And that's what we get to do. We get to do that with live music, which is so incredible because live music helps you remember your wedding and it also helps your guests remember your wedding and treasure it forever.
In fact, Wedding Wire and the knot. Those are very trusted resources in the wedding planning community. They've conducted some surveys, and they found that almost 100% of couples said that they would have spent more of their budget on entertainment. Within a week after their wedding. 78% of couples said that they would have made entertainment the highest priority. And when they asked why they said that over 81% of guests say that the thing they remember most about the wedding is the entertainment it is that important because it creates your feelings it creates the atmosphere, and it helps you remember it for the rest of your life.
That's why I founded Dream City Strings back in 2015 while I was in grad school. We have since one Wedding Wire and The Knot's Best Of Weddings awards every single year. We won Wisconsin bride Magazine's Best Ceremony Music in Wisconsin Award. We're also partnered with tons of venues in and around the Milwaukee area.
And our typical configuration is the string quartet two violins, a viola and a cello we're all dressed to the nines bringing our amazing instruments playing the songs that you Want to hear as he walked down the aisle, and during any other key moments in the ceremony.
More often than not, we play for wedding ceremonies. About half of our couples also bring us to their cocktail hours to entertain them with. With some more pop style music, we can do pop both at your ceremony and your cocktail hour. And then very few of our guests bring us to dinner to more. So if it's an intimate dinner, we are not the group that's going to get your guests up off the out of their chairs and onto the dance floor. That's more appropriate for a live band or DJ. We are the ceremony and the cocktail hour music and elegant dinner entertainment if you choose to have us there.
So we do play mostly for ceremonies, here is what a typical ceremony looks like:
Now most people think about a wedding starting at the time that's printed on the invitation. But in fact, that's not when the wedding actually starts. So if your start time is four o'clock at about 3:30 Aunt Mabel might be flying in from California. And then Uncle Jack will come in from Maine and they'll both arrive at the same time. Maybe they haven't spoken to each other in a while. Not to mention your guests who live in Milwaukee, arrive around 345 A little closer, but they're all there. They don't really know anybody too much. And it can be a little awkward and intimidating for people we you know people go on their phones a lot.
But instead imagine this instead of it being awkward and quiet. Imagine a live musician for live musicians playing your favorite songs songs that you have carefully curated with my expertise and guidance, then playing that and your guests watching that being entertained thinking, Oh, I recognize that song. I heard that song on the radio, but I never knew it could be played on stringed instruments, or this is so there, I can tell who picked these songs because they so reflect the couple that's there. That's what we create. We set the tone for the day of 30 minutes before your ceremony start time.
And then once it's time for people to walk down the aisle, you have your wedding party processional. So again, I will help you pick this we have a lot of recommended songs or you can pick them on your own. We will play a song as you as your wedding party walks down the aisle. And we'll wait for the last person to arrive at the altar and then fade out gracefully. As we switch to the next one.
That's a key thing that DJs can't do. Most of the time, when the last person in the wedding party arrives at the aisle, the DJ will just turn the knob down to zero. And it's awkward, it feels like the rug is pulled out from underneath your feet. Live music finds a graceful spot to end the music and it fades gently into the next song.
The next song is the Bridal Procession. Imagine walking down the aisle to your favorite song. It's as romantic as you've dreamt about, as romantic as the movies, because it's live music and you can see the strings moving and the tears just welling up in everybody's eyes.
And you're the star of the show and walking down the aisle to your favorite song. And so as you take your time and soak it all in, we're playing, you arrive at the altar. And maybe there's a family member there who you know, brings you there and then you lock eyes with your fiancee for the first time. And again, we will gracefully fade out the music so that the officiant can start the formal ceremony.
And so that's a beautiful moment. That's our favorite moment.
Typically, after the bridal procession, your officiant takes over.
And sometime in the middle of your ceremony, about half of our couples do a unity candle or some other unity ceremony like a tree planting.
One of my favorites was actually when they brought different style beers, his and her beers and they mixed them together in a unity ceremony with craft beer.
Oftentimes just moving around and putting things in different places, letting candles, that creates some more awkward silence. So about half of our couples have us perform some music during the Unity moment. And that's a beautiful song. Typically it's a little more subdued. Our religious couples tend to use Ave Maria there and it's just beautiful.
So then finally the officiant continues, you exchange your vows, you exchange your rings and maybe the officiant says some some more words after that. And we get to the part where the officiant announces the newly married couple to the world.
And that is our cue to start the party. So we will play a recessional song that's typically more upbeat.
The most popular one has been Bruno Mars is marry you. But again, it's customizable and I can make some suggestions that match you. But then You know, you and your fiancé(e) walk back up the aisle followed by your wedding party, then followed by each row of your guests.
And instead of us just packing up and leaving, we want your guests to have a book-ended musical experience. So that means we've already played before they arrive. And we're gonna keep playing as they leave typically about three songs until all the people have left to go to the cocktail hour space.
We also can play in other parts of the wedding ceremony, like the communion, and anything else that you might need. And we can talk about that that's all included in your fee.
A lot of people ask the booking process, they might think like, Oh, I love the idea of having your string quartet at our wedding. But is it complicated to work with you?
Here is the booking process, it's super simple!
The first step is to actually inquire about the date and learn about what we're doing. And so what we are doing right now is we're sharing with you how we approach weddings.
And if it's a good fit for us, then you're gonna want to move on to the booking process, which is getting the deposit in and then getting a contract with us.
The third step is the fun part, which is the planning and we are a group that does everything completely organized. You will get a client portal that will help set up on a consultation call with you and me that that's where all of your song choices and details live. If you want to revisit the contract that lives in your client portal, if you want to change what song you're walking down the aisle to that's in the client portal, I'll get you set up on that it's fun and easy to use.