London Strings Quartet

We're still taking last minute wedding bookings for string quartets, trios and duos.  A London String Quartet from Liquid Strings will provide a great atmosphere for your wedding or event - here are a few tips to help you choose music for your wedding -

- String Quartet sounds best and has the greatest variety of music - from Britney Spears to Coldplay, Mozart to Skyfall theme, wedding marches, light jazz, tangos - chances are if it's for string quartet, we can play it - or if not, we can have it professionally arranged at a reasonable extra cost.

- However, if your budget will not allow for a string quartet (and we appreciate these are challenging times for spending), then a String Trio sounds excellent and is almost as good, but a bit less costly!  Bar that, there's duo or solo also.  String Duo is elegant and works best in a smaller setting and where the music is very much in the background, as there is less variety available.

- Choose your own setlist or let us help you decide.  We can suggest the best pieces for the different parts of the day.  Playing Toxic and Jeeves and Wooster before a ceremony as guests are arriving makes no sense - playing them in the reception afterwards when the atmosphere is less formal is much better.  We have a range of choices - either classical traditional for the ceremony, or more modern (lots of newly weds walking out to Coldplay - Viva la Vida, for example).  Contact us for some help on this after you've booked us for your wedding.

- Book your music earlier - it's one less thing to think about later, and we can offer packages with everything from just a Solo Harpist for the whole day (for an understated and calm wedding!), to quartet, jazz pianist and big Party Band, all booked and guaranteed for you in advance so you can get on with the rest of the planning.

Call us today for some inspiration - all weddings are not the same, and as such we treat each enquiry as another opportunity to match music to what our clients really imagine will provide a perfect soundtrack for their day!

London String Quartet

String Quartet in The Mayfair Hotel

We've just had our second engagement in the stunning Mayfair Hotel - Rebecca created a surprise 60th Birthday party for her mum.  As well as playing Happy Birthday, we'd been told that she was a huge Cliff Richard fan, so jumped from everyone singing along to Happy Birthday onto Congratulations, which went down especially well with her in the surprise moment.

The current vogue is for pop covers on string quartet.  Quartets like the Vitamin Quartet in the States have meant that there are lots of string quartet versions of pop songs here online.  Many of these are unavailable to purchase as sheet music, but we have some brilliant arrangers - so nothing is beyond us.  Recent new versions of Toxic by Britney Spears and a Michael Jackson medley are going down a treat in weddings and corporate functions.  Our quartets love playing them as well - it's a break from classical music and they're as much to play as to listen to.

Hiring a wedding string quartet from us in London couldn't be easier - all the wedding string quartets for hire are simply booked and then leave the rest to us - or create your own playlist for the big day!

May has seen erratic weather and lots of gigs - including Tom at The Langham, Louisa and a String Trio in The Caledonian Club, Julilan and his jazz band in the park (Paddington Recreation Ground - see photo), Gospel Singers in Luton Hoo Hotel, a Wedding String Quartet in Stationers Hall and The Roof Gardens - and much more.

We also provided a string quartet in Regents Park for Regent's College, an academic graduation ceremony where the string quartet turned into a Karaoke band, as students and lecturers began singing along to the likes of 'Angels' and 'Sweet Dreams are made of These'.

We finish it on Saturday with another wedding in Hampton Court Palce - fingers crossed for more sunshine

String Quartet, trio, duo or solo?
This is a question I often get asked for weddings, but also private parties.
We have just made a promo video which is currently being edited and should be on the site and Youtube soon which has all these combinations to help anyone decide.

In general, I'd say -

- If budget is not an issue, go for string quartet. There is more music available, it makes the most complete sound, and it looks right.

- If music is purely background and more for the nice spectacle and atmosphere, then trio is fine. String trio will often use the best quartet music with a part left out. This missing part is not always essential, and there is a lovely sound still from a trio.

- If you want a less expensive option, string duo is fine. It is more effective for intimate occasions - ie small, low-key weddings, private birthday or dinner parties, etc. The sound is a bit thin, but still pleasant. It has an intimacy that makes up in part for the smaller sound.

- If you want to be a bit different, solo string player is a nice idea. Fewer people book them, but solo violin or solo cello are effective. They're not quite as good for famous songs. Whilst you could play 'Every Breath You Take' for string quartet or even trio, it would sound wrong on solo violin or solo cello. I personally prefer solo cello, (even though I'm a violinist!) - but there is a romance in solo violin, and I've spoken to quite a few brides who are somewhat in love with the idea.

Whatever your thoughts, please feel free to let me know any ideas of unusual music that appeals to you - I'm always interested in new ideas for live event music.