Adam-Morgan Wedding

With the approach of summer’s end, our quartet played at Adam and Morgan’s wedding in downtown Chicago.  Even though school had started for most students, the streets were still bustling with activity.  The ceremony location was magnificent; as guests walked in, we could hear their excited exclamations.  Adam and Morgan chose their processional and recessional pieces, and they wanted us to choose the short reflection pieces during their ceremony.

Here is the final music list:

We also played at the cocktail hour, and we enjoyed interacting with the guests a little more during this time.

Congratulations Morgan and Adam!

You may choose as much or little music as you want for your event.  We have played at weddings where the bride wants us to pick all her music, and sometimes couples will choose everything that is played from the beginning of the prelude to the end of the cocktail hour.  If you just know what kind of mood or style you would like to set, we have a lot of experience putting together playlists.

Laura-Jacob Wedding

One early evening in August, our quartet played at Laura and Jacob’s wedding in downtown Chicago.  Elegant decorations lined the aisle; there was a large chuppah at the front, and huge windows which opened and lit up the room after Laura processed down the aisle.  In the planning process, Laura expressed interest in opera, baroque, and Jewish selections, and we were able to make all of those genres work for her wedding:

Laura specifically requested that we not play any Mendelssohn or Wagner, and we are always willing to omit selections or composers on our repertoire list.  We also played at the cocktail hour which was, conveniently, right outside the ceremony room.  For the cocktail hour, Laura and Jacob requested light, baroque chamber music similar to “The Four Seasons” by Vivaldi.

Congratulations Jacob and Laura!

Making a “do not play” list for your musicians is perfectly acceptable.  Our ensemble has plenty of music, even if you do not want more than half of what is on our quartet repertoire list.  Of course your hired group will use their judgment when deciding what music to play during your event as well (e.g.: we only play “Bridal Chorus” if the bride specifically requests this piece).

Nydia-Shelden Wedding

In mid-August, our trio played for Shelden and Nydia’s wedding in Chicago’s southwest suburbs.  It was a beautiful, sunny day which was perfect for their outdoor ceremony!  The music they requested for the ceremony was:

Following the delightful ceremony and recessional, everyone walked inside for the cocktail hour.  At the cocktail hour, our trio played classical favorites as guests mingled.

Congratulations Nydia and Shelden!

Interesting fact: There are two well-known versions of ‘Ave Maria’ used in weddings, one written by Schubert and one written by Bach/Gounod.  The Schubert version seems to be the more popular, but both work well in a wedding ceremony.

Samantha-Jack Wedding

Our quartet played a mid-July wedding in Chicago’s west suburbs.  (Yes, I am way behind in our blogging- my apologies)  It was a very warm day and fortunately, the wedding took place indoors.  Samantha’s requests for the prelude were: Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Wizard of Oz), Love Theme (Romeo and Juliet), and All You Need is Love (Beatles).  Although their Sand Ceremony piece was not a traditional wedding selection like the other ceremony selections, it worked well.  The pieces for their ceremony were:

The wedding went without a hitch, and after the ceremony the couple/wedding party/family members went outside to take pictures by the fountain.

Congratulations Samantha and Jack!

This also happened to be our last wedding as the original White Lake Quartet ensemble.  Francois got an orchestra position in North Carolina and Erica went with him.  We really enjoyed working with them and will miss their presence in the group!

Lia and Scott

One weekend in June, all three of our wedding couples wanted a duet as their performing ensemble: a violin/violin duet on Friday at the same time as a violin/cello duet, and a violin/cello duet on Saturday.  Our violin/cello duet played at Lia and Scott’s wedding in downtown Chicago on Friday.  Their wedding was in the early evening, but in late afternoon a storm rolled through the city with drenching rain and high speed winds (complete with a tornado warning).  Fortunately, it was not a lengthy storm so everyone was still able to get to the wedding location.  Scott and Lia had some beautiful flower arrangements set up in the restaurant!  The music selections Scott and Lia chose for their ceremony were:

Lia requested a number of pieces for her prelude (including Air from “Water Music Suite”, selections from the “Four Seasons”, Prelude from “Te Deum”, and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring).  Overall, the ceremony was beautiful and the couple looked incredibly happy!

Congratulations Lia and Scott!

-Christine