Category Archives: Chicago Wedding Band

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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.”

Chicago Wedding Band, Chris Sarlas Orchestra

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Mia & Quinn’s Celebration at The Westin Lombard

Leave a comment

October 27, 2018

Our absolute favorite thing to do is to visit together and get to know each couple that chooses us to be their Chicago wedding band. Mia and Quinn are an incredible pair that exudes a peaceful, content happiness together — they’re always smiling! It follows that their celebration at the Westin Lombard was filled with over 300 of their friends and family that mirrored their cheerful character and affection!

When guests arrived for cocktails, they were musically transported to South America with our Spanish guitar duo performing a range of flamenco and latin-inspired music. This first impression was such an unexpected and fun twist to cocktail music, that guests were primed to expect the unexpected for the rest of the night 🙂

At dinnertime, the ballroom opened to impact of the band with their favorite motown, swing and pop tunes as their wedding party and families gathered themselves for introductions. The music they music they chose let everyone know in no uncertain terms that a serious dance party awaited them!

Mia and Quinn entered to deafening cheers from all, and headed straight to the dance floor. Their moment was It Had To Be You/Harry Connick Jr., and every guest knew that the bar was set way, way up high for the evening of dancing after dinner!

Tammy Jordan’s Westin staff expertly served 4 courses to their party with the greatest attention to the smallest detail while always keeping a 10,000 ft. macro view of the evening’s timeline pulse in clear view.

After dinner, we expanded a bit to the 14-piece Chris Sarlas Orchestra to play a full array of American and Greek music. Dances with parents (‘What A Wonderful World’ and ‘In The Mood’) led into an American dance set that packed the floor, only to be rivaled by the set of Greek dancing that followed! Mia was blessed to have all 4 of her grandparents there. We were so happy that one of the featured Greek dances up front was specially requested for them – this was a beautiful photo moment which will be treasured forever!

The sweet table, complete with ice cream bar (yay!) opened as we transitioned back to American dancing, and despite the mountain of delicious pastries, check out the video to experience how this party would…not…stop…dancing!!

Mia and Quinn’s happiness and health as a couple is infectious – everyone is so happy to be around them. We know we were! 🙂

Chicago Wedding Band, Chris Sarlas Orchestra

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Elaine & Brian’s Wedding at the Blackstone Hotel

Leave a comment

December 1, 2018

When Elaine and Brian began preparing for their Chicago wedding, they told us that were juggling American and Greek traditions, while wanting to stay true to their vision as a couple. We were so happy to work with them, along with both of their families, as this is our specialty 🙂

The choice of the Blackstone Hotel was the perfect size for celebrating their merger with about 100 friends and family in attendance. They were going for an elegant winter black tie affair, and nailed it!

After dinner service, our Chicago wedding band fused the gap with their American and Greek music traditions – performing everything live!

Special dances began with Dream A Little Dream Of Me/Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong for their first dance together. Then two more special dances: Elaine and her dad danced to God Only Knows/The Beach Boys, followed by Molly Pasutti’s The Man You’ve Become for Brian and his mom. After that, everyone got to their feet and joined them on the dance floor to kick the party into overdrive!

We loved that their requests included something for everyone: Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, Tina Turner, Pitbull, Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston, to name a few. This was a serious dance party! Traditional Greek music got everyone up and dancing around this historic downtown Chicago ballroom.

Elaine and Brian crafted a simply incredible night! All our congratulations, and our most gracious thanks for this terrific Wedding Wire review:

“There are not enough nice things I can say about Chris and his band. Chris and his wife were super involved with our wedding from the start. They truly cared about making sure our wedding was a party and that the dance floor was always full. The band was awesome!! The dance floor was packed all night! I would highly recommend Chris and his band!”

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

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Whitney & Ian’s Celebration in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute

Leave a comment

Whitney & Ian chose the Modern Wing at the Art Institute for their beautiful celebration. Here’s the pristine room before guests arrived:

We began with ceremony in Griffin Court, with the Artistrings string quartet accompanying everyone down the aisle. The mothers and large wedding party appeared to the Hymne from L’Opera Sauvage/Vangelis, and Whitney chose the waltz-like Canon in F for her entrance. Ethereal music for all! Everything was expertly coordinated by Bambi of BCR Events, and we had such a lovely time working alongside her again!

Viva La Vida sent everyone out of Griffin Court and upstairs to Bluhm Terrace for cocktails, while our Chicago wedding band flipped the space for dinner & dancing. When everyone came back down for dinner, an east-coast style reception awaited them. The wedding party and guests of honor were introduced, and then we packed the dance floor for a few songs, ending with the bride & groom’s first dance, Die A Happy Man. It was the perfect way to get this party started!

Here’s some footage of late night dancing – fun all around!