Category Archives: Chicago Wedding Ceremony

Artistrings, Chicago Corporate Entertainment, Chicago Pop String Quartet, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Wedding Band, Chicago Wedding Ceremony, COVID-19, Micro Wedding Music

Chicago Rock String Quartet Plays Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses

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Here’s some Sweet Child to go with your Tuesday morning coffee, from the Artistrings rock string quartet. Viola solo rocks for DAYS, with this awesome arrangement and solo from Benton Wedge! It’s a given that this song is fantastic background music for a super fun and edgy cocktail hour. But one of our favorite out-of-the-box applications? Processional music for the bride! That’s right. The song choice for the bride walking down the aisle is pivotal for every ceremony, and this one makes a bold statement and establishes the mood for the entire day.

What do YOU want to say with your walk down the aisle? Hit us up in the comments, we can’t wait to hear from you!

Artistrings, Chicago Corporate Entertainment, Chicago Pop String Quartet, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Wedding Ceremony, Micro Wedding Music

Chicago Rock String Quartet Plays The Man Who Sold The World – David Bowie

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One of our wonderful couples asked us for this rock tune, and our Chicago string quartet just couldn’t resist! (Great idea, Michelle & Eric!) Including Michelle/Beatles for her walk down the aisle was also the best idea ever. That’s a story for another day though. Continuing on with our quarantine video series from Artistrings, here is David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World. We love it for prelude music as your guests are arriving, or for cocktail receptions. If rock string quartet tunes are your thing, stay tuned for the next several weeks. We’ve got some fun ideas coming your way!

Carol Kalvonjian – violin

Katherine Hughes, violin

Benton Wedge, viola & arrangement

Matthew Agnew – cello

Artistrings, Chicago Pop String Quartet, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Wedding Ceremony, COVID-19

Chicago Alternative Rock String Quartet Plays Tonight Tonight – The Smashing Pumpkins

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So, the Artistrings Chicago string quartet has been busy recording a series of quarantine videos. It was a super challenging and very fun project to record these string quartet covers of rock and alternative tunes. We can’t wait for the day when it’s super safe to play together up close and in person again. For now, this will have to do. Here’s our tribute to The Smashing Pumpkins. Go Chicago!

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

Chicago Wedding Band and Classical Strings Performed for Alexa & Aaron’s Wedding at Loews Chicago O’Hare Hotel

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May 26, 2019

From the minute we met with Alexa and Aaron as they planned their Chicago Wedding, it was so evident that this Memorial Day Weekend Celebration was going to be EPIC! Loews Chicago O’Hare was the location of choice for their ceremony and reception, with 350 friends and family geared up for an incredible evening with our Chicago wedding band!

Mary Ann Kenmotsu from Loews is one of the most efficient and respected catering managers in the Chicagoland area. And believe us, it shows!

The stage was set with a beautiful huppah awaiting their ceremony arrival, accented by the Artistrings trio of violin, cello and keyboard performing their family’s favorite classical selections. Family members and wedding party made their entrance to the lilting waltz of Canon in F, while Alexa followed to the iconic Canon in D/Pachelbel. When the ceremony concluded with the traditional breaking of the glass, everyone clapped and cheered along with Simon Tov Mazel Tov, as the guests of honor made their way over to cocktails.

After a jubilant cocktail hour, the ballroom opened for their New York style reception, with the full Chris Sarlas Orchestra – and this party was READY TO DANCE! Guests flocked to the dance floor immediately, and it was clear that they were there to celebrate. The new Mr. and Mrs. soon made their entrance, with guests mobbing them for the next 20 minute dance set! (Want proof? Check out the video). Ending this opening set was their first dance, Perfect/Ed Sheeran + Beyonce. Perfect, it was 🙂

We love it when our couples choose songs that have special meaning for their mother/son and father/daughter dances. For example, there were two tables filled with Alexa and Aaron’s friends from summer camp. Apparently, one of the songs that campers sing together is House on Pooh Corner/Kenny Loggins. So, when they chose this song for dancing with parents, their friends stood at their tables, joined arms, swayed back and forth and sang along with us! It was an amazingly sweet moment.

Changing up the mood, our Unplugged vocal quartet with acoustic guitar and cajon added the perfect conversation-friendly texture they wanted during dinner service.

After dessert was served, it was time for an extended Hora as the families united at this incredible mitzvah! Here’s a super quick sample of the hora (and check out our Instagram if you want to see Alexa & Aaron up on chairs):

Added bonus: Alexa’s dad is a seasoned drummer in Chicago’s percussion community, and we were delighted that he and two of his band mates joined us for an impromptu jam session to further solidify the event’s epic status! We followed that up with a few more tunes with Andy singing. If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know that Andy reveals a bit of his goofball side as the party approaches late night, and we couldn’t love him more. Here’s a little taste:

Alexa and Aaron produced an absolutely incredible evening from start to finish with so many extra special personal touches through music! We were so happy to celebrate with them, and were thrilled to see this terrific Wedding Wire review:

The Sarlas Rockstars
“Chris and Carol Sarlas were an absolute delight to work with! From start to finish, they were detailed, organized, and passionate about making our wedding out of this world. They truly cared about ensuring we had every song we wanted and even let one of our dads play the drums with his band. It was a packed dance floor all night, a true testament to the band for keeping the party going. We are so thankful for them and would highly recommend to anyone looking for a Chicago-area wedding band!”

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!”