September 16, 2017
Oak Brook Hills Resort
Our Chicago wedding band performed for Jenna & Adam’s wedding at Oak Brook Hills Resort, and our video clips tell the story. From Artistrings for their ceremony music, through Carol’s 11 piece band for dancing, this crowd went nonstop all night long, and only took a short break to go outside for the spectacular fireworks display. Nicole Zenner from LK Events brought everything together seamlessly, and made it look effortless 🙂
September 9, 2017
Union League of Chicago
Our Chicago wedding band was thrilled to join Melli & Steve for their wedding reception at the Union League Club of Chicago. We always LOVE performing at the ULC! From cocktails on the 2nd floor with the Artistrings pop string quartet, to dancing between courses with Chris’ 14 piece Chicago wedding band, Melli & Steve’s wedding was one to remember.
Question: What’s the best way to guarantee an exceptional Chicago wedding reception?
Answer: A team of rockstar vendors working together! Ken Severin and his entire staff pay close attention to every detail of the evening, making the Union League one of Chicago’s most popular and respected venues. Add Stephanie Cook’s team of Creative Planners led by Michelle Alex to the mix, and you’ve gathered the key ingredients for a killer celebration.
Cocktails were held on the second floor, where 250 guests were thrilled by the Artistrings Pop Quartet as they visited and relaxed after the beautiful ceremony at St. Demetrios Church.
Melli and Steve wanted a New York style reception with continuous music all night long, which is this Chicago wedding band’s very favorite type of reception to play! Their first dance: This Magic Moment/The Drifters established the perfect mood to transition into a short dance set to get the evening started. We loved looking out on the packed dance floor and seeing so many happy guests, some of which had never been to an East Coast style dance party. Their jubilant reactions told us that they approved, in a very big way!
Music requests during dinner included several authentic big band Frank Sinatra arrangements, including Young At Heart for the evening’s father/daughter dance. When entree service began, we pared things down to an ‘Unplugged’ set. Featuring our incomparable vocal team of Jae, Dayna, Tim and Andy, along with acoustic guitar and cajon, guests were treated to hip arrangements of popular songs that were also conversation friendly 🙂
From there, it’s was all about Melli and Steve’s vision of continuous dance music for the rest of the night!
Here are some fun clips of the evening:
Check out the surprise during Sweet Caroline. One of the guests heard the intro, and walked onto the stage with laser focus…to perform the song with Andy! Andy took it all in stride and literally, did not miss a beat.
Oh what a night, Melli and Steve!
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?
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!
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.
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!
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 🙂
June 24, 2017
Westmoreland Country Club
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!!
