band, Chicago Wedding Ceremony

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Caitlin & Pete’s Westmoreland Country Club Celebration

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Playing at Westmoreland Country Club in June has become quite a tradition over here! Caitlin & Pete chose the Carol Sarlas Orchestra as their Chicago wedding band, and we had such an amazing time with them.

We started with their rehearsal dinner the night before at Sheridan Shores Yacht Club at Wilmette Harbor. The Artistrings pop string quartet created a conversation-friendly (yet upbeat!) mood and took requests of favorite pop and rock tunes all night long. It was easy to see that the next night was going to be something really special 🙂

Wedding day brought the hottest temperatures we’ve seen in some time. We enjoyed a ceremony inside the club, with the men of the wedding party dressed in traditional kilts. Artistrings again performed for the group, this time leaning more on the elegant classical side of things. The ladies in the wedding party made their entrance to the Flower Duet from Lakme, and Caitlin was the picture-perfect bride walking in to the Prime Minister’s Love Theme from Love Actually. During the ceremony, we called upon film music again, going with an interlude of Mothersbaugh’s Canon. The end of the ceremony brought the traditional sound of bagpipes to lead everyone out of the club and outside for cocktails in the garden.

Cocktail music was old school jazzy, upbeat, and lively – think Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Ella, Sammy Davis Jr., and Billie Holiday. Love it! Once we transitioned over to the tent for a served dinner, the weather started to cool off and guests enjoyed the warm summer evening’s breezy atmosphere. We switched gears a bit and focused more on Van Morrison, U2, Springsteen, and Bob Marley during dinner.

Here’s a quick example of upbeat jazz from early in the night:

When it was time to dance, everyone came back into the club, where we had flipped the space and the Carol Sarlas Orchestra was ready to party!

We created these next two videos exactly in order of how things went that night, please join us on the journey of Caitlin & Pete! You’ll even see a few seconds of their lovely first dance, Falling Slowly.

We had a ton of special requests, and had a blast with this crowd playing them all.

Thank you for the Wedding Wire love, Caitlin!!!

“Hands down one of the BEST wedding bands out there! Not only did the band sound incredible and keep everyone dancing all night – Sarlas Music was SUCH a joy to work with! So accommodating, flexible, responsive and talented! Chris and Carol made this whole process and enjoyable. I was super stressed about our ceremony music and they met with me for a second time and walked my through everything. We used the Carol Sarlas band for our wedding reception, the Artstrings quartet for the ceremony and the Artstrings pop quartet for our rehearsal – all were AMAZING!”

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

Chicago Wedding Band and Pop String Quartet Performed for Colleen & Brendan’s Wedding at Galleria Marchetti

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Colleen and Brendan were engaged in early September, and booked their three most important vendor priorities within a few weeks – church, venue, and band. They wanted a Chicago wedding band that would appeal to all of their guests, so that everyone would celebrate together and keep their party on the dance floor. We were thrilled that they chose us 🙂

The day began with Colleen and Brendan’s ceremony at Old St. Pat’s. When their guests arrived at the reception, cocktails were hosted in Galleria Marchetti’s Pergola (complete with retractable roof!).The Artistrings pop string quartet kicked things off with a wide range of requests: Flashing Lights/Kanye West, Sweet Child O’ Mine/Guns N’ Roses, music from Game Of Thrones, Star Wars,…and let’s not forget those guilty pleasures like: Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe, Katy Perry’s Firework, and Edward Sharpe’s Home. SO much fun!

Guests then moved to the tent, with the full Chris Sarlas Orchestra setting the stage for a serious celebration! After introductions, Colleen and Brendan danced to our performance of the acoustic version of Starley’s Call On Me. This foreshadowed our Unplugged vocal quartet with acoustic guitar and cajon adding the perfect mood they wanted during dinner service.

Rather than serve a plated dessert to their guests, a dessert bar awaited everyone after we danced with parents. Their first request to kick things up for everyone was Timber/Ke$ha + Pitbull. You can see from the video highlights that there was no shortage of favorite party tunes!

Planning the best Chicago wedding starts at the top, and both Colleen and Brendan were 100% committed as a team to make sure their party was setting the bar high for all spring and summer weddings this year!

All our congratulations to Colleen & Brendan, and our most sincere thanks for this terrific Wedding Wire review:

“Chris did an amazing job performing at our wedding. I don’t recall a time when the dance floor wasn’t packed! All night our guests kept asking where we found this band and giving us compliment on what an amazing job the band was doing.

Prior to the wedding Chris took the time to make sure that he could deliver exactly what my wife and I wanted for our wedding day. Chris made the experience very personal, taking the time to learn about us as a couple. Other bands that my wife and I contacted made us feel like we were just another client to them but we never got that impression from Chris.

I would recommend Chris to anyone who is looking to book a live performance for their event. You will not be disappointed.”

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

Chicago Wedding Band & Pop String Quartet Played for Katie & Tyler’s Lake Geneva Wedding

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Grand Geneva
October 6, 2018


Lake Geneva, WI is one of our very favorite getaway performance spots for this Chicago wedding band. With gorgeous autumn foliage it’s perfect for escaping the hustle of the big city and enjoying the crisp clean air. Katie and Tyler chose have their reception at the very popular Grand Geneva Resort, so that Katie’s family from Chicago could converge with Tyler’s family from Minnesota for a fabulous Lake Geneva wedding weekend!

When we first met with Katie & Tyler to talk about music for their wedding day, they said that they were focusing on finding the right band, because a fun dance party was at the top of their wedding day wish list. That’s our kind of couple! Why did they choose us? Well, as they were vetting wedding bands, they noticed that many other bands featured singers performing songs that weren’t a good fit for their voices. They loved that our vocalists sound natural singing the styles and songs they’re featured on, and that was the ballgame for them.

Again, our kind of couple 🙂 Needless to say, we were all super excited to head up to Lake Geneva to perform for Katie, Tyler, & their guests!

They kicked off their cocktail hour with the Artistrings pop string quartet completely flooring their guests with their incredible arrangements. Tunes included Everlong/Foo Fighters, Tom Sawyer/Rush, All You Need Is Love/Beatles, You Make My Dreams Come True/Hall & Oates, Chandelier/Sia…and SO many others that had guests singing along and tapping their toes.

The ballroom opened with the impact of the Chris Sarlas Orchestra and a New York Style flow: all guests flooded the dance floor and got the party started in the best way possible! We ended the set with You and Me/Dave Matthews for Katie & Tyler’s first dance. After the salad course, we invited Katie & her dad up for their special song together (You’re My Best Friend/Queen), and then Tyler & his mom shared their moment with Days Like This/Van Morrison. From there, we transitioned into a short dance set for everyone as Alex and her Grand Geneva Staff reset place settings for entree service. The flow was absolutely perfect for this dancing crowd!

Jenna Thayer from Graceful Events kept the party on point all night long – ensuring that guests were eating, drinking, and dancing at all the right times. Jenna is absolutely amazing at what she does, and we can’t wait for the next event we have together!

Our Unplugged vocal quartet with acoustic guitar and cajon added the perfect vibe they wanted during dinner service, and then we were back into a full tilt dance party! Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Whitney Houston, Paul Simon, Stevie, Beyonce, Ke$ha, Pitbull…you name it, we played it!

Katie planned two surprises with us: a dedication of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ in honor of her grandmother, Peggy. The other was a tune that she promised would bring the house down: S.O.B/Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. Boy, was she right!

‘Sweet Home Alabama’/Lynyrd Skynyrd was another must, as Tyler went to school in AL.

Katie and Tyler’s wedding celebration in Lake Geneva was a night to be remembered! All our love to you guys, and our most sincere thanks for this wonderful Wedding Wire review:

Book them now! Amazing orchestra!
If you don’t book them, you simply will not have THEE best band! Chris and Carol are phenomenal people and extremely talented. They were a pleasure to work with and made the entire process fun and easy! They have a ton of experience and I so appreciated their input and expertise throughout the process. They read the room and played one great song after the next (all genres!). The only down side was that our dance floor was too small!! EVERYONE was out on the dance floor and sweaty when we were saying our goodbyes… 🙂
Our idea of a great party!

Artistrings, Carol Sarlas Orchestra, Chicago Jazz, Chicago Pop String Quartet, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Wedding Band, Chicago Wedding Ceremony

Chicago Wedding Band and Pop String Quartet Performed for Josie & Robert’s Lake Geneva Wedding

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Josie & Robert each spent a lot of time in Lake Geneva growing up, so it made sense for them to choose Lake Geneva as a destination wedding location. They met on the lakefront in Chicago, when Robert’s dog Pierce ran up to Josie and essentially chose her. “Dad, she’s the one!” This is definitely our kind of love story 🙂

Their ceremony took place in the harborside gazebo at The Abbey Resort. The Artistrings pop quartet set the scene with the perfect combination of tunes, including Marry Me/Train, I’m Yours/Mraz, All of Me/Legend and Marry You/Bruno Mars. The officiant made her entrance to Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Izzy, while the wedding party entered to Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud. We all agreed that Josie chose the perfect song for her entrance with her uncle, which was Con Te Partiro. Breaking the glass at the end of their ceremony, kicked off Celebration/Kool and the Gang, and a celebration it was!

We continued over to cocktails on the patio, with a ton of great tunes from the string quartet. Sweet Child O’Mine, Smooth Criminal, Bohemian Rhapsody, Pumped Up Kicks, Fireflies, and Better Together, to name a few.

The celebration continued inside for dinner and dancing. The bride & groom chose three special songs that were so meaningful to everyone, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room by the time our Chicago wedding band finished the special dances. Josie & Robert’s first dance was The Rest of Our Life by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Josie then danced with her godfather to Fathers & Daughters/Bolton, and then Robert danced with his mom to I Am Your Child/Barry Manilow. Lyrics are everything, and these songs have it all.

As things were getting started for the evening, we had some time to play some classic jazz tunes during dinner:

Dancing went all night long with this fun-loving crowd of friends and family! One of our favorite things was a Hora and Tarantella mashup, to merge the cultures of both families. So much joy!

Time for a late night groove tune:

We ended the night with two special requests – Die A Happy Man/Thomas Rhett (you’ll see the hero image at the top of this post from he last dance of the night), and….you guessed it….Celebration!

Josie & Robert, your love and energy is contagious, and we wish you all the very best that this world has to offer. Many hugs!!

“WOWWWWW!!! Listen, we are picky and we wanted the best, most amazing wedding band. Let me tell you that we found them. If you are willing to spend the money (and all great wedding bands cost big bucks) then don’t spend your money anywhere else. This group, led by Carol and Chris, are not only incredibly easy to work with in the planning stages, they are fun, caring, and efficient. Most importantly, they made our wedding into a live concert! The vocalists, the drummers, the guitar players, it was like being front and center for an epic concert. They nailed our slow songs, jammed out hard on the fun songs, hit every note, and even played an extra 30 minutes for us because NOBODY would get off the dance floor. We wanted a perfect wedding along the water’s edge in Lake Geneva, and our ceremony was truly outstanding and one to remember but the highlight of everything was these guys ROCKING OUT for 3.5 hours. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Robert and Josie E.”