Bay Area Strings played at our wedding and I couldn't have asked for more. During planning, Jen was very easy to work with, responded quickly to questions, and has an amazing repertoire of songs to choose from. Her team showed up early to the wedding to ensure they had plenty of time to setup, and started right on time. They played so beautifully that I'd would've thought it was a recording had my fiance (now wife!) not mentioned that it was the quartet playing. We performed all our dances with the quartet's music, and they played flawlessly. Jen also rearranged one of the songs to fit our choreography. I would recommend Bay Area Strings to anyone looking for a quartet for any events. Jen is an exceptional Cellist, and her team members are top talent as well. read more

We used Bay Area Strings for our wedding at the Berkeley City Club, and they were absolutely incredible. Jen was so easy to work with--responsive, organized, and happy to play all the songs we requested. Having them there truly made the day feel even more magical. They play beautifully and created such an elegant, romantic atmosphere for our ceremony and reception. We received so many compliments from our guests. I would 100% recommend Bay Area Strings for any special event! read more

Bay Area Strings performed for our wedding ceremony and cocktail hour and they were amazing! The group had a fantastic repertoire to choose from, which was what initially drew us to them. They also created some custom arrangements at a very reasonable price for a couple of lesser known songs that we wanted to include in key parts of our ceremony. The group was professional and on time, and created a fantastic experience for our guests. The communications with Jen were always timely, and our every question was answered. We really enjoyed working with Bay Area Strings! read more

We hired Bay Area Strings Quartet for our wedding ceremony, and it was one of the best decisions we made. The group is punctual, communicative, and incredibly talented -- do yourself a favor and check out some of their samples on YouTube!. Additionally, the repertoire they have available is expansive. You can find anything from the classical/traditional choices to Broadway tunes and pop songs on their website, and trust they are all beautifully arranged. And if a song you would like is not already available, they are able to create stunning arrangements for a small fee. Our guests were floored by these talented musicians, and I will never forget the feeling of walking down the aisle to such gorgeous music. read more

Bay Area Strings - Bay Area Strings Quartet Photo Credit: @JennyDeePhotography - Performing Arts Near Me

Originally found Bay Area Strings as they were on the approved list of musicians for SF City Hall. They were very responsive and made me feel like they were excited curate the music for our special day. It was great to hear the selection of sound bites on their website to hear their renditions of both classical pieces as well as covers of popular modern songs. City Hall only allows 2 musicians and many of my favorite songs from their portfolio were quartets or trios. They were very accommodating and extremely talented at arranging my favorite pieces into a duet versions. Extremely talented group and would definitely recommend. read more

Bay Area Strings - Fourth Floor Balcony, SF City Hall - Performing Arts Near Me

We hired Bay Area Strings to perform in our wedding, they had a wonderful performance with some additional musics. The communication was pretty smooth and the service was excellent! They suggested to have setup at registration entry, which makes perfect sense since guests will spend some time to register themselves. read more

A close friend referred me to Bay Area Strings for my wedding in June 2021, and I am glad he did! Throughout the planning process, they were totally professional: upfront pricing, responded quickly to emails, and provided a thorough list of their repertoire (you can see it on their website). They were also open to suggestions for other pieces, and worked with us to create a fairly granular "playlist" for the different components of the event. 10/10, would definitely work with them again! P.s. If you're on the fence about getting a quartet for a wedding, it was worth it for me solely based on the point of walking down the aisle. Very powerful moment for me that was enhanced by the quartet. read more

It was really nice to work with Jen Mathers and the Bay Area Strings for my 7/2022 wedding at the Berkeley Botanical Gardens. Jen was very responsive to my emails about the music. I thought about upgrading to a quartet but she honestly said that the sound would be very full in the Redwood Grove even with a string trio. This was very true and I appreciated her honesty which helped us save some money. The sound carried very nicely into the surrounding forest. The Bay Area Strings played our requested prelude songs, processional, recessional songs perfectly. They also played Concerning Hobbits right on time during our group photo as charming background music. I highly recommend working with Bay Area Strings. read more

Bay Area Strings - Bay Area Strings String Trio - photo credit nvysotskaya.com - Performing Arts Near Me

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Absolutely lovely! My wife and I hired Bat Area Strings to play at our wedding ceremony and reception, and they were awesome. We loved their string quartet versions of pop songs and movie soundtracks. They were very accommodating of our special requests, and our guests could not stop talking about how fabulous the music was. They also came all the way from the Bay Area to Mendocino, which was a big ask. 11/10 recommend!! read more

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An absolutely perfect addition to our wedding day at City Hall, we had a string duet play for us and it was perfect. Jen was easy to communicate with, totally fair prices, and such a special part of our wedding ceremony we will never forget. Highly recommend! read more

Jen and her member played at San Francisco City Hall. They were truly amazing and made the whole experience so magical. They were very accommodating to song request and made sure the timeline matched exactly what we wanted. Thank you so much! read more

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I had the pleasure of working with Jen and her team for a Corporate reception in the spring. Jen was responsive and helpful throughout the planning process, and the performance was very well received by guests. We chose a string quartet with more contemporary music and people who weren't part of the reception were stopping in the doorway to listen. Receptions can be challenging with performances- we had welcome remarks by clients about 10 mins after the reception began and a large space with over 500 guests. Jen and her team navigated the starting and stopping during remarks and had the right music choices and volume levels so guests could hear each other but still enjoy the music. Professional and talented team to work with! read more

Jen was extremely communicative and offered so many great ideas. Their intonation was spot on and their musical phrases were beautifully distinguished. They were able to accommodate our music choices and arranged scores to perfectly fit a quartet. They were more than reasonably priced and we would definitely hire them again for other events! read more

Jen and her quartet were amazing during our wedding. I would highly recommend this sophisticated touch for any important ceremony. Check out their repertoire of classics and new hits. Nothing hits home like hearing "baby you're a fiiiirework" on strings while walking down the aisle. read more

Jen and her fellow musicians played the most lovely music at our August 2023 wedding. Throughout the process, they were very easy to work with. Jen helped us select our pieces for the ceremony and reception, taking into account all the details: how many people would be walking for the procession, when the dances should be, how fast and how long, etc. Based on her example recording, we were also able to choreograph a first dance to the Sleeping Beauty waltz; and on the day of, it was exactly as we had planned! Every piece of music was performed to perfection, and the ambience was sophisticated yet lively. I could not recommend them enough. Thank you! read more

My friend Stephanie G. hired Bay Area Strings for a formal surprise party last weekend in her San Francisco home. I can honestly say these talented musicians made the event! They were professional and their beautiful music wrapped the night in a ribbon of elegance. I can't stop raving about them. Hiring live music costs much less than you might imagine. Bay Area Strings are available for weddings as well as a variety of special events. They have samples of the music on their website. You can also arrange for duets, trios, or mixed strings and winds. If you want to take your event up a notch, hire a string quartet! read more

Bay Area Strings - I can honestly say these talented musicians made the event! - Performing Arts Near Me

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We loved working with Jen and Bay Area Strings for our wedding: they were *awesome* on the big day, they were so easy and accommodating throughout the process and the songs we asked for custom arrangements for were just immaculate. They did "So This is Love" at my wife's request and when they started that as my wife walked down the aisle I saw about a dozen women in the audience simply melt as they realized what it was and how beautiful the arrangement was. Highly recommend! read more

Jen is an absolute pleasure to work with. She helped with musical selection and coordinated directly with our officiant. And her musicianship is impeccable. Having a string duet at our private ceremony on the Mayor's Balcony at SF City Hall was the perfect touch to make the wedding feel formal and timeless. They were wonderful. read more

Thank you Bay Area Strings for providing such beautiful music during our wedding ceremony. Jen was very responsive over email. For our processional and recessional sounds we picked from their extensive catalog. For my walk down the aisle I specifically asked for arrangement of a Corelli concerto, and they absolutely delivered. Bay Area Strings really brought our ceremony to life and made it very special. read more

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Bay Area Strings did an amazing job! They really made our ceremony and cocktail hour perfect. They even coordinated with my fiancé who serenaded me with his guitar and the strings in the background as I walked down the aisle. And they had never practiced together before. They did all our song requests, including The Office theme song for our recession. Thank you all for making our day perfect! read more

We knew we wanted to have live music for our wedding and we are so glad we found Bay Area Strings. Their music was one of our favorite parts of our ceremony! Jen was so nice to work with and Bay Area Strings has such a wonderful, wide repertoire of songs, they helped give us the best music playlist for the big day. The custom arrangements we requested for our processional and walk down the aisle were beautiful, and we are still getting compliments from guests about how much they enjoyed listening to Bay Area Strings during our cocktail hour! We can't thank Jen and the other musicians enough. read more

Bay Area Strings played beautifully at my wedding on Saturday June 4th! They arrived well before the start to set up, and played perfectly throughout the entire day. They had clear communication with us leading up to the big day and I never once worried about the music. They also have an excellent and wide variety of selections to play! I highly recommend them, and they made my wedding day extra special with their fantastic music. I would give six stars if I could! read more

Jen and her band recently played at our wedding in Carmel Valley. She was easy to work with and leads a very professional team. We are really impressed with her knowledge of the various genres of songs for wedding occasion, even specific versions we requested. The performance was amazing and we are happy our guests gave great feedback on the live music. read more

We hired Bay Area Strings for our City Hall wedding and we're SO glad we did. The music added so much beauty to the ceremony, and the musicians put together a gorgeous arrangement of Lady Gaga's Born This Way with our advance request. They are communicative, clear, and really easy to work with. I have zero regrets and am so grateful we got to experience the lovely work of these artists at our ceremony! read more

Jen was organized, friendly, punctual, detailed,...everything you want in a wedding vendor. We hired Bay Area Strings for a string duet for our ceremony and it was lovely. Highly recommended. read more

Bay Area Strings - String duet at the Outdoor Art Club wedding - Performing Arts Near Me

Bay Area Strings played our wedding in Golden Gate Park last weekend and were superb! The music was excellent and the communications re: scheduling the work and selecting the pieces was incredibly professional. Thanks again for such a special date! read more

Bay Area Strings - Outdoor wedding in Golden Gate Park's botanical gardens - Performing Arts Near Me

I was in communication with Jen in regards to booking a stringed duet for our wedding - Jen communicated with us often and set reminders for song selections and the like. We were beyond pleased with the performances - the music set a beautiful tone to our wedding. We would highly recommend their services! read more

My fiancée and I just recently got married. We agreed we wanted a string quartet to play at our virtual ceremony to make the event special for ourselves and for the 200 guests tuning in by livestream. When planning the wedding, we heard about Bay Area Strings, thinking they could be a great option for the event. Based on the solid reviews, and our initial impressions dealing with Jen, we felt great about asking them to handle the music for the event. From the start, we were grateful for how professional and organized Jen was in quoting options for us and in the way she organized and prepared for our event. She was responsive by email and text and was flexible as we changed the bride's procession song and the song order, and as timing changed as we worked with our officiant. On the day of our wedding, Jen and the quartet were extremely professional, showing up early in time for a mic check with the streaming team. In addition, when we had last minute possible rain concerns and streaming technical issues, the quartet was flexible and found an optimal spot that could accommodate our outdoor live-streamed wedding or a backup indoor wedding scenario. They also were flexible with the schedule and repeated songs as needed for our streaming audience. The music was "handled" and was one less thing to worry about for us and we appreciated how well the quartet adapted as things changed. Most importantly, the quartet's quality of play was flawless and they were definitely a major highlight of our wedding. After our ceremony finished (~15 minutes) many of our guests stayed for the next 30 minutes on the live stream until the end to listen to the music. We received a lot of comments about how great the music was, and how it improved people's days. We couldn't be happier with Bay Area Strings and would recommend Jen and her team to anyone looking for a high quality musical option for their event. I can also say that we watched a number of wedding quartet videos on YouTube to select songs for our event, and none of the quartets we watched played as beautifully as Bay Area Strings. We would recommend them 100% to anyone desiring a special event! read more

Bay Area Strings played at my Catholic wedding ceremony. From the start, they were professional, organized, and very responsive. They worked with me to figure out the music--they offered suggestions but were also very flexible. On the day of the wedding, everything went smoothly, and the music was beautiful! I'd highly recommend them to future couples. read more

We worked with Bay Area Strings for our April 2016 wedding at the Berkeley City Club in Berkeley, CA, for which they performed as a string quartet for our ceremony and cocktail hour. The group did a great job -- we highly recommend them! The planning process with Bay Area Strings was really easy. We picked this group mainly because their big, diverse repertoire (including both classical and modern pieces), their willingness to learn new music (though we ended up sticking with their repertoire), and how great they sound in the samples on their website. Planning and coordination all happened through email and was straightforward. And the results were great: everything the day-of went smoothly and as planned, and we enjoyed the quartet's performance. We're really happy we picked Bay Area Strings! read more

Bay Area Strings - String quartet for our wedding! Photo credit: Lucille Lawrence - Performing Arts Near Me

From the requesting a quote to our big day, working with Bay Area Strings was an easy, pleasant process. Their beautiful music added so much to the cocktail hour of our wedding. We requested a few unconventional songs and they were very accommodating. They dressed formally, were very professional, and their music, ahhhh the music added such a special, intimate, beautiful touch to our wedding. It was truly our favorite part of our ceremony. Thank you guys so much for adding your special magic to our day read more

Bay Area Strings - Us sharing a special moment during our cocktail reception to "young & beautiful" played by the amazingly talented Bay Area Strings - Performing Arts Near Me

Jen and Bay Area Strings recently played my wedding as a quartet. Jen was great in the preparations, had good communication and worked with us to add a few extra songs and develop the setlist. On the day of the quartet was professional and the music was beautiful. So many people at the wedding spoke about how great the music was, and it was great to have a mix of classical and modern music. Additionally, the cost of the performance was reasonable and absolutely worth it. I couldn't recommend them more! read more

The Quartet was wonderful!! We had so many other things going on, but they were very self sufficient, played beautifully and were very reasonable! I highly recommend! read more

We hired a duet from Bay Area Strings to play at our wedding ceremony and couldn't have been more pleased. Not only did they have a great variety of music, but Jen was very professional, flexible and helpful, which made the wedding planning process less stressful. Their pricing is very competitive as well. I'd highly recommend Bay Area Strings for an upcoming special occasion. Talented, affordable and reliable - you couldn't ask for anything more! read more

We hired a string trio for our wedding and they were excellent. They came on time, played everything we wanted and were terrific. If you need string music, Bay Area Strings are the ones to go with. read more

Bay Area Strings provided live music (string duet - violin and cello) for our wedding in Healdsburg, CA (Sonoma County). Their band manager, Jen Mathers, was extremely helpful throughout the wedding planning process and made herself available to answer all of our questions. They were reasonably priced for live musicians in the Bay Area and had a great selection of songs to pick from. They even accommodated special song requests which really added a great touch to our ceremony and cocktail hour. The customized songs they played for us included "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis, "Crazy Love" by Van Morrison, "Heaven" by Bryan Adams, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John, and "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles. I would recommend them for weddings and any other events. read more

Booking with Bay Area Strings was one of the smoothest experiences! Jen Was so accommodating and a pleasure to work with! My clients absolutely raved about the music it was the perfect experience for our guests! Thank you Jen and team you were true professionals and look forward to booking again! read more

Jen and her team were wonderful to work with and they made our wedding ceremony incredibly special. I had a very specific vision for the ceremony and the strings were a huge part of that. I am so thankful that they made my wedding dreams come true. We had them play the standard classical music, but my sister sang the Beyonce version of Ava Maria which required a special arrangement/key. They were so flexible and easy to work with and it came out beautifully - the entire audience (including myself) was balling their eyes out! (In the best way possible). Highly recommend! read more

The Bay Area Strings performed classical music selections at a recent rehearsal dinner we hosted at the Berkeley Faculty Club. The four piece string quartet added a special touch to our event. Initially, they played for an hour on the Kerr Deck while we enjoyed cocktails. They moved into the Great Hall for two hours while our guests had dinner. In addition to the superb performance by these talented musicians, it was very easy to make all the arrangements via email thanks to the prompt and polite efforts of Jen Mathers, Cellist & Manager of the Bay Area Strings. I found their pricing to be competitive with similar groups. In short, I highly recommend them! read more

Bay Area Strings is a killer orchestral classical and popular musical group whom exude great talent and skill and professional aplomb. You will never regret hiring these musicians. We hired them for my daughters wedding and they MADE the ceremony. I wish I could get married again! I would have Bay Area Strings and make it spectacular and classy beyond measure. read more