LCQ Musician Blog

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.