Hold your date
The quartet playing a garden ceremony under live oaks with Spanish moss

String quartet · Charleston & the Lowcountry

Music for the walk
down the aisle.

Your ceremony, in four pieces

  1. PreludeClair de luneDebussy
  2. ProcessionalCanon in DPachelbel
  3. The brideA Thousand Yearsarr. Alder
  4. RecessionalSigned, Sealed, Deliveredarr. Alder

Ceremony $1,150 · with cocktail hour $1,650
Any song you love, arranged for strings: $150

Hold your dateBuild your programme

★★★★★ 5.0 from 210 couples Playing Lowcountry ceremonies since 2015 $300 holds your date

Ceremonies

Three ways to have us.

Every ceremony includes a call with Priya to choose the music, our travel within 40 miles of downtown, and a printed set list for your coordinator.

  • Violin and cello

    The Duo

    $650

    1. Twenty minutes of prelude
    2. Processional and the bride
    3. Recessional
    4. One song arranged, $150

  • Most couples

    The full quartet

    The Ceremony

    $1,150

    1. Twenty minutes of prelude
    2. Processional and the bride
    3. A piece for the unity candle or the signing
    4. Recessional and ten minutes after

  • The full quartet

    Ceremony & cocktail hour

    $1,650

    1. Everything in the Ceremony
    2. An hour in the courtyard while you take photos
    3. Requests from your guests
    4. Played from a printed set list

Reception dinner hour, +$450 · A wedding more than 40 miles out, $1 a mile · Any song arranged for strings, $150

Your programme

Choose a piece for each moment.

Tap through. The programme on the right is the one we’ll print for your coordinator, and you can change every line on the call with Priya.

Prelude
Processional
The bride
Recessional

The ceremony of

Anna & James

  1. PreludeClair de luneDebussy
  2. ProcessionalCanon in DPachelbel
  3. The brideA Thousand Yearsarr. Alder
  4. RecessionalSigned, Sealed, Deliveredarr. Alder

Performed by the Alder Quartet
Priya Raman · Mae Holloway · Daniel Okoro · Wes Calloway

Send this to Priya

Repertoire

From Bach to your karaoke song.

Three hundred pieces in the book. Here are thirty we play most. Don’t see yours? We’ll arrange it.

  • Clair de luneDebussy
  • Canon in DPachelbel
  • Air on the G StringBach
  • SpringVivaldi
  • Ave MariaSchubert
  • Salut d’amourElgar
  • MeditationMassenet
  • The SwanSaint-Saëns
  • Wedding MarchMendelssohn
  • La RéjouissanceHandel
  • Bridal ChorusWagner
  • AriosoBach
  • A Thousand Yearsarr. Alder
  • Can’t Help Falling in Lovearr. Alder
  • At Lastarr. Alder
  • Make You Feel My Lovearr. Alder
  • Perfectarr. Alder
  • La Vie en rosearr. Alder
  • Signed, Sealed, Deliveredarr. Alder
  • Here Comes the Sunarr. Alder
  • Septemberarr. Alder
  • Viva la Vidaarr. Alder
  • Dreamsarr. Alder
  • Golden Hourarr. Alder
  • Amazing GraceTraditional
  • Be Thou My VisionTraditional
  • Simple GiftsShaker tune
  • ShenandoahTraditional
  • Ashokan Farewellarr. Alder
  • How Great Thou ArtTraditional
A pencil on handwritten music manuscript beside a violin

Your song, arranged for strings

Any song you love. $150.

  1. Send the songThe one from your first date, your mother’s favorite, the one you both sing in the car.
  2. Priya writes itFour parts, by hand, fitted to the moment: thirty seconds for a processional or the whole song.
  3. You hear it firstTwo weeks later we text you a recording from rehearsal. If it isn’t right, we change it.

Listen

Recorded at real ceremonies.

No studio, no edits: a phone on a stand at the back of the aisle. This is what your guests will hear.

  1. Clair de luneDebussy · The prelude, live under the oaks on Wadmalaw Island
    4:52
  2. Canon in DPachelbel · Processional, Johns Island, April
    3:40
  3. A Thousand Yearsarr. Alder · The bride’s entrance, Mount Pleasant
    2:58
  4. Signed, Sealed, Deliveredarr. Alder · Recessional, downtown Charleston
    2:31

Also on Spotify · Apple Music · Bandcamp

Priya Raman, the quartet’s first violin, in a garden under live oaks

The quartet

Hello, I’m Priya.

I was four when my mother traded her sewing machine for a sixteenth-size violin at a yard sale in Spartanburg. She still says it was the worst deal of her life, because she had to listen to me practice.

I studied in Cincinnati and came to Charleston in 2013 for one season in an opera pit. I stayed for the oaks. In 2015 a friend’s quartet cancelled the night before her wedding on Johns Island, so I called three people from the pit and we rehearsed in my kitchen until two in the morning. She walked down the aisle to Canon in D, and we’ve been a quartet ever since.

We named ourselves for the hazel alder that leans over the creek behind that kitchen. I still choose every piece with every couple, on the phone, and I write the arrangements myself.

Priya

  • Priya RamanFirst violin
  • Mae HollowaySecond violin
  • Daniel OkoroViola
  • Wes CallowayCello

Ceremonies

A few recent afternoons.

  • Wadmalaw Island, April · the bride, A Thousand Years

    Wadmalaw IslandApril · the bride, A Thousand Years

  • Edisto, on the marsh, May · golden hour

    Edisto, on the marshMay · golden hour

  • A chapel on Johns Island, October · Canon in D

    A chapel on Johns IslandOctober · Canon in D

  • A courtyard, downtown, June · cocktail hour

    A courtyard, downtownJune · cocktail hour

  • Wes, before the guests, March · sunrise warm-up

    Wes, before the guestsMarch · sunrise warm-up

  • Walking to a South of Broad ceremony, September

    Walking to a South of Broad ceremonySeptember

  • Between sets, Magnolia leaves, borrowed shade

    Between setsMagnolia leaves, borrowed shade

  • Wes’s cello, Before every ceremony

    Wes’s celloBefore every ceremony

From 210 couples, 5.0.

  • “Priya arranged our song so well my husband didn’t recognize it until the chorus. Then he was gone.”

    Lauren & Michael · Wadmalaw Island, April

  • “It was 94 degrees and they never missed a cue. The coordinator wants their number.”

    Danielle · Mount Pleasant, July

  • “Our guests asked for the cocktail-hour set list. We framed it.”

    Olivia & Grant · Downtown Charleston, October

Where

Under the oaks, on the marsh, in the chapel.

Downtown, the sea islands, Mount Pleasant, Summerville and Beaufort. Within 40 miles of downtown Charleston there’s no travel fee.

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Charleston and the Lowcountry Free within 40 miles of downtown, then $1 a mile Open the map

Questions

Before you book.

How do we hold our date?

Pick your date below and pay the $300 deposit. The date is yours from then on, and the deposit comes off the total. The rest is due two weeks before.

What if it’s hot, or it rains?

We play outside from March to November and plan for it. We need shade (a tree, a tent or an umbrella): violins don’t like full sun. Above 95 degrees, or in rain, we move under cover with you.

Do you need power?

No. We’re acoustic, and four strings carry well to about 120 guests. For bigger ceremonies on open lawns we bring a small speaker, no charge.

How do you know when to start the bride’s music?

Priya watches your coordinator, then the doors. The processional loops until the last bridesmaid is in place, and the bride’s piece starts when she does.

How much room do you need?

About ten feet by ten, level, in the shade, and four chairs without arms. We bring our own stands and clips for the wind.

How far ahead do people book?

Spring and fall Saturdays go nine to twelve months ahead. Weekdays and winter dates are often open with a few weeks’ notice.

Book

Hold your date with $300.

Pick your ceremony and your date. Priya texts you within the day to say hello and set up the call where you choose the music.

  1. 1Service
  2. 2Date
  3. 3Details
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