I would definitely recommend Garden Strings to anyone looking for professional musicians at their event. We hired them to play at our SF City Hall wedding, and they did a wonderful job! All of our guests had nothing but wonderful things to say about how well they played, how beautiful the songs were, and how they added such a nice ambience to the event. They were great about communication, organized, and answered any questions I had. Really great experience with them, overall! read more

We hired Garden Strings to play music for our wedding processional/recessional and during cocktail hour. They were very prompt and professional, and played beautifully. They worked with me to make a custom arrangement for our wedding processional that turned out great. Their rates were super reasonable and they were great to work with. One thing I will note is that sometimes communication would take a little while; sometimes it would take a couple months to hear back from them via email, but the questions weren't urgent and I'm sure they are busy. Just something to note! read more

Garden Strings was perfect for our redwood forest wedding. We picked the trio and they really brought the whole thing together creating a romantic atmosphere befitting of the setting. They were very professional and reasonable in price. Their song selection was huge and came with a wide range of genres. We would recommend them to anyone and hire them again for other events. read more

Garden Strings - Performing Arts Near Me

Garden Strings added elegance and grace to our wedding. We had an issue with shuttles being delayed, so they graciously and skillfully played an extra hour beyond what we'd agreed to (THANK YOU!) to make the time better for our waiting guests. They had a wide selection of music to choose from, and were incredible working with a musician we had sing some special songs during the ceremony. I would highly recommend them. Thank you, Garden Strings! read more

We hired Garden Strings to play our wedding on Oct. 15, 2022, in Oakland, and they were fantastic. Ilana worked closely with us to create a playlist that was a mix of our favorite music, including classical, jazz, and pop, and was fun and easy to work with. Their rates were reasonable and they were completely professional and a pleasure to have at our event. My only regret is that I wish we had sprung for amplification -- because of Covid concerns, the entire event was outdoors and the music was a bit hard to hear from a distance. If you are considering acoustic instruments for your outdoor event, I would recommend paying a little extra for an amp & some mikes. But other than that, Garden Strings were lovely and I would happily hire them again. read more

Ilana and the Garden Strings team went above and beyond for our wedding day. My partner and I really wanted live music, and decided that a string trio for the ceremony and cocktail hour would be the perfect addition. Ilana helped us through the whole process, including with a special request (playing the West Wing theme song), and we thought their song selection was absolutely perfect for what we were looking for. We chose a mix of modern and classic, and felt like the trio made our ceremony even more special. We would recommend Garden Strings to anyone - they were professional in every way and made our ceremony and reception into a dream come true. read more

Our wedding was pretty non traditional, but we wanted to maintain a sophisticated level. Garden Strings was able to help us do exactly that. We hired a string trio and with the help of Pauline we chose a more contemporary set list. My wedding party was accompanied by Stairway to Heaven and I walked out to the tune of Unforgettable. Pauline and I kept close correspondence before the wedding and she coordinated with our officiant the day of the wedding so the whole ceremony and cocktail hour went seamlessly. Our guest were super impressed and we were incredibly pleased with their performance! read more

Garden Strings - Performing Arts Near Me

Highly recommend Garden Strings Quartet. Absolutely wonderful group of professionals. Wide variety of selections available and they even accommodated a special request for the processional. So happy that we contacted them last year and if I could, I would give them a 10 out of 5. Thanks again for making the wedding of our daughter even more beautiful. read more

We used Garden Strings for our wedding ceremony based on a referral from a friend. So glad we listened to her advice because they were a lovely group. We used them to play music before the ceremony and afterwards during the photos. I really only heard them for the processional & recessional during which they sounded lovely. Guests commented on how nicely they sounded too. They have a nice mix of classics and pop songs in their repertoire that allowed us to pick nontraditional songs for our nontraditional wedding. Pauline was also great at communicating on logistics & details. Highly recommended! read more

Pauline and her colleagues are an elegant team of first rate virtuosas. Pauline helped us with the program we wanted, the pieces and some special additions. She was professional and good natured throughout the entire process. When they played the day-of, I was speechless at how excellent they sounded. They even played our special processional invocation of a well known but unexpected ceremony piece perfectly on cue. Bravo Garden Strings. read more

I was so busy on my wedding day that I barely noticed the music. But I'm sure Garden Strings was great because several people came up to me to comment on how much they loved the music. I was really happy to be able to have live musicians for the ceremony, and Garden Strings made it easy with their repetoire and samples on their website. read more

Our wedding (March 14, 2015) could not have been complete without elegant background string music...and Garden Strings exceeded our expectations! Our ceremony took place on the 4th Floor Pacific Terrace Deck at the Intercontinental Hotel, San Francisco. They also played during our cocktail hour, again a huge hit. Their music was a perfect addition to our wedding. I would highly recommend Garden Strings for any event! read more

We hired Garden Strings to play our wedding ceremony and reception in our garden. They were incredible--one of my husband's and my favorite part of the whole day. They were also a pleasure to work with beforehand--responsive and flexible, happy to discuss any concerns or requests I had in the months before. They did a custom arrangement for our processional and recessional of two pieces that were important to us, and they played an encore of those songs for us at the end of the night, when all our guests had left. Neither of us are dancers, and we had no room for a dance floor, but live string music contributed to that fun party atmosphere in the same way, although it was obviously gentler/more relaxing. I would recommend them for any event where you want to wow your guests. It was above and beyond playing similar style music from a set of speakers. Their friendliness and professionalism were the cherry on top of the excellent musical skills. We will be looking for excuses to hire them again for future events. read more

I was so happy I reserved a string quartet to play music for my wedding ceremony. Pauline, who organizes Garden Strings was very easy to work with and very pleasant. They were definitely worth the expense. Garden Strings played a few special items for me and my husband and worked with us to create a good playlist for the rest of the ceremony. It was so amazing and their playing was so beautiful! They did all I could ask for! Also, my husband and I met Pauline few months before our wedding. There were details to work out and get comfortable. Pauline knew very well the location of our ceremony and where her quartet would be best placed. Garden Strings is a fine group to work with and I highly recommend them! read more

Working with Pauline and hiring Garden Strings for my wedding was one of the best decisions I made. Not only are they communicative and professional, they are also so talented and play a range of classical and modern (they can do anything from Canon in D to Bruno Mars songs!). In addition, they are creative and accommodating- we asked them to play the Game of Thrones song at cocktail hour and they did an excellent job! We had a couple of guests that are also musicians at our wedding and they told us that Garden Strings was great as well. Highly recommended!! read more

We hired Garden Strings for our wedding this past November and I am so happy that we chose them to be a part of our special day. Their pricing is extremely reasonable and Pauline was so great to work with throughout the whole process - she was very professional, prompt, and friendly and made me feel at ease and confident in our choice. We hired a string trio to play for during our ceremony and champagne reception immediately following. I was so impressed with the musical talents of the group and I really enjoyed the mix of classical and traditional music along with some jazz and contemporary covers. Thank you Garden Strings for adding such a beautiful soundtrack to our big day! read more

We used Garden Strings for a wedding ceremony in San Ramon. They were on time (early to set up), played at two different areas at our outdoor venue and they were outstanding! I would recommend them for anyone wanting to add a touch of class to a venue! read more

Words cannot describe how wonderful Pauline and her team at Garden Strings are to work with. When planning our October 2014 wedding at St. Vincent's in San Rafael, we knew we wanted a string trio to play a mix of contemporary and classical selections. Their play list was so extensive that we had a hard time narrowing it down. Pauline was also very responsive and took the time to chat with me on the phone to give us some direction when choosing songs to be played during key times at our catholic ceremony. For our recessional, we did have a request not on their normal play list and without hesitation, she and her team learned "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. It was the perfect recessional song as we were introduced as husband and wife. We had several guests arrive early to the ceremony and MULTIPLE people told us how much they enjoyed the pre-ceremony music. I was in the bridal room in another building so sadly I could not hear it but what I did hear during the ceremony and recessional was sheer beauty. Having Garden Strings at our ceremony was worth every penny and an affordable penny at that. Garden Stings is very well priced for the top notch service and music you'll get for your party/wedding. read more

Garden Strings played our 7/7/7 ceremony and it was absolutely beautiful. They even did an impromptu accompinament to my best friend's recitation of a poem she wrote in place of the psalm. They were very accommodating, professional and made our dream wedding all the more dreamier. read more

We hired Garden Strings trio for our wedding ceremony. They were very professional and organized. They arrived on time to the wedding ceremony site. Garden Strings new exactly what to do for the processional. They timed the music just right for each part of the processional. Their website has a long repertoire to select from. Garden Strings will also send you a demo cd. We also requested hymns to be played and Garden Strings played the hymns and no extra charge. They were reasonably priced and they played beautifully! read more

Great experience with them at our wedding. Beautiful music, very easy to work with, They even learned "All Right Now" (Stanford Victory song) for our recessional so I could surprise my husband who is a diehard fan. Music was beautiful and they were also less expensive than some of the quartets I had also looked into. Great decision to use them for our wedding - they knew the venue well (Julia Morgan Ballroom) and everything was seamless and easy! read more

A trio from Garden Strings Played at our wedding in Nicasio, CA back in August 2012. They were fantastic! They played before our guests arrived, during our ceremony and through cocktail hour.. everything was exactly how we had imagined it to be! Pauline was very nice and easy to work with! She also made an arrangement of the song I wanted to play as I walked down the aisle at no extra charge since I was on a strict budget. Thank you Pauline! Excellent talent for a reasonable price! read more

Garden Strings played at my wedding on 11/14/09 and I cannot even express how amazing they sounded at my ceremony. EVERYONE was raving about them and how beautiful they sounded. The priest even mentioned during the mass that he used to fantasize about having a quartet like them at his wedding (of course before he became a priest!). I could not believe that they were playing live...it was so perfect that I would have thought they were prerecorded. Thank you so much Garden Strings for making our ceremony so memorable and beautiful!!!!! read more

We hired a string quartet for our 10/13/13 wedding at Piedmont Community Hall. They played music for the ceremony and for cocktail hour (2 hours total). Prices seemed reasonable. Quality was fantastic. My husband had specific classical music requests for the ceremony which the quartet accommodated perfectly. Walking down the aisle, the music sounded dream-like and beautiful quality in the redwood amphitheater we used. They set up inside the tea house for cocktail hour and the sound quality was fantastic. They followed our request for jazzier music during cocktail hour and even did a rendition of Dave Brubreck's Take Five :) Guests loved them-- felt extravagant to get a quartet but totally worth it for our special day. Pauline was great to work with and very responsive via email and phone. read more

Garden Strings recently provided music for my wedding ceremony and cocktail hour and did a wonderful job. Pauline was very helpful and easy to work with prior to the event. She also took the time to walk us through our music selection to make sure everything was just right. Garden Strings also has a website that provides samples of the available song selections if you prefer to work it out on your own. On the day of the wedding, the trio was on time, professional and played beautifully. It was a great way to bring elegance to the event and I couldn't be happier with the results. read more

We were very lucky to have Garden Strings' quartet play at our wedding reception. Pauline was eager to work with us before the event, and really receptive to our ideas for music. The reception was in a park, and the musicians sounded lovely throughout the event, setting a wonderful tone for the day. Having live music created a fun diversion for guests, who enjoyed watching them play. They even took requests day-of from us and our guests for certain song covers. read more

We hired garden strings to play at our weddding. They respond to emails, and have agreat list to choose from music wise. They sounded beautiful! Thank you. read more

They were the icing on the cake, the crème of the crop! Booking and planning with them was so easy and the best part is they are super affordable! The only request I had was to play The Beatles during cocktail hour and they did! Everyone loved them and thought that it was the perfect touch to our wedding! read more

Very professional and worked with us on our song choices, learning a new song for our wedding that sounded beautiful. Pauline was wonderful to work with, always getting back to me with answers to my questions in a timely manner. Definitely would recommend Garden Strings in the future. read more

Had their string duo for our outdoor summer wedding in Sausalito. They also stayed for outdoor cocktail hour. They were very professional and worked with me closely over email to sort out all the details ahead of time. They were on-time and needed minimal support from our coordinator on the day-of. They have an excellent selection of classic and non-traditional song options which we loved! They even accommodated my silly request for shortening my walk down the aisle time and adjusted their tempo for me :). I would recommend them highly to anyone. Especially people who may want to request some unique song choices. read more

We hired Garden Strings to perform as a string quartet at our ceremony. I was planning the wedding from across the country so did not have the chance to meet with them in person before the wedding day, but Pauline was very helpful via phone; additionally, I loved their demo clips on their website so I could hear what they sounded like. They were very flexible with my music and were able to extend the beginning Canon in D to last longer than usual while my bridesmaids walked down the aisle, so I could enter at a specific bar. They were also able to track down the music for some of my favorite songs that they didn't have listed on their website. All of the musicians were very talented and professional - they arrived early to set up so they were able to be playing by the time the first early guests arrived. Walking down the aisle to Canon in D performed by a string quartet was the one part of my wedding I've dreamed of for years, and they made my dream happen so beautifully. read more

When my husband and I first discussed our wedding, the one thing we knew for sure is that we would have a string quartet. We're both musicians, so the quality of the quartet was very important to us. Garden strings exceeded all of our expectations. Their playlist is amazing (seriously. it took forever for us to narrow it down, and their renditions of contemporary songs are fabulous), Pauline was quick to respond and helpful in all of our correspondence, they are exceptionally talented musicians, and they are extremely professional (they didn't need any instructions on the day of; clearly they know weddings.). As the bride, I was extremely bummed to miss so much of their performance. However, I told them several songs I was looking forward to hearing during the cocktail hour, and they held off on playing them until they saw me at the cocktail hour (after our pictures were done), which was so wonderful. Our guests thoroughly enjoyed their performance. Garden strings is a class act! Book them! read more