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Beyond the Bridgerton | Interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings | Wedding Secrets Unveiled! Podcast

Choosing the right musicians for your wedding can be a pivotal decision. In today’s episode of Wedding Secrets Unveiled!, Ariana Straznicky, the owner and founder of Ariana Strings, is here to ensure your wedding day music flows seamlessly. Ariana Strings is a collective of over 20 classically trained musicians, experts at bringing the concert stage to your wedding. Today, Ariana will share her insights and tips to help you find the perfect musical match for your big day. Whether it’s selecting the right songs, ensemble size, or instrumentation, this episode will bring you one step closer to planning live music for your wedding!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/71ktb1oJWDHOnKVo54v88B?si=TP1OsJpWQzqQATc4XSuk-A
Beyond the Bridgerton: interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

Meet Ariana.

My name is Ariana Straznicky, and I founded Ariana Strings. We are string-based musicians. I’m a violinist, so everything is centered around the violin. From solo violin music, through string quartets and even string orchestras. We perform for all loving parents who want epic music for their love story. We’re based out of Connecticut – we have had opportunities to visit other places, and we love an adventure! 

I am really happy to have you on the show! For our loyal listeners, you probably noticed that we haven’t had many musicians on, so this is something we’ve been working on for a while! I have so many questions about the musical components of weddings and events. 

So, let’s get into it. Tell us how someone can find a wedding musician and start planning live music for your wedding! 

Finding wedding musicians is a really interesting task, but what you want to do is start looking in your area. Then listen to their music and see if it resonates with you. There are a lot of different types of musicians out there, the goal is to find someone who specializes in weddings. I know it’s tempting to call up a local school or symphony and ask if someone is into that. While you might get someone who is super talented… weddings are a totally different animal. 

I started playing weddings when I was a student. I played for a couple of companies, and it was a disaster and a half. So, the way I run my company is the opposite of that. It’s really important that your wedding musicians understand the nature of the beast and that they’re fully prepared to understand back up plans, your venue, and how to handle all of the personalities of people involved in the planning process. 

interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

I laughed a little when you said not to call up a school because I’ve seen that happen in the photography world, too. The final product can be absolutely beautiful but there’s so many logistical issues behind the scenes. Can you give me 1-2 things that you’ve seen or the reasons why you really think it isn’t the most appropriate move?

Yeah, again: I started as a student. They had something at my music school where they would put a post it notes on a wall and share the information about the gig. The first person who responded would get the gig. I would grab that post it note so fast, and I would get a few details about where to show up and what to do. But, once I arrived, it was a catastrophe. I’d play the wrong song when someone went down the aisle because I’d been given the wrong information was. Or I didn’t know what religion the service was, and I had no way of preparing or understanding what music was needed.

So, all of those opportunities to plan and know what I was doing went out the window. It was a disaster; I did a couple weddings like that, and I couldn’t do it anymore. So, when I started picking those post it notes off the wall, I said, I need to contact the couple. I need to know who these people are and what they want, because I do not want to ruin someone’s wedding day inadvertently. I was able to get to know the couple and we could figure out together what they wanted. In the end, I just really got into weddings – and as a person who didn’t care about weddings before, I suddenly jumped on board because I loved being able to solve these people’s problems. 

I love it. So then let’s say a couple takes your advice and they contact legit, professional wedding musicians. What are some things they need to consider when choosing their live musicians?

I’m so glad you asked, because a lot of live wedding music companies are side hustles, and there’s nothing wrong with being a side hustle and having your nine to five. But, it’s really important that you can distinguish who has the experience and really cares about your wedding versus who is going to send a stranger to your event who knows nothing about you.

It’s important to vet the performers because you could hire a company and not realize that the people who put all the recordings up aren’t who will be showing up on your wedding day. It’s okay to ask for samples from the people that you’re going to get. I actually had a couple request this the other week, asking if they could have samples of those players performing. We don’t have individual performance samples. It’s a lot to put someone on the spot, but we have a lot of YouTube videos showing us collectively as different groups and in different formations. And usually that really suffices.

interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

It’s interesting that people ask that for samples. People ask us too and I always say that our portfolio is online. But, I think it makes sense to make sure that the team that they’ve heard is the team that’s going out for their wedding. 

Yes, and there are red flags you should look out for. One of them is if they say they have a large network of people they can draw from. What does that mean? Make sure that that there’s someone onesite who is leading your event or do they have a trusted professional to do that? I’m onsite for the majority of our events. If I can’t be, someone on the team steps in and we wear these little, like, Men in Black style headsets to go over cues and everything.

It’s a well-oiled machine now. But, a lot of the time, other live music companies think that couples will not notice that they don’t show up to their wedding. They assume that they will not remember who they chose. They will assume that they will not know the difference in instrumentation, like putting a viola in place of a violin, it’s a totally different sound, and it can be really out of tune. 

That’s a really great tip. What are some other red flags that couples should take note when looking for a professional musician?

Make sure they have a lot of samples. If they’re an established company and have been doing this for awhile, they should have videos from guests, on their social media, on different platforms… that kind of thing. Even if they aren’t interested in having a full website presence, you should be able to contact them and find out what they sound like.

More Red Flags…

Other red flags include promising the moon, because anyone who has been in this industry for a long time should know how to guide you and what the limitations are. So if someone tells you we have no problem playing outside in the cold, what quality of instrument are they bringing to your wedding? Because stringed instruments are extremely susceptible to damage due to fluctuations in heat and humidity. So, yeah, if they say they’ll play outside no matter what, that’s a huge red flag. If they don’t have a temperature policy, then that tells me that those people are probably bringing whatever instrument that they don’t care about. And it could sound like kindergarten instruments, even if you have professionals playing them.

But even if you’re playing in high and low temperatures, by the way, our muscles actually respond very much to the heat and the cold. Imagine trying to do very, very small micro movements over and over again to play a very fast piece. You actually get injured. So most music companies who are reputable are going to take the time to protect their players from those circumstances and to ensure you get the highest quality experience from start to finish, and that includes having limits on where we can play and offering you solutions in those situations.

What is the difference between a soloist and string quartet? I mean, I know the obvious difference but how would someone decide what they want to consider?

In case it isn’t obvious, because sometimes people do come to me and they’re like, What is a soloist? A soloist is one person playing an instrument. That’s it. When you have a duo or a duet, that’s two, trio is three and a quartet is four players. Your standard string quartet is four parts, and they can cover the melody, harmony, rhythm and bass. Those are those four pieces that our ears love to hear. So, anything you hear on the radio should be able to be done by a string quartet very well because you have all the parts – they can take them and just run with them. What you will need will really depend on the company that you go to. 

interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

Pop Music Library

When I was starting out, we actually had a really large string trio library, because so many people asked us for string trios. So we built up this incredible pop library – a really, really big classical music library. Certain things can be covered really beautifully by string trio. I can tell you, “Wildest Dreams” by Taylor Swift sounds really nice for a string trio. Sounds even better with string quartet, because we’re missing all those pieces otherwise.

A huge trend right now is Bridgerton- and it’s so funny because when 2020 hit, one of my couples who had to postpone their wedding, sent me a text, and they were like, oh my goodness, “can you do this?”. I hadn’t watched the show yet, so I had no idea what she was talking about. But then I was like, “isn’t it why you hired us? We’ve been doing this for 10 years.” They had no idea that pop strings were something that we could do.

It’s a lot of fun. If that’s something you’re interested in, a quartet will always be more versatile than a soloist. However, there are some really wonderful soloists out there who can play with a recording, sort of like karaoke, and they’ll have a speaker system to play along with that. You might even see that with DJs too, like where they have a saxophone or a violinist playing along with the DJ, and they’re improving on top to add stuff. 

Bridgerton is definitely very on trend right now! How do you incorporate that into everything?

I’m obsessed with Bridgerton’s music. I think it’s so much fun. I do think that there are a couple of things you should note, because people fall in love with the Bridgerton music idea, and a lot of that music is beautifully professionally recorded in a studio by the Vitamin String Quartet, who we love. But when you go into a studio and you record something, and you can adjust all those beautiful sound levels, they can also add on instruments.

The reality is that some of those songs are played by 18 instruments. We have a quartet arrangement of the music. It doesn’t sound quite the same, but it gets the same idea going and it’s really beautiful. For Bridgerton music, pretty much any group can play the pop version of things but your ear will always like hearing more voices. So, I would always lean towards a quartet – or a quintet if you can. 

interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

What I would watch out for though, is if you were to hire a symphony musician who isn’t really familiar into pop, or they don’t have a lot of pop in their library, it can be more difficult. I’m a symphony musician. We learn these very, very strict rhythms over the years, and we can play Mahler and Beethoven like it’s nobody’s business.

But pop music is a totally different animal. It’s alive. And we do these things called back phrasing, and what’s written on the page isn’t necessarily how the song actually sounds. So you have to have an understanding of how Beyonce sings a song, for example, in order to translate it. So when you’re looking for a string group, again, this is why I would listen to their samples and make sure that they’re able to cover pop really well, even though anyone can put sheet music together and they can sight read it at a wedding. You want to make sure they’re not sight reading, aka seeing the music for the first time on your wedding day. You want to make sure that they’ve rehearsed it, and they are owning it. 

I really want to get into actual wedding day logistics. Break it down for me. What parts of the day do couples usually have music? Are there requirements for you guys to perform on the day of the wedding?

A lot of couples start music when the guests are walking in and arriving on site, so it sets the tone and atmosphere. We call it “Prelude Music”, but you can call it welcome music. That’s when your live music usually starts. It’s actually really important to have it going as your guests arrive, because most weddings don’t start on time. I think when I hit 400 weddings, only 4 of those had started on time – that’s 1% of weddings that start on time or early. But, if you have music playing when people arrive, it sets the ambiance. So, then we’ll use different songs as different sets of people walk down the aisle.

More Ceremony Music

Often there’s a family processional. Now that’s very popular. Some people are doing groomsmen processional so that the groom can have his moment with his team. And a lot of people are having a wedding party processional, and then the grand entrance, or sometimes it’s called the bridal processional. Then we continue playing maybe some special moments in the ceremony, not during vows. It’s way too distracting. That’s a red flag – don’t do it! It takes the attention right off of you and we don’t want that. But there are usually some special moments, like lighting a unity candle, and we can sneak a song in there. It’s really sweet. 

Then we get the party started with a really upbeat recessional – so that’s the fancy word for you’ve kissed now it’s time to party – and you head back up the aisle. Then we usually pick up our things and go over to cocktail hour, and that’s another great place to have live music. Cocktail Hour performances are a really nice time because your guests get to interact with us, unlike they could have in the ceremony. They actually get a chance to really listen to what we’re playing. We also often get requests to play during dinner, because people really love to be able to hear the live music. It’s lower and it’s not like a DJ blasting when people are trying to talk and eat. We’ve been playing a lot of first dances too, it’s very magical. 

interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

That sounds like a lot of good times for music! Are there any one off experiences you’ve had or special things you’ve played for?

First dances are huge. It’s really sweet and we can then tailor things to you. If you don’t like being the center of attention, a lot of couples feel that way, they we can focus on the part of the song they love the most. Done, nice and easy. 

I have a question. As a wedding musician, I feel like the number one moment I think of you playing is when a bride goes down the aisle. How does someone even begin to choose what song to even play on that one?

I’m so glad you asked. So there are two things that you should really do. Number one, start looking through your own music library and seeing what resonates with you. It doesn’t matter if it’s not a “wedding” song. It doesn’t matter what meaning it has outside of it. Just listen to it and ask yourself if you love that song. Maybe it’s not right for your ceremony, but it could be something you use somewhere else in the day. Put a little star or asterisk on the songs that you like and could be romantic to walk down the aisle to or if you have a special meaning with the song. Then you ask the musicians if that’s something that would sound good with a string quartet or group. Some pop things don’t always transfer, but others are absolutely gorgeous on strings. 

The Violin for Ballads

A lot of people say that the violin actually mimics the human voice, and so it’s a really beautiful instrument especially for a lyrical ballad. It’s really fantastic. So I personally would always turn to your musician’s library and ask if they already have it. If they don’t, asking if they can make an arrangement of it is the next step. That just means our geeky composer friends take everything they hear and turn it into a song laid out for the strings. 

And then finally, when you’re trying to decide how to walk down the aisle, there’s a lot of timing things to consider. The song and its length really depends on the song, depends on the size of the bridal party, and how long your walk down the aisle is. Is it really far away? Is it close? But the best way to choose is: do you have a gut, visceral reaction to hearing that song played? Do you love that song? If you’re on the fence, it’s that. Throw that into welcome music. Throw that into Prelude music or cocktail hour, but you will find something that really has meaning for you. So sit down and take it all in. 

What are some popular songs or maybe not so popular songs that translate the best and you wish were played more? 

I’m going to stick to string quartet, because that’s the easiest for me. I always come back to the song “At Last” by Etta James. I feel like every time people hear it, they breathe a sigh of relief, and it’s beautiful. It has so much going on for it. Another one was “La Vie en Rose”. Every time people hear the strings for it, they just cry. It’s beautiful. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” is huge. It’s a beautiful song, timeless. It’s a modern classic. Other things that are modern classics include “1000 Years” by Christina Perry from the Twilight movies. We’ve been getting a lot of “Wildest Dreams” by Taylor Swif, too. We do “Love Story” – a little more upbeat. 

interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

I love those. What about songs that people don’t request but should? 

A lot of people veer away from classical music because they don’t know the names of the pieces.I really hope that when you’re planning your wedding, that you get into some classical music. Definitely consider it – because anything classical will sound beautiful with a string quartet… except “Clare de Lune”. That’s a piano piece and doesn’t translate. It breaks my heart everytime someone asks. But, “Pachelbel’s Cannon” is a great piece, pieces from operas are beautiful. So don’t be afraid to choose something that didn’t specifically have meaning to you before your wedding day. You’ll have a new memory and meaning with a song once it’s associated with your wedding. 

Oh, I love that give me chills, because it’s like a new meaning, right? New marriage, new meaning. Okay, I have a question for you: what are your thoughts when people lie about the starting time of their ceremony on their invitation? 

Don’t do it. I’m going to tell you why. There’s a really good reason why… When you hire your musicians, you’re asking for a set amount of prelude music. You have all of these guests arriving, grabbing their drinks and settling in for the ceremony. I can see why you want to say, I’ll put 3pm on my invite and actually start at 3:30 so we don’t have any issues.

But, the reality is that everyone now is pushed back. Your vendors have the wrong time, everything will be messed up. I don’t know about you, but I really care about photography, and I really care about guest experience, and you’re really impacting both of those things. One, it’s going to mess up your photo timeline, something awful. And the second thing is for your guests’ experience, the people who did arrive on time to be there for you are now sitting waiting even longer. It’s really hard to save the atomposhere once people get grumpy.  

Amen. You said it all. I was just curious, because you’re always at the ceremonies. 

interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

Wrap-Up Question

What are some key points that couples should be asking their musicians to make sure that they are inquiring with a professional company to ensure that their wedding day is an absolutely perfect event? 

I’m going to answer this as if I need to go somewhere and find musicians – not hire my own team. 

So, first thing, I would hop on Google and look for some nice websites and listen to their samples. 

If I love their sound, then I’m going to their social media and seeing what’s relevant and recent. I want to know if they have live recordings, examples from their couples and places they’ve worked at before. 

Then I’m going to try and reach out, and I want to see if the personality fits and if the person who runs the company genuinely cares about my wedding day and is willing to help hold my hand and guide me. Most people have not planned a wedding before, so make sure that the people you’re working with are going to show up and do a good job. 

Lastly, make sure that they can tell you who’s gonna be showing up on your wedding day. Make sure that you feel comfortable from start to finish.

interview with Ariana Straznicky of Ariana Strings about planning live music for your wedding day

What We Discussed

Meet Ariana (2:07)

Finding the Right Wedding Musicians (5:37)

Red Flags for Musicians (9:02)

Soloists v. String Quartets (16:06)

Popular Songs for Your Wedding Day (21:44)

Wedding Day Logistics (32:55)

Wrap Up Question (35:31)

Links Mentioned in the Episode

Find Ariana Strings: Website | YouTube | Tik Tok | Facebook | Instagram

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