There is a beautiful new hotel in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter - the recently opened Margaritaville Hotel! We got to take a tour of the property with the National Association of Catering & Events (NACE) and experience everything the property has to offer. 

Located in the heart of the Gaslamp, only 2 blocks from Petco Park, the Convention Center, and tons of restaurants and activities, this beautifully renovated hotel boasts awesome spots for events, weddings, and hang outs. 

The Left Coast Quintet was again honored to perform the National Anthem for the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on August 22nd. This was our second year doing this, and it is such a fun time!

We arrived around 3pm and set up in our private green room to warm up the chops. Nothing too fancy, we don't have a rider in our contract for only green M&M's or anything, but it is nice to have a space to put cases, use the restroom, grab some water, etc. 

​We then headed through the belly of Petco Park to get on the field for soundcheck, and got to observe some batting practice from the Padres and then the visiting Marlins teams. Getting to hang out on the field while all the players are warming up was awesome, especially when some came over to chat or ask about the instruments. We did our usual soundcheck run through of the anthem, then back to the green room until game time!

We had a chance to walk around, grab some ball park food before the game, and watch all the fans streaming in. Around 6pm, we gathered back in our green room, warmed up again, and go ready to hit the field for show time! Again through all the tunnels, with all of the Petco Park staff looking at us and our instruments, it was pretty funny. We popped up on the field behind 3rd base, then walked out while they were setting up for the first pitch. Once all the pre-game items we taken care of, we surrounded home plate, and got an introduction from the stadium announcer to "please rise as our veterans salute the flag, and join the Left Coast Quintet in the Star Spangled Banner" or something similar to that...

We "knocked it out of the park" so to speak, and got a huge ovation from the crowd after a really nice rendition of the SSB. It was incredibly memorable to be asked back for our second year in a row, and we can't wait to make this a tradition for the quintet!

If you'd like to watch a video of the performance, we have it up on our Instagram account here! 

It's always fun to reminisce about beautiful events we've attended in the past, and this month marks the 5 year anniversary for a special former client of ours who was married at Ethereal Gardens in the summer of 2018. We had a few property pictures (like the one above of their absolutely gorgeous ceremony site) and just today, got a few that she was looking through specifically of our quintet performing for them! As you can see, the wedding was a dreamy, boho inspired rustic outdoor ceremony, and Ethereal was the perfect choice for this couple. 

Huge thank you to Rachel and Josh number one for bringing us in to provide wedding ceremony and cocktail hour music for you, and for finding these fun pictures of our group performing at Ethereal Gardens! It was such a special day - thankfully not too warm although we had our own shade, and the music of our group filled the air.

Ethereal is a very open location with a large field that can be designed however your imagination will see fit. Bringing in a wind quintet to this location was the perfect choice, since our sound was able to project out and be heard by all of the guests. We had so many family and friends coming up to us between songs and chatting about how much they loved the music and ambiance we were providing for the celebrations. 

We were delighted to join Samantha and Connor at Seagrove Park in Del Mar, CA at their wedding ceremony this weekend. Seagrove is right in the heart of Del Mar, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and just steps away from the little shops and restaurants that Del Mar is known for. While it's a public park, it is such an amazingly beautiful location and easy to set up for wedding ceremonies of all sizes. 

For this celebration, Left Coast Quintet performed for prelude as guests arrived, for the wedding ceremony, and for a postlude while everyone took pictures with the happy couple. Our selections took us from Disney classics like Aladdin (A Whole New World), Beauty and the Beast (Be Our Guest), Pinocchino (When you Wish Upon a Star), and Cinderella (A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes), to more pop covers from John Legend (All of Me) and Bruno Mars (Marry You). We also did a lot of jazz standards (Que Sera, Sera, Besame Mucho, Llorendo se Fue, and more). It was a fun and diverse mix of music that helped initially set the mood, then bring all the fun emotions of the couples favorites songs into their wedding mix. 

A few pics above of the quintet, enjoying the ceremony and preparing to perform for the recessional, which was Marry You by Bruno Mars!

We are always eager to return to Del Mar and to perform at these beautiful outdoor wedding venues that the San Diego area has to offer. 

For the third year now, we were once again honored to perform for the Mission Hills Garden Walk, put on annually around the neighborhood in various backyards. Our assigned house this year was absolutely phenomenal - a gorgeous modern home with an extensive back yard, fountains, walking paths, and views over the whole city!

Our group set up for two hours in the afternoon, and ran through so much incredible music. You can check our YouTube and Instagram accounts to see a few videos that we've put together from the afternoon as well. 

We look forward to returning and performing more often in the Mission Hills community. Our ensemble fits in perfectly in a backyard setting for providing ambiance, background music, and a focal point while people gather and enjoy the space. 

LCQ was honored to attend the spring wedding and event open house at Tom Ham's Lighthouse on Monday April 17th! We met so many couples that were touring the venue and are looking forward to returning with them to perform for their wedding ceremony and cocktail hour reception! I guess spring is just wedding open house time, as we have been to a lot of them lately. They are all fun and valuable in meeting new clients, networking with other professionals, and seeing updates to the venues we enjoy returning to.

BRICK in Liberty Station is a wedding and event venue that inspires a lot of imagination. As a blank slate, it allows clients to completely invent how they want the space to look and feel - they can bring in different types of tables, seating, decorations, and more. Each year, BRICK hosts open houses and invites potential clients to come check out their preferred vendors and some different ideas for set up. 

Left Coast Quintet is proud to be one of BRICK's "Epic Vendors" on their preferred list, and we joined them for the March 2023 open house along with a variety of other wedding and events professionals. 

The evening had a "Bridgerton" theme, so we tailored some of our music selections to pieces you might hear in the television program. We featured some classical music, many "classical" versions of popular modern songs, and of course soundtracks to movies and tv shows that guests at the event really enjoyed. It was a pleasure to interact with everyone at the event and get to know a little about what they were looking for in live music. 

We of course had a few opportunities to have some fun as well - trying out the photobooth and some of the food from the different catering companies that were there. I guess we'll need to work on if we are making a funny picture or a serious one, half the group got different memos! 

Overall, just a great night of performing and meeting new people, which is what open house events are all about. We can't wait to come back to BRICK in Liberty Station for future weddings and other events! If you have any questions on the venue please don't hesitate to reach out for advice. 

Shout Out to all of the Wedding and Event Pros that were at the Open House:
​Planning, Venue, and Bar | @brick.828
Astray Photo & Video | @astrayphoto
Archive Event Rentals | @archiverentals 
MR Floral and Events | @mrfloralandevents
COAST Catering | @coastcatering 
Culinary Concepts Catering | @culinaryconceptssd
Lyanne's Touch (Signage) | @lyannestouch 
My Marquee SD | @mymarqueesd
Ansom Productions | @ansomproductions 
Left Coast Quintet | @leftcoastquintet
Jenny Wenny Cakes | @jennywennycakes 
VG Donuts | @vgdonut 
Kendra Scott | @kendrascott 
Onyx Bridal | @onyx_bridal 
Posh Privy | @poshprivysd

The Left Coast Quintet (that's us!) was awarded both the prestigious "Best of Weddings 2023" from The Knot, and the "2023 Couples Choice Awards" from WeddingWire in the category of Ensembles and Soloists, and what's even more awesome is that we are the only ensemble in the category of the four musicians that won that award this year.

But winning awards isn't really what wakes us up every morning. Coffee does that! Plus, the feeling of pure excitement that we get to do what we love doing, performing beautiful and meaningful music for weddings in San Diego and Southern California.

The is definitely a lot of stress that goes along with performing at weddings. All of us in the group are used to being on stage, performing for large audiences, and presenting information at concert series. The pressure comes from the wedding ceremony - making sure that we have all of the details right, that we're following cues on where to start playing, that we fade off at just the right moment when the wedding party get to the front of the aisle, or that we know when the officiant is going to conclude so we can start the recessional. There is no down time on wedding day events for us - we make sure we're looking good, we get there early, make sure we have the right contacts, and have ourselves set up in the ideal spot to see everything and be heard by everyone. For us, the wedding day itself is not the beginning of our work, it is preparation before hand with the couple in choosing music, making sure all of our tablets are set up, that we are well rehearsed on the songs requested, and that all five of us know where to go, where to park, time to meet, and more.

Getting into performing at weddings is not a simple thought of "oh I can play some music, let me be a wedding musician" as some people might believe. There is a lot that goes into making each client happy with the services being provided and ensuring that the atmosphere and soundtrack of the event are on point.

Long story short - thank you to all of our couples over the past year who voted for us to be the Best Wedding Musician in San Diego, we are so incredibly honored and can't wait to meet our next couple!

It was a great evening at the San Diego Convention Center for us as performers, and for guests who just finished a day of conference lectures and presentations, to enjoy an hour of music, food, and libations! We were hired for the GridTech Connect conference, and there were around 200 people that came through the conference room, were entertained by our fun arrangements, and got to chat with their fellow conference attendees. 

Why have a wind quintet for a corporate cocktail hour? Well - there are many great reasons. First of all, it's us! We are super fun! Our over 700 unique arrangements of music spanning jazz, ragtime, pop covers, movie soundtracks, and more are a welcome sound for attendees who are looking to relax. LCQ's music just envelopes everyone with a sense of "happy" and there were so many people with smiles on their faces listening to songs like "Anything Goes" with a twist from Indiana Jones, or some of the Latin flare we put in to "Hernando's Hideaway." 

We are there mainly to provide just some background ambiance while people unwind, and while we are off to the side of the event in most cases, we still get so many people who come up between songs and share stories of how they used to play an instrument, or how a song brought up a special memory, or just how much they enjoyed what we are doing and how much we love performing together. 

LCQ really looks forward to returning to the San Diego Convention Center for more of these corporate events, and we are always so happy when event planners and organizers reach out to see what we can offer. Whether we are doing more background music for a cocktail hour like this, or performing more center-stage for a concert for attendees, or providing music for an awards dinner or gala, we are excited and ready to bring some magical music to unique spaces around San Diego. 

On Saturday January 28th, 2023, the Left Coast Quintet performed for the Carlsbad Library & Arts Foundation "Showtime @ the Shulman" series. The evening was so much fun, and we really appreciate the City of Carlsbad, the Library & Arts Foundation, and the amazing community members who came out to the show for being in attendance!

We performed a really diverse and fun lineup for music, mostly centered on fun movies and upbeat pieces. Our set list included themes from Forrest Gump, The Princess Bride, The Godfather, Monster's Inc, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and more. We also threw in some fun Habanera from Carmen, an Italian mashup of popular songs, and closed the night out with I Feel Pretty from West Side Story. Of course, we all feel very pretty with the blue light backstage! 

We can't wait to return to this beautiful auditorium and put on more concerts in the Carlsbad area. You can check out our Instagram where we'll be uploading videos from the concert over the next few weeks!

Thank you to all of our fans, community members, clients, and families who supported the LCQ through this past year! It's been such a fun time getting to perform all over San Diego County! We had 15 wedding clients, 8 corporate events, a few other random gigs sprinkled in, and performed for the Chula Vista Lemon Festival and the San Diego Art Walk in Liberty Station - definitely a successful year for the quintet. 

Of course the most exciting wedding of the year for us in 2022 was our clarinetist April, who married Benjamin at The Abbey in Bankers Hill earlier in the year. We had the quintet performing for prelude, ceremony, and cocktail hour, and it was incredibly special to be there with our dear friend and colleague at one of the most important days in her life!

We are looking forward to the upcoming 2023 performance year. We have a few exciting bookings already so far, and plans to play at new venues all over San Diego and Southern California. We'll also continue to update our blog, Instagram, Facebook, and whatever other new social media comes out so you can follow along on our adventures!

From all of us at LCQ, wishing you a safe, happy, and healthy 2023!

Talk about a beautiful location to have a wedding! We performed today at the Coronado Island Marriott Resort, right on their lawn overlooking the San Diego Bay and downtown San Diego. It was really beautiful, a small and intimate ceremony with our favorite officiant, Bethel Nathan! We started performing for prelude while guests arrived and took their seats, about thirty minutes of music with accompanying laughter of small children running around the lawns and playing with each other. Honestly it was a small concert for us, and the guests really enjoyed the music! We performed Rainbow Connection from the Muppets, a few pieces from Beauty and the Beast, When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio, Storybook Love from the Princess Bride, Sound of Music, and more. 

We had an amazing opportunity to perform for a really unique wedding ceremony at a new venue for us, the Mingei Museum in the heart of Balboa Park! This was really a cool opportunity, completely thought out by our couple who are also musicians and wanted something totally different!

We started off the afternoon by performing while guests arrived, and it was a great variety of fun music to set the mood for the wedding ceremony. The "Married Life" theme from the movie Up, Anything Goes from Indiana Jones, Puttin' on the Ritz, and Clarinet Marmalade made their appearances while guests were finding seats.  

Once given the cue, we started our wedding ceremony with a custom arrangement of the Downton Abbey theme. Really a perfect piece of music for this beautiful space. 

The wedding ceremony was set up as a story book, with the officiant reading about the lives of our couple, how they met, dates they went on, favorite things. Each small story segment was intertwined with a live music performance from us! So, for one of their date nights, they went to see Rhapsody in Blue, and LCQ immediately burst into the beautiful opening clarinet solo of the Gershwin piece. Further along, as part of their love for opera, we performed the famous passage to Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. There were around seven different segments of music intertwined in the ceremony, where the couple, officiant, and audience got to sit back and listen to the quintet perform music that accompanied their life story up to this point. 

​We capped off the ceremony with a lively version of Hevenu Shalom Alechem, a traditional Yiddush dance performed often at Jewish wedding ceremonies. The guests were all clapping along and it was the start of an evening of celebration. 

Of course we had to take an opportunity to get a picture with the artwork of the Mingei, and this sculpture was perfect! Really looking forward to future events and weddings at this beautiful museum!

On Wednesday September 7th, we were absolutely honored to perform the United States National Anthem for the opening of the San Diego Padres game versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a really fun and memorable experience for all of us! 

We've been communicating with the San Diego Padres organization about doing this for about a year now. They have a number of musical acts that come in to perform the anthem throughout the year, mostly singers, but once in a while a musical ensemble gets to join in on the fun! Pretty sure we are the first wind quintet to bring the Star Spangled Banner to Petco Park, although many other classical musicians from local groups including the San Diego Symphony have performed here before. 

The day started pretty early with a check in at security, and being escorted to our own green room. We got to relax a bit before sound check, and then headed to the field for our warm up and to be introduced to the audio team. 

On our way to the field, we got to meet one of the Padres Pups! He was adorable. After our soundcheck, back to our greenroom, and we hopped out to grab some dinner (ballpark hotdogs, pretzels, and nachos!). Then as we approached our 5pm call time, got ready and put on our jerseys for the big show!

It was a whirlwind experience for the quintet and we are so happy we got to perform for an amazing team and awesome crowd. We have a number of videos that were sent to us, some of them have been posted up on Facebook and Instagram for you to check out (we can't upload videos in a blog). We sincerely can't wait to be invited back and hope to perform similarly for other events and teams in the San Diego area!

The quintet was delighted to play for a wedding ceremony at the historic and pink La Valencia Hotel this past weekend, and we had a blast. From custom arrangements of Israeli pop music to beautiful classical interludes, as well as a sprinkling of movie soundtrack magic, we elevated the atmosphere and put a smile on our bride, groom, and the guests!

One of the best things we can hear from people after we finish playing is how much they loved the performance. In this case, it was quite warm outside, so the guests sitting in the sun while we played prelude were sweating in their suits and dresses but still had a great time. We had people coming up, to chat between songs, lots of toe-tapping, and some really special music selections. 

La Valencia is a gorgeous location. Located right above the Pacific Ocean in the downtown village area of La Jolla, it's known as the Pink Lady for obvious reasons - it's exterior stucco color and it's charm. The hotel boasts scenic views all over the property, whether you're enjoying the restaurant, you're down in the garden, at the pool, or in the Veranda Room for cocktail hour, there are lots of places to explore. Our couple had their wedding ceremony in the Garden, or El Jardin, and you can see the setup in the above pics. A beautiful flower arch was built on the front of the Chuppah, a traditional Jewish wedding structure with a tallit hanging above that the couple gets married under. 

The quintet did a prelude selection of movie music from films like Cinema Paradiso, An American Tail, and Fiddler on the Roof, as well as pop covers of the Beatles & the Beach Boys. We hit some classical notes with Debussy's Petite Suite, and some Israeli/Jewish music including Yerushalyim Shel Zahav and Erev Shel Shoshanim, both beautiful melodies that set the tone for the day as one of wonder, beauty, and excitement. 

If you're reading our blog and searching for wedding inspiration, I hope you check out La Valencia and the La Jolla area, there is so much to do and no one needs a car. Lots of parks, museums, stores, amazing restaurants, and of course the views of the Pacific during sunset, all make for a great event weekend for family and friends! 

The Left Coast Quintet had the pleasure of returning again to Ethereal Gardens, north of Escondido, for a beautiful July 4th wedding ceremony. We performed for prelude, processional, and recessional, and had some custom music arranged from the Twilight movies specifically for the bride. 

Ethereal Gardens is a lovely place to get married! A large 40 acre private estate, the gardens include lush landscaping, private suites to get ready, numerous fountains, an indoor bar/lounge, a large outdoor party tent, and space for lawn games. It is truly an all-in-one wedding venue where your guests can come, celebrate, and enjoy themselves. 

Our quintet fit in perfectly here. We don't need amplification to easily be heard across the lawns and the seating areas, and we performed many fun arrangements while guests arrived including music from West Side Story, The Little Mermaid, How to Train Your Dragon, Lady & the Tramp, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Romeo & Juliet, and many others. For recessional, another custom arrangement for our group of Born to be Yours by Imagine Dragons & Kygo set the mood for the rest of the festivities. 
​

Many thanks to Jim George for subbing in on clarinet! Jim has played with the quintet and our trio on numerous occasions and is a fantastic musician and doubler - he's actually able to fill in for us on either clarinet or flute, so you may see him at future gigs in either roll. 

Also a thank you to our fabulous couple who were so easy to work with and so cheerful! They even gave us this beautiful thank you card when we finished which was the icing on the cake!

Our own clarinetist April tied the knot recently, and we couldn't have been happier to celebrate with her and her new husband at the beautiful Abbey on Fifth! Performing with April is always a blast, and getting to plan with her all of the music for her own ceremony was easy and fun. 

The Abbey is a historic building right in the heart of San Diego, in a really cool neighborhood called Bankers Hill. This vibrant district is just north of Downtown, offers a ton of amazing food and entertainment options, and is just one block from Balboa Park - so it's a perfect location for celebrations and gatherings. The vaulted cathedral ceilings, wood paneling, and amazing stained glass windows harken to a royal stately type of feel for a venue. There is even a music balcony right there above the alter where our quintet fits perfectly!

The quintet performed for prelude, and got to play for April and her wedding party while they were getting ready and still doing final touches before guests arrived. We played some meaningful music for the ceremony, and stayed up in the music loft to do an hour while cocktails were being served. LCQs wide range of music styles blended perfectly here for this event, sticking with mostly classical and softer music while guests arrived, and then more upbeat movie and jazz music for the reception. 

If you're still searching for a unique and beautiful location for a wedding, corporate event, or holiday party, look no further than the Abbey on Fifth - and give us a ring to provide some of that musical ambiance!

Let's say you are planning an event for your company and thinking of hiring a musician. That is a great idea!

Companies hire musicians for various types of events – holiday parties, sponsorship appreciation, business anniversaries, retirements – the list goes on.

Before getting bogged down in researching / trying to book the right music group for your event, consider your strategic objectives and some of the practical considerations.

Since LCQ has performed a numerous events around San Diego, and having provided musical entertainment for all kinds of companies, we feel qualified to:
​

• Explain why your initial instinct to hire a live musician over a DJ or other recorded music was a good one – and why it makes business sense;
• Illustrate why hiring a musician is a great choice compared with hiring other types of entertainers;
• Offer you some tips for getting the most out of your booking.

Many people we talk to regularly think that the go-to ensemble for wedding ceremonies is a string quartet. Of course that is what is seen in the movies often, having a string quartet serenade guests as they arrive, or play processional music while the happy couple walks down the aisle. 

But while string quartets are still very much the standard, there are so many other options available to provide that same sense of grandeur and elegance, who can bring the atmosphere of live music, and who can customize your wedding songs to suite your desires and specifications. 

There are also many amazing San Diego string quartets out there, some of them are professional, some are more amateur but still do a nice job at weddings. As local San Diego musicians, we all run in the same circles and know each other from various symphony, stage show, and other local ensembles and have a good time together catching up on the wedding and events business and trends that we are seeing. 

But what I hope brought you to this blog today is a desire to see what our ensemble can provide for your wedding that a string quartet can't. As a wind quintet, we have a very wide array of music stylings - over 700 arrangements of music spanning cinema soundtracks, classical and Baroque favorites, jazz and swing, Broadway, pop covers, and more. In fact we custom arrange music to fit many of our clients - some that are Disney lovers enjoy listening to their favorite melodies from Aladdin or The Little Mermaid, others that love the Beatles find their wedding songs in our extensive Fab Four catalogue. 

Wind quintets are made for outdoor performances. We typically do not need to be amplified and our sounds carry throughout the wedding venue, allowing us to instantly set the mood as guests arrive. Historically, wind quintets have been around for hundreds of years, and were a common sight in the plaza's of Vienna performing for royals and at special celebrations. Our ensemble consists of the principal wind instruments of the symphony orchestra: clarinet, flute, oboe, French horn, and bassoon. The sound combinations of our instruments meld to create unique colors, harmonies, drama, flare, and a full rich feeling.

​Wind quintets are made for outdoor performances. We typically do not need to be amplified and our sounds carry throughout the wedding venue, allowing us to instantly set the mood as guests arrive. Historically, wind quintets have been around for hundreds of years, and were a common sight in the plaza's of Vienna performing for royals and at special celebrations. Our ensemble consists of the principal wind instruments of the symphony orchestra: clarinet, flute, oboe, French horn, and bassoon. The sound combinations of our instruments meld to create unique colors, harmonies, drama, flare, and a full rich feeling.

​So we hope that you will consider booking the Left Coast Quintet for your upcoming wedding celebration! While we are not a San Diego string quartet, we are a professional San Diego classical ensemble made up of fun, engaging, and down to earth musicians who can really impress and elevate your day!

We kicked off our 2022 gig season with a really fun wedding at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park last weekend. Our couple chose to have their ceremony at the Lagoon Overlook, and then move the reception up to the Sambutan Longhouse at Tiger Trail. 

For prelude, we played many arrangements of music either with Disney themes or with some kind of animal theme, since we were at a zoo! This included Monsters Inc, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, Hercules, and more. The wedding guests really loved it, and so did many of the Safari Park guests who were passing by before the ceremony. 

The bride requested a custom arrangement of Eye of the Tiger for her processional which went perfectly - we finished the last chord just as she was arriving to meet her new husband. After a short and sweet ceremony, we performed the Hogwarts March from Harry Potter for their recessional, and stayed on to play a few more pieces while guests left and some pictures were taken. 

The reception and dinner were held at the other end of the Safari Park, in the Sambutan Longhouse at the Tiger Trail. We provided emcee and background music for the evening, and got this great tiger picture from just outside where guests were eating. It is really a remarkable venue and looks great at night with all of the market lights. 

Definitely looking forward to returning to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park again in the future for more weddings and events!

Here is to a happy holiday season! We had some really fun holiday gigs this December: at a few private residences, a park, a winery, and on KUSI Good Morning San Diego! 

We aren't taking on any more gigs this year, but for next year - get ahold of us early if you'd like some lively holiday music at your company party, a house event, or a community gathering. We are more than happy to spread some cheer through live music with you!

The Left Coast Quintet had the pleasure of providing music for the wedding of good friends JR and Elise at the Bahia last weekend, and we always enjoy returning to this beautiful and very "San Diego" venue. Located right on Mission Bay, the resort boasts a number of private bungalows right on the sand, and has their own private beaches. Many amenities in this hotel are perfect for your wedding, including numerous beachside or garden sites, large indoor ballrooms, and even their own boat, the Bahia Belle!

The quintet entertained guests as they arrived, playing a number of fun tunes from Broadway shows, movies, and light jazz. For the processional, we started off with a special request from the groom for the Police Academy March, and the bride wanted to keep it traditional with Canon in D. The recessional was the upbeat Happy Together by The Turtles. Post ceremony, we played for cocktail hour still on the sand while guests mingled and had appetizers and drinks. 

Always happy to return to the Bahia or any of the other beautiful Mission Bay venues - and ready to provide recommendations on our services and the other great wedding professionals that we work with!

Over the past one and a half years since COVID-19 hit, when all the events were on hold, all the venues were quiet, and most everyone stayed home, we came together (6 feet apart) to practice and have a sense of normalcy in our lives. Our very own RB Anthony has arranged well over 150 new pieces for wind quintet during the course of the pandemic, and along with other arrangements we've procured we needed an outlet to have some fun, try out new pieces, and keep our sanity. Enter the "open rehearsal" where we have set up in parks around town, brought out new and favorite pieces of music, and invited our friends and families to some live entertainment - something which has been sorely lacking for a while now. 

The Left Coast Quintet performed for a beautiful wedding ceremony at Green Gables Wedding Estate on Thursday evening. It was our first time on the property, and we were very impressed with just how gorgeous it is. Mature trees provide plenty of shade, there are beautiful green lawns, well manicured patios - really it is an oasis in North County San Diego that transports you away to a different world. 

Our couple loves all things Disney, and we did a prelude full of Disney music, including Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Pinocchio, and more. The wedding ceremony processional even included a little Star Wars - Imperial March, and for the recessional, we got this custom arrangement of Marry You by Bruno Mars which is lively and upbeat, perfect for everyone clapping for the newly married couple. 

Definitely looking forward to returning to this venue - we have another wedding there in the fall where we will perform for prelude, ceremony, and cocktail hour, so a little more time to get more pictures and videos. Until then - have a great weekend!

We had a fun time yesterday at a beautiful wedding at Cuvier Park in La Jolla, also known as The Wedding Bowl. This is such an iconic San Diego wedding spot, a sunken park right on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Just looking at the picture above gives you a hint on how amazing this spot really is. What is even more amazing is that this is available to anyone - it's a public park! All you need is a permit from the City of San Diego, and you're set. Of course, you'll need to rent chairs, bring in flowers, secure an arch, and set up any other equipment you want there. Basically, it's a blank canvas for you to set up in whatever vision you have.

That's us over in the far left, we bring our own umbrellas to outdoor events because direct sunlight can harm our instruments. 

Music, of course, is incredibly important during wedding ceremonies. You already know that, but just think about how your guests feel and how the mood changes when you hear that live music starting up. It bring amazing ambiance to the space. Our wind quintet really is perfect for The Wedding Bowl, we need no amplification to easily be heard by guests, who can still mingle and catch up while waiting for the ceremony to start. 

Our bride requested almost all Disney & movie music both for the prelude and the ceremony. We played through hits from Aladdin, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, the Lion King, and many others. The little kids were loving it, and the kids at heart (adults) were whistling and tapping their feet too. 

One of the benefits to hiring LCQ is that we bring along a fully wireless, battery powered audio system. No, we don't need it for the musicians, but in this case at the Wedding Bowl, it's perfect for the officiant and for vows. There are ZERO plugs or power available at this park, so having a battery option is required. Even with small weddings, it's a good idea to have a small sound system to help the officiant project, since you're right on the water and it can sometimes be loud there. 

Some things to think about when having a ceremony at Cuvier Park is where guests will park. There is a lot of free street parking (2 hour time limit), but especially in the summer and on weekends it can be difficult to park close by. Possibly having a bus for guests coming from a hotel would be convenient. There are also many hotels in the La Jolla area that guests can stay at if they want to ditch the car for the weekend and walk around, La Jolla has a small town feel with numerous restaurants, shops, and activities. 

Also important to keep in mind that only the wedding ceremony can occur at the Wedding Bowl. You will need to find another location for the reception afterwards, and there are plenty of places close by in La Jolla that are walking distance: La Valencia Hotel, the Cuvier Club, the La Jolla Women's Club, and many more. 

If you'd like more tips and info on outdoor weddings, beachside San Diego ceremonies, or specifically on Cuvier Park and having live music, feel free to reach out and send us email to leftcoastquintet@gmail.com - always happy to help and answer any questions.

Have you had a wedding at Cuvier Park? What tips would you provide to others thinking about this spot? Who did you use for rentals? Where did you get ready? There are always couples asking for info here, it'd be great to help them out!