Category Archives: Carol Sarlas Orchestra

Chicago Wedding Band – Live Video from Real Weddings – Jammed Dance Floor!

If youโ€™re looking for Chicago wedding band live video from real weddings with a jammed dance floor, youโ€™ve come to the right place! The Carol Sarlas Orchestra is live music performance in a Chicago party band or Chicago wedding orchestra, featuring wedding band singers and the best wedding band songs that pack the dance floor and get everyone moving! There are many wedding reception bands to choose from when planning a once in a lifetime celebration. The key to choosing the best live wedding band is to look for live wedding band video.

BIG HINT: as you search for the best Chicago wedding bands for your celebration and decide that you want the truth of live video, look for seamless camera shots that pan from the dance floor to the band, and back again. That way, you can tell if the video was actually recorded live, or not! Make sure that your investment in entertainment is secure.

And, for anyone who’s wondering, yes. The events from this video are pre-COVID, waaaay back when packed dance floors were a good thing. And they will be again, real soon. We cannot wait! Thanks for watching – please subscribe to our YouTube Channel to be notified of all new videos.

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Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Kristina & Kevin’s Wedding at Rockwell on the River

From day one, Kristina & Kevin’s infectious energy was such a joy to us. We loved their choice of the new venue Rockwell on the River, and our Chicago wedding band couldn’t wait to fill those walls with music!

Beautiful weather allowed us an outdoor ceremony on the river, with the Artistrings quartet setting an elegant romantic mood. Expert coordination and many thanks to Dana from Clementine Custom Events. Here we are, set up and ready to go, before the guests arrived. See? Gorgeous.

The grandparents, parents, and bridesmaids made their entrance to The Swan/Saint-Saens, while Kristina & her dad floated down the aisle to Debussy’s Clair De Lune. Their music choices were a breath of fresh air on a lovely day. The end of the ceremony introduced the married couple to Higher & Higher/Jackie Wilson, which definitely set the tone for the rest of the night.

While everyone was enjoying cocktails in one segment of the room, the band was ready to go behind the curtain. Hi all!

And the tables? Gorgeous, again ๐Ÿ™‚

Starting out, here’s some instrumental jazz to draw guests in from cocktails:

Kristina & Kevin chose to have a New York style reception, which means that they danced a bit between courses. When we opened for dinner, we started the evening off high energy with the full Carol Sarlas Orchestra, which was SO much fun! The bride & groom were introduced to Footloose, which is Kevin’s signature song, and everyone knew it! We all danced to a couple of tunes, and then everyone gathered around for their first dance, Hey Jude. We really can’t imagine a more perfect beginning to this celebration:

Once dinner service began, we played a lot of conversation-friendly music with different segments of the band. Our vocalists took turns singing ballads during dinner service. We love hearing Thair sing this one:

And, there’s a time and a place for groovy instrumental tunes too ๐Ÿ™‚

Dancing later in the night was the absolute best.

Kristina & Kevin, your words on Wedding Wire mean the world to us. Hugs all around!

“Sarlas Music exceeded all expectations!
Working with Sarlas Music was one of my favorite experiences from the entire wedding planning process. From our very first meeting, we were confident we made the right decision. It was important for us to maintain a dance party from beginning to end, which is exactly what we had. Chris and Carol listened to all of our ideas and requests, and provided wonderful suggestions, too – proving that they’re truly experts at what they do. We received numerous compliments from our guests, and kept the dance floor packed all night long. Best. Band. Ever!”

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Caitlin & Pete’s Westmoreland Country Club Celebration

Playing at Westmoreland Country Club in June has become quite a tradition over here! Caitlin & Pete chose the Carol Sarlas Orchestra as their Chicago wedding band, and we had such an amazing time with them.

We started with their rehearsal dinner the night before at Sheridan Shores Yacht Club at Wilmette Harbor. The Artistrings pop string quartet created a conversation-friendly (yet upbeat!) mood and took requests of favorite pop and rock tunes all night long. It was easy to see that the next night was going to be something really special ๐Ÿ™‚

Wedding day brought the hottest temperatures we’ve seen in some time. We enjoyed a ceremony inside the club, with the men of the wedding party dressed in traditional kilts. Artistrings again performed for the group, this time leaning more on the elegant classical side of things. The ladies in the wedding party made their entrance to the Flower Duet from Lakme, and Caitlin was the picture-perfect bride walking in to the Prime Minister’s Love Theme from Love Actually. During the ceremony, we called upon film music again, going with an interlude of Mothersbaugh’s Canon. The end of the ceremony brought the traditional sound of bagpipes to lead everyone out of the club and outside for cocktails in the garden.

Cocktail music was old school jazzy, upbeat, and lively – think Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Ella, Sammy Davis Jr., and Billie Holiday. Love it! Once we transitioned over to the tent for a served dinner, the weather started to cool off and guests enjoyed the warm summer evening’s breezy atmosphere. We switched gears a bit and focused more on Van Morrison, U2, Springsteen, and Bob Marley during dinner.

Here’s a quick example of upbeat jazz from early in the night:

When it was time to dance, everyone came back into the club, where we had flipped the space and the Carol Sarlas Orchestra was ready to party!

We created these next two videos exactly in order of how things went that night, please join us on the journey of Caitlin & Pete! You’ll even see a few seconds of their lovely first dance, Falling Slowly.

We had a ton of special requests, and had a blast with this crowd playing them all.

Thank you for the Wedding Wire love, Caitlin!!!

“Hands down one of the BEST wedding bands out there! Not only did the band sound incredible and keep everyone dancing all night – Sarlas Music was SUCH a joy to work with! So accommodating, flexible, responsive and talented! Chris and Carol made this whole process and enjoyable. I was super stressed about our ceremony music and they met with me for a second time and walked my through everything. We used the Carol Sarlas band for our wedding reception, the Artstrings quartet for the ceremony and the Artstrings pop quartet for our rehearsal – all were AMAZING!”

Chicago Wedding Band and Pop String Quartet Performed for Josie & Robert’s Lake Geneva Wedding

Josie & Robert each spent a lot of time in Lake Geneva growing up, so it made sense for them to choose Lake Geneva as a destination wedding location. They met on the lakefront in Chicago, when Robert’s dog Pierce ran up to Josie and essentially chose her. “Dad, she’s the one!” This is definitely our kind of love story ๐Ÿ™‚

Their ceremony took place in the harborside gazebo at The Abbey Resort. The Artistrings pop quartet set the scene with the perfect combination of tunes, including Marry Me/Train, I’m Yours/Mraz, All of Me/Legend and Marry You/Bruno Mars. The officiant made her entrance to Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Izzy, while the wedding party entered to Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud. We all agreed that Josie chose the perfect song for her entrance with her uncle, which was Con Te Partiro. Breaking the glass at the end of their ceremony, kicked off Celebration/Kool and the Gang, and a celebration it was!

We continued over to cocktails on the patio, with a ton of great tunes from the string quartet. Sweet Child O’Mine, Smooth Criminal, Bohemian Rhapsody, Pumped Up Kicks, Fireflies, and Better Together, to name a few.

The celebration continued inside for dinner and dancing. The bride & groom chose three special songs that were so meaningful to everyone, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room by the time our Chicago wedding band finished the special dances. Josie & Robert’s first dance was The Rest of Our Life by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Josie then danced with her godfather to Fathers & Daughters/Bolton, and then Robert danced with his mom to I Am Your Child/Barry Manilow. Lyrics are everything, and these songs have it all.

As things were getting started for the evening, we had some time to play some classic jazz tunes during dinner:

Dancing went all night long with this fun-loving crowd of friends and family! One of our favorite things was a Hora and Tarantella mashup, to merge the cultures of both families. So much joy!

Time for a late night groove tune:

We ended the night with two special requests – Die A Happy Man/Thomas Rhett (you’ll see the hero image at the top of this post from he last dance of the night), and….you guessed it….Celebration!

Josie & Robert, your love and energy is contagious, and we wish you all the very best that this world has to offer. Many hugs!!

“WOWWWWW!!! Listen, we are picky and we wanted the best, most amazing wedding band. Let me tell you that we found them. If you are willing to spend the money (and all great wedding bands cost big bucks) then don’t spend your money anywhere else. This group, led by Carol and Chris, are not only incredibly easy to work with in the planning stages, they are fun, caring, and efficient. Most importantly, they made our wedding into a live concert! The vocalists, the drummers, the guitar players, it was like being front and center for an epic concert. They nailed our slow songs, jammed out hard on the fun songs, hit every note, and even played an extra 30 minutes for us because NOBODY would get off the dance floor. We wanted a perfect wedding along the water’s edge in Lake Geneva, and our ceremony was truly outstanding and one to remember but the highlight of everything was these guys ROCKING OUT for 3.5 hours. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Robert and Josie E.”

Chicago Wedding Band Performed for Whitney & Ian’s Celebration in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute

Whitney & Ian chose the Modern Wing at the Art Institute for their beautiful celebration. Here’s the pristine room before guests arrived:

We began with ceremony in Griffin Court, with the Artistrings string quartet accompanying everyone down the aisle. The mothers and large wedding party appeared to the Hymne from L’Opera Sauvage/Vangelis, and Whitney chose the waltz-like Canon in F for her entrance. Ethereal music for all! Everything was expertly coordinated by Bambi of BCR Events, and we had such a lovely time working alongside her again!

Viva La Vida sent everyone out of Griffin Court and upstairs to Bluhm Terrace for cocktails, while our Chicago wedding band flipped the space for dinner & dancing. When everyone came back down for dinner, an east-coast style reception awaited them. The wedding party and guests of honor were introduced, and then we packed the dance floor for a few songs, ending with the bride & groom’s first dance, Die A Happy Man. It was the perfect way to get this party started!

Here’s some footage of late night dancing – fun all around!