Rachael-Brian Wedding

On a day in early Fall, in Chicago’s near west suburbs, our quartet played at Rachael and Brian’s wedding.

Post-ceremony

The church’s music director played piano and sang during the service for a musical interlude and unity candle. We played the rest of the music for Rachael’s wedding:
Prelude requests: Somewhere Over the Rainbow (from the “Wizard of Oz”), Someone to Watch Over Me (from “Oh, Kay!”), and O Mio Babbino Caro (from “Gianni Schicchi”)
Parents/Grandparents: Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)
Bridal Party: Main Theme (from “Forrest Gump”)
Bride’s Entrance: Falling Slowly (from “Once”)
Recessional: All You Need is Love (Beatles)
Postlude requests: Viva la Vida (Coldplay), Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 (Bach), Selections from The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)

The theme from “Forrest Gump” and “Falling Slowly” were special requests by Rachael and Brian, and we were happy to arrange these pieces for them.

Congratulations Brian and Rachael!

You do not need to have finalized your ceremony music before signing a contract with our ensemble. We ask that you give us any music selections not on our repertoire list at least 4 weeks before your wedding. All other selections are due 2 weeks before your wedding.

WLQ in action

Lindsay offered to send us photos of our quartet playing at her wedding, so of course we had to post them. 🙂 They were taken by our friend Tim Tab who also gave us permission to use them on our website. Tim is a great photographer and you should check out his website and blog to see more of his work!

Lindsay and Mike’s Wedding

On a warm, sunny day, our quartet played for Lindsay and Mike’s wedding. Although their wedding was indoors, the front of the room had floor-to-ceiling windows, making it possible to see the entire park across the street. Lindsay requested the following for her ceremony:

Prelude: Aria (Handel), Serenade (Schubert), “Air” from Water Music Suite (Handel), “Minuet” from Sonata in G (Beethoven), and Air on the G String (Bach)
Bridal Party Processional: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Bach)
Bridal Processional: Canon in D (Pachelbel)
Interlude: “Can You Read My Mind” from Superman (McGovern)- Lindsay’s sister sang with us.
Sand Ceremony: On Wings of Song (Warren)
Recessional: Trumpet Voluntary (Clarke)
Postlude: Quartet No. 4 in C Major (Mozart) and Eine Kleine Nacht Music (Mozart)

The postlude was followed by a cocktail hour in an outdoor courtyard. The fountain even had ducks swimming in it! Lindsay wanted to choose all her cocktail hour music and requested 15 pieces from genres including: Classical/Opera, Broadway/Film, and Swing.

We arranged two special pieces for Lindsay’s wedding: “Can You Read My Mind” from Superman (McGovern) arranged for string quartet and voice, and “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Mancini) arranged for string quartet, which we played at the cocktail hour.

Congratulations Lindsay and Mike!

We have received a few questions lately about choosing an order for pieces during prelude, postlude, and cocktail hour. For preludes, one can either order the pieces to build up slowly, with the processional as the final climactic moment, or can place slower pieces nearer the end to make the processional “pop” in context. When mixing genres, as many people do for their cocktail hour, one can 1. group all the classical music together then all the pop music or 2. group a few of each genre together and alternate these groups.

Renee and Matthew’s Wedding

One warm and sunny summer day Renee and Matthew were married in a grand Catholic church in Chicago.  For prelude music they requested Prelude No. 2 (Gershwin), Yellow (Coldplay), All I Want is You (U2), All You Need is Love (Beatles), I Only Have Eyes For You (Warren), and Air on the G String (Bach).   The service included the following pieces requested by Renee:

Congratulations Matthew and Renee!

We have over 400 titles in our continually-expanding repertoire list which is set up in easy-to-search (PDF) format.  Our list divided into genres for you to mix-and-match if desired: Classical (from all time periods and including popular opera titles), Folk Tunes, Waltzes, Broadway/Film/TV, Ragtime, Latin/Tango, Jazz/Swing, Pop/Rock/R&B/Crossover, Religious (Jewish and Catholic/Protestant), and Christmas Music.  If you wish to have music that is not included in these genres or on our list, we are always willing to put together an arrangement.

Mark and Suzanne’s Wedding

Mark and Suzanne were married at a hotel just as summer was making its first appearance of the year. Mark did most of the planning for their music selections, and his prelude requests were Over the Rainbow from “The Wizard of Oz”, Rondo Alla Turca (Mozart), Gabriel’s Oboe from “The Mission”, O Mio Babbino from “Gianni Schicchi” (Pucchini), Hornpipe from “Water Music Suite” (Handel), Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Bach). Their ceremony selections were:

Bridal Party Processional: Trumpet Voluntary (Purcell)
Bridal Processional: Canon in D (Pachelbel)
Interlude: Ave Maria (Schubert)
Unity Candle: Clair de Lune (Debussy)
Recessional: Wedding March (Mendelssohn)
Postlude: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 (Bach) and The Marriage of Figaro Selections (Mozart)

The cocktail hour directly followed the ceremony, located at the back of the ceremony room. Mark selected 21 songs, and we got through about 15 of his selections. In the middle of the cocktail hour Mark asked us to play a special piece in honor of his niece’s birthday and Here, There, and Everywhere by the Beatles for his parent’s anniversary.

Congratulations Suzanne and Mark!

Most couples pick two processional pieces: one for the bridal party and one for the bride. Some couples also request a piece to be played at the end of the prelude as family members and groom enter (Mark wanted this piece to be “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”). We also have had couples request only one piece for the processional which is perfectly acceptable.

Mindy and Mike’s Wedding Ceremony

Mindy and Mike got married at the end of the winter in downtown Chicago.  The remnants of the 2011 blizzard in February, which dumped 2 feet of snow in 24- hours and practically shut down Chicago, were all but gone.  Mike and Mindy’s wedding took place in a spectacular room: open, marble-lined with tall, indoor palm trees and a magnificent fountain.  The music they chose for their wedding ceremony was:

Nicole and Timothy’s Wedding

Our last event in 2010 was Nicole and Timothy’s wedding in Chicago.  Although it was a December wedding, Old Man Winter did not cause any problems!  The pieces they requested for their ceremony were:

We also played for the cocktail hour after the ceremony, which took place on a balcony on the next floor of the building.  Nicole and Timothy requested a combination of classical and pop for their cocktail hour, specifically: Sweet Child O’ Mine, Eleanor Rigby, and All You Need is Love.

Congratulations Timothy and Nicole!

If you do not know what pieces you would like but have a specific style in mind, we are always very willing to pick out appropriate music.  In addition to specifically requesting Canon in D, Nicole and Timothy requested celebratory classical music for their prelude, so we picked the rest of their prelude selections based on that criteria.

Amanda-Jeff Wedding

Our quartet played at Amanda and Jeff’s wedding in Chicago’s west suburbs near the end of October, making it our last wedding in the fall of 2010.  They had a fun, laughter-filled ceremony which included many wonderful music selections.  Some of the Prelude music they requested was the Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1 (Bach), Ode to Joy (Beethoven), Air on the G String (Bach), Arioso/Sinfonia from Cantata No. 156 (Bach), and Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Handel).  Their musical selections during the ceremony were:

Terry-Amy Wedding

Terry and Amy were married in October in the heart of Chicago at a breathtaking location;  from almost every angle one could see the Chicago sunset.  The selections our trio played for their ceremony were:

Congratulations Amy and Terry!

Grooms are just as good at planning wedding details as brides and parents.  If you are feeling overwhelmed as the bride-to-be, let your groom take some of the music organization responsibilities.

Andrea-Jason Wedding

On an unusually warm day in October, our trio played at Andrea and Jason’s wedding in Chicago’s west suburbs.  They were a very relaxed couple and their straightforward, simple ceremony reflected this style.  The selections they chose for their wedding were:

Wedding Party: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Bach)
Bride: Canon in D (Pachelbel)
Recessional: Fields of Gold (Sting)

We ended the ceremony with a number of upbeat postlude pieces.  Congratulations Jason and Andrea!

Although we normally play as a quartet, the trio is a great option if you are on a budget or are not planning a large wedding.  Our quartet repertoire list is by far the largest, but we can adapt most of our quartet arrangements for trio as we did for Andrea and Jason with “Fields of Gold”.