A Complete Guide To Planning Music For Your Wedding

Congratulations on your special day, and your excellent taste in music. 😉

In this comprehensive article, we aim to help you figure out everything you need to know when hiring live musicians for your wedding. We will cover common do's and don'ts when it comes to hiring live musicians, how to pick what ensemble type is right for you, what types of music you should request, how to stick within a budget, and so much more!

Here's to you and your special day.

Let's get started.

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What Type of Music Should I Plan for My Wedding? 

‍When planning a wedding, there are a lot of details to consider. What colors are you going to use? What are the bridesmaids and groomsmen wearing? What flavor will your cake be?

Dealing with all of those details when planning a wedding can be stressful. That's why we want to make decisions about your music as easy as possible.

When looking for music entertainment at a wedding, there a lot of options to consider. Some of these options include...

- Wedding singers

- Jazz bands

- Contemporary bands

- Solo guitarists

- String ensembles (string duo, string trio, string quartet, string quintet, etc.)

- Solo string instrumentalists (ex. solo violin)

- Harpists

- Piano players

- A live DJ

- Spotify/Apple Music DIY playlists

- and so much more!

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Here are some important factors to consider when planning music for your wedding:

➡️  How many guests will be attending your wedding?

If you will have a large crowd at your wedding, you will want to make sure the music you choose is loud enough to fill the room. If it will be an intimate wedding with fewer guests, you'll want to choose a cozier option for your wedding music.

➡️  How much space is available at your venue?

If there is a big stage available, take advantage! A large jazz band or contemporary group can be a fun way to fill the space and provide entertainment for your guests. If there are only small pockets of space available here and there, you'll have to plan for fewer musicians or an option that will work well even within the spacial constraints.

➡️  Is the wedding indoors, or outdoors?

Live musicians have a hard time playing outdoors in very hot or cold temperatures (above 80° F or below 50° F) because of the way it can affect their instruments. If you are planning an outdoor wedding, you'll want to assess how much shade is available, what the temperature will be, whether or not there is any expected wind or rain on your wedding day, and other factors to determine whether or not hiring live musicians would be the best option for you!

➡️  What style of music is your preference for your wedding ceremony or cocktail hour?

If you enjoy jazz music, hire a jazz group or guitarist! If you prefer something beautiful and elegant (like classical music) or upbeat and energetic (like pop/rock music), hire a string quartet or a local rock band. Whatever you choose, you want to make sure it's music that'll make you feel happy on your special day.

➡️  What is your music budget?

There is a wide range of prices when it comes to hiring musicians for a wedding, especially in Utah County or Salt Lake County. You'll want to keep this in mind when searching for music so you can find an option that'll be a good fit! 

Follow our flow chart below for even more help narrowing down your options.

If you will be having a big wedding with lots of guests or holding your wedding outdoors, a string quartet is easily the best choice when booking live wedding musicians. The Artiva String Quartet in particular offers incredible variety and choice when it comes to choosing music for your wedding ceremony and/or cocktail hour. Plus, if you have a limited budget, we offer the option to book a string trio or string duo! This helps many of our clients to stick within a budget without compromising on the quality and "wow-factor" of hiring live musicians.

Hiring A Wedding String Quartet In Salt Lake City

Hiring a string quartet for your wedding is the perfect way to ensure you bring a sophisticated, enjoyable, and elegant touch to your big day. But what sets one string quartet apart from another, anyway? How do you decide if you should hire a duo or trio instead?

Artiva String Quartet is one of Salt Lake City’s finest professional string quartets. We have an incredibly large selection of popular and classical music for people to choose from, including genres such as rock, pop, jazz, rag, and Disney. As seasoned performers and musicians, our group has the expertise to seamlessly guide our clients through the entire planning and booking process... especially when it comes to song choice, ensemble size, and booking length!

If you are trying to decide between various string quartets who all look promising, here are a few things to ask yourself in the decision-making process:

- Do the members of the quartet have professional music experience? (This makes a huge difference in the quality of the music.)

- What is the music selection for each quartet like? Do some quartets have a bigger selection than others?

- Does one group seem more professional in the presentation of their brand? (Website, online presence, photography, email communications, etc.)

Asking and answering these 3 questions should tell you a lot about who you may want to hire! If you are a seasoned conneseuir of music yourself, you may also want to dive in and read the bio's for each individual ensemble member. This information can usually be found on the "About Us" page of a group's website!

String Quartet vs. String Trio vs. String Duo

While it is extremely fashionable these days to hire live bands and DJs, the most popular choice when hiring wedding musicians in Salt Lake City is by far the string quartet. Why? Because string quartets are the most versatile of any live group!

When deciding between a quartet, string trio, or string duo for a wedding, we almost always recommend booking a full string quartet. While it may feel like a larger investment at first, it is well worth it.

Having a full ensemble of four musicians not only gives you the “classic” look and feel of a quartet, but it also sounds the best and carries the loudest sound. Most musical arrangements for weddings are written specifically for string quartets and require 4 instruments to hear the full effect and depth of a piece. If you want to celebrate your wedding day in style and hear all your favorite songs played, a string quartet is definitely the way to go!

Hiring a string trio for your wedding is another great choice if you have an extremely tight budget or there won't be a ton of space available at your wedding venue. Our string trio shares much of the same music as our string quartet, meaning you’ll still be able to hear us play famous pop songs and movie themes. Having access to our huge library of string quartet music in addition to trio-specific music is what makes us one of the most desirable string trios in Salt Lake City to book for your wedding!

A string duo is a good option if you are looking for something more intimate. A string duo can consist of a violin and cello, two violins, or a violin and a viola. Artiva's string duos tend to be loud enough for most small to medium-sized venues, especially if there is a microphone or sound system available. We would recommend hiring a string duo for your wedding if you are mainly looking for traditional classical music and don't have enough in your budget to hire string trio or string quartet.

If you'd like to hear the difference between a string trio and a string quartet, check out this video of the Sydney Ensemble playing Pachelbel's Canon in D and comparing both ensemble sizes side-by-side! 

What Does It Cost To Hire A String Quartet in Utah?

Artiva String Quartet takes pride in our ability to offer our live music entertainment that can suit all budgets. While the going rate in Salt Lake City ranges between $800-$1200/hour for a string ensemble, our rates are significantly lower and start at just $350/hour! One of our missions and purposes as a group is to bring high quality music to everyone who will listen.

At first, it may seem expensive to hire a group of professional musicians to perform at your wedding — but there's a good reason for that! If you only take away one thing from this article, we hope it's this: 

You should absolutely hire professionals when planning what could be the most memorable day of your life! 

When you pay for professional musicians, you're not only paying for them to give you a private performance. You're paying for their rehearsal time, travel time, their 10-20+ years of expertise, their insurance and instrument costs, their professionalism, and so much more.

What Styles of Music Do You Usually Play for Luncheons and Wedding Ceremonies? 

Artiva offers an unrivaled variety of music choices for your luncheon, cocktail hour, and/or wedding ceremony. Depending on what vibe you want to bring to your wedding, you may to choose to have us play modern pop songs like Olivia Rodrigo’s Driver's License, or classic romantic love songs like The Beatles' I Want To Hold Your Hand and Elvis Presley's Can’t Help Falling In Love. Do you want your guests to sing and dance along? Feel free to request all your favorite movie music soundtracks from the Song List page on our website. Prefer a more traditional ambience? We have a massive catalogue of classical music choices you can choose from, too!

The music we play at your wedding is totally customizable and up to you. Be sure to browse our full Song List to see each of the different genres and songs that are available for you to choose from. If you have a specific song request that you do not see in our list, feel free to contact us and we can try to arrange a custom song for your wedding day.

Choosing Times and Set Lists

You may have already decided you want to hire a string quartet at your wedding, but feel unsure as to when would be the best time to bring them in. Should you have live musicians during your rehearsal dinner or your ceremony? Is it better to bring them in for the luncheon, or the cocktail hour?

Below, we've included some of the most popular times that quartets are hired to play at weddings:

- During rehearsal dinners

- Midday luncheons

- While guests are arriving at a ceremony (Prelude music)

- As a bride walks down the aisle

- General ceremony music

- As guests are leaving the ceremony (Postlude music)

- Cocktail hour music

- Wedding reception background music

Most couples like to start with classical music or slow, romantic love songs for their ceremony and other intimate parts of their wedding day. Once they are ready to pick up the energy, they'll transition to playing more of their favorite songs. If you're planning to hire a quartet for your cocktail hour or reception, we usually recommend upbeat, lively music for the duration of the booking.

So, How Do I Book A String Quartet For My Wedding? 

If hiring a live string quartet for your wedding sounds like a fun addition to your special day, you'll want to request a custom quote and proceed with a booking! To hire Artiva String Quartet, your first step will be to fill out the "Request a Quote" form on our website.

From there, we will email you back with your quote, some additional booking information, and a contract that we'll need you to sign.

Don’t forget to tell us the date, time, and location of your wedding, what songs you'd like us to play, and any other details regarding your budget and/or preferences as far as ensemble size goes!

We can't wait to help make your special day as perfect as it can be!

Artiva String Quartet is a professional string quartet serving all of Central and Northern Utah along the Wasatch Front. Whether performing for your wedding as a string quartet, trio or duo, with Artiva String Quartet, you are sure to have the best quality service and live music for your wedding!