MUSIC - CEREMONY & COCKTAIL HOUR
Agitato Strings (Fair Lawn, NJ)
REVIEW - N/A: June 2011 wedding. They would have gotten an A+ since they arranged Alicia Keys' "No One" into a string trio music but despite the ceremony always being referred to as a "civil union ceremony" in our communication and despite being provided w/ a copy of our program prior to the ceremony they though it was a bride & groom and stop playing the processional after I walked down the aisle. Arlene from The Imperia had to tell them to start playing again as the other bride hadn't entered. They starting playing another song, and then had to start playing Pacabel's Canon again, it was a bit of a mess. But other than that they played beautifully and were professional - that's what happens when you never actually meet a vendor face to face I guess!
Brian McGowan (Bagpipes)
REVIEW: August 2011. Brian McGowan-A+-Brian was recommended to us by a work friend of my husband. He was great, began playing about 30 minutes before the ceremony and played again for a while after. We told him to pack up early because it was so hot and we felt bad for him standing outside in the heat.
Brava Strings (Cherry Hill, NJ)
REVIEW - dinnaming: July 2011 wedding. We contracted with Brava Strings through DJ’s Available. To be honest, I didn’t see them set up or hear them play very much at all. I heard them playing during our processional but that was about it. I was in a bit of a daze at the time. And once the ceremony was done, we were inside for cocktail hour. They left so quickly that our coordinator wasn’t even able to give them their tip. I didn’t hear any complaints and they certainly weren’t obtrusive so I’m giving them a good rating.
Bruce Foster (Oceanport, NJ)
REVIEW - akmackay: Bruce was a delight to book and to work with. He is a true
Grammy-nominated musician, who is still working on CDs and does live
events. We have seen him play at local restaurants, and he worked with
us on what kind of music we wanted played. A definite must!
Jerry Vezza (Madison, NJ)
REVIEW - golfrgal: May 2011 wedding. Jerry provided the music throughout my wedding: Ceremony music (keyboard + flute), Cocktail Hour (4 piece jazz ensemble), Live instrumental Classics during dinner, and he also brought in a DJ for after dinner party. Jerry is such a talented pianist (I caught him playing live at Shanghai Jazz in Madison right before booking him). that he blended into the scenery...the entire band was excellent. When I'd call Jerry to ask which arrangements he'd play during the ceremony, he'd say, "Don't worry about it. Leave it to the professionals. We feel out the crowd response and play accordingly. We'll get you to the altar." This made me a bit nervous, but also calm because it meant less to micro-manage. As he'd promised, everything was played to perfection!
Karen Stern (Haworth, NJ)
REVIEW - jcg98: November 2011. Harpist (Shower): A+ My aunt booked Karen as a surprise for my shower, and Karen was fabulous. She added the perfect touch of live music for an elegant afternoon. Highly recommend.
REVIEW - flochan07: We found Karen on Gigmasters.com. She's not the most responsive via email but I had no problems finalizing the details of the ceremony music with her. She's had previous experience playing her harp at the Arboretum. The quality of her harp playing on the day of was absolutely amazing. I could hear her playing from the Azalea garden from the house. No worries about our guests not being able to hear her music and it was obvious she was no amateur.
The Rose Trio (Avon by the Sea, NJ)
REVIEW - SpillerExtraordinaire: Used for June 2010 Wedding. Under $1000. From what I know they did a good
job. They were hired for the ceremony and cocktail hour. Since I
missed most of the music before my entrance at the ceremony and the
cocktail hour I can only attest to what I heard, and everything I heard
sounded great. They were also really flexible. MH and I had seen the
Planets and wanted to include an excerpt from one of the movements for
our unity candle. They said no problem.