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The Candle Light Strings Reviews

The Candle Light Strings

The Candle Light Strings

Santa Maria, CA
4.6 out of 5 rating, 21 Reviews
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Reviews

4.6 out of 5 rating
4.6 out of 5 rating
21 Reviews
92% recommend it
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  • Quality of service
    4.7 out of 5 rating
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    4.6 out of 5 rating
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  • Value
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Awards

21
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2020 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2016 Winner
The Candle Light Strings 1
The Candle Light Strings 2
The Candle Light Strings 3
+11 User photos
The Candle Light Strings 4
  • William
    William D. Sent on 05/11/2019
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    Beautiful touch for our weding

    Candlelight showed up early, played beautiful music, and were just generally awesome to work with.

    Bette and her crew are all fabulous musicians with a deep repertoire.

    The Candle Light Strings's reply:

  • Hannah
    Hannah W. Sent on 11/10/2019
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    Wonderful Trio!

    Monika and Candlelight Strings were amazing! I booked the trio and couldn't be happier. They played flawlessly and their website to choose songs was easy to use and very helpful. Cannot recommend them enough!
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    • +5 photos
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    Elizabeth Sent on 11/15/2019
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    Lovely String Quartet Highly Recommended

    The Candlelight Strings quartet were a beautiful addition to our very special day! Really appreciated the fact that they were willing to learn new songs and play our song requests. They arrived on time and did an amazing job entertaining our guests. They were a lovely touch to our unforgettable day and we strongly recommend them! Thanks again Candlelight Strings!
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    • illustration stars

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  • Emma
    Emma H. Sent on 08/07/2019
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    Beautiful, Classy Music!

    The Candle Light Strings did an amazing job playing for our ceremony and cocktail hour! It was so nice to have live music and not have to worry about faulty speakers for the ceremony. It added the perfect classy, refined touch to our wedding. Bette was so sweet through the planning process and made everything easy!
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    Naomi F. Sent on 01/28/2019
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    The music was beautiful!

    They were absolutely wonderful to work with and their music was beautiful. Our wedding was planned in a hurried fashion and Bette was very professional and patient. I would HIGHLY recommend them!

    The Candle Light Strings's reply:

    Hi Naomi,
    We had such fun making music for your wedding! And it was such beautiful scenery. Bette
  • Caitlin
    Caitlin Sent on 01/05/2019
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    Perfect for ceremony and cocktail hour

    Candlelight Strings were a wonderful addition to our wedding. Our family and friends are still talking about how lovely the music was for our ceremony and cocktail hour. Great mix of contemporary and classic songs.
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    The Candle Light Strings's reply:

    Thank you so much Caitlin, for your review! We really enjoy playing music together for these events. Bette
  • Crysta
    Crysta Sent on 01/15/2018
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    Candle Light Strings made my beautiful wedding ceremony complete. They also played my cocktail hour and our guests just loved them! They have such a wide range of music to choose from such as classics like Canon in D, to Disney songs to Beatles favorites, and they played them all so beautifully. Bette was such a pleasure to work with. She and the quartet even learned extra songs for us that were not in their catalog. I cannot recommend them enough! They are the perfect quartet to give your event a classy, romantic ambiance. They set the mood for my special day and I cannot thank them enough!
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    Christy Sent on 07/05/2015
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    The process of working with Bette Byers was very professional and a positive experience. The music was beautiful and everyone mentioned what a lovely addition the strings were to the wedding. All of the songs I chose from their music repertoire were played and set the mood perfectly. I highly recommend.
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    Jim Sent on 07/02/2015
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    Candle Light Strings was great through the whole process. They had a wide selection of music, including a large amount of more modern 'pop' songs which were really great! Bette was always quick to respond. In addition, they were able to create music for a song that we were really wanting to walk down the aisle too, which really helped make it an even more special day!
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    Kerry Sent on 01/18/2015
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    Candle Light Strings added THE perfect element to our beautiful outdoor wedding. They played everything from a varied, elegant selection of love songs by The Beatles to the timeless classical music we requested. Bette was WONDERFUL to work with and was very conscientious about creating a musical performance and presence that we and our guests would remember forever. I highly recommend Candle Light Strings to anyone planning a wedding or event that calls for a touch of quiet elegance and classy presence. The experience will be everything you'd hope for--and more.
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    Maylynn Sent on 01/23/2015
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    They were so wonderful and an elegant touch. They were even able to learn a piece last minute for us. Very professional and easy to work with.
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    Chuck Sent on 03/10/2014
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    Hi Bette,
     
    I want to thank you for the wonderful instrumental music the Candle Light Strings Quartet played at my wife's 60th birthday party.  The background music the quartet played was perfect for the occasion and the average age of the party attendees.  I could tell the musicians in the group were very skillful on their respective instruments to play at that particular level.  My wife loved it, as well as all our friends.  I heard nothing but great compliments on the music.  I will recommend your group to anyone considering having nice, relaxing music to play at a party or celebration, especially to play while dining.
    Thanks again, Bette,
     
    Chuck Martinez

  • L
    Lisa Sent on 01/04/2014
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    Hi Bette,
    Here is my recommendation. Thanks again for all your help with my wedding. It was a gorgeous day. :) Oh, by the way, I tried to go to your website and it seems like it's down.

    Bette and Candlelight Strings were amazing to work with. They have an extensive catalog to choose from including classical, traditional and contemporary songs. While my guests waited, they listened to classical music as well as love songs by the Beatles, Christina Perry and others. The mothers walked down to Ave Maria, my groom walked down to the Superman theme, my father walked me down the aisle to Marry Me by Train and we were pronounced husband and wife to Ode to Joy by Beethoven. For cocktail hour, they played hits and love songs from classics by Coldplay, Jason Mraz and Etta James. Bette knows what works and guides you from her experience with other brides. She was extremely flexible and professional. I highly recommend Candlelight Strings if you would like something a little traditional, a little unexpected and special.

    Thank you again and happy new year!
    Lisa


    Lisa Polucci Photography
    www.lisapolucci.com
    617-651-0577
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    Corina Sent on 07/29/2011
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    Wow, there are NO words to express the sheer elegance and ambiance that Candlelight Strings brought to our wedding ceremony. So graceful and beautiful. What was even more wonderful was that they were more than willing to learn new music just for our ceremony.
    Working w/ them was an absolute delight and they are far worth their weight in gold. I HIGHLY recommend listening to their sampled music on their website. It absolutely speaks for itself.
    Definitely 1oo stars ++++
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    Crystle Sent on 04/28/2010
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    I have heard nothing but compliments about our string quartet! They looked very professional and sounded even better! Bette was very helpful in getting all the music choices done. Overall I wish I could have heard more of the music...as the bride I only really heard the processional and recessional and during everything else I was off busy with other things...
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    Erica Sent on 09/01/2011
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    Candle light strings did an excellent job at our wedding. They played for our ceremony and during our cocktail hour. They worked with us on what songs we wanted to play for the ceremony (you can listen to variety on their site and Betty played on the phone a verse on the piano if it wasn't online). The sound was beautiful and they were very professional during our wedding. Everyone enjoyed our music and it transitioned beautifully into the DJ set for the reception. One thing to note is that communicating with Candle Light is typically thru phone, this was a little challenging for us since we both have full time jobs and worked with most vendors thru email. However, they were very flexible and took phone calls later in the evening- one night we spoke past 9pm. I'd highly recommend them for your wedding.
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    Christina Sent on 01/28/2015
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    Candle Light Strings did a wonderful job providing music for our ceremony and cocktail hour. Bette was very flexible and worked with us to create a playlist of classical music for our ceremony and more contemporary songs for our cocktail hour. Bette and her team were professional, on time and provided lovely music for our special day!
  • linds262
    Lindsey Sent on 08/20/2012
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    Candle Light Strings did a very nice job with our wedding. The musicians were very talented and the sound was great. They have a vast array of music to choose from, making it fun to select ceremony and cocktail hour music. We recommend calling them rather than emailing for the most timely response.
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    Lia Sent on 10/21/2011
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    Like other brides have mentioned, the music was beautiful and the group are total pros. But we also had challenges communicating with Bette. She's not super savvy with technology and communicating lists of songs back and forth was a little tedious but in the end it all came together. The strangest part was that she asked me if she and the other musicians could have appetizers and cocktails, except that I had only hired them to play for 30 minutes pre-ceremony and 45 minutes during our cocktail hour. In the end, our guests enjoyed their music, they arrived on time and there weren't any major issues so... no harm, no foul.
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    Erin Sent on 10/15/2011
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    The reality was that the music was amazing and the guests were wooed by gorgeous strings overlooking the ocean. We are so thankful that everything was great for the ceremony.

    But the other half of the story is:
    Wedding planning is so stressful and vendors should make things easier, not cause more stress. Candlelight strings, unfortunately, was one of those vendors who stressed us out at the last minute.
    We can't speak to the entire quartet because all of our interaction were with Betty Byers. She's a long-time professional, but a little tough to communicate with sometimes.
    - She asked us a few times prior to the ceremony if she and the crew could have a cocktail. No problem... I get it (but we didn't have cocktails at the ceremony).
    - We asked her for a specific song. Instead of saying that she didn't have the music for it, she took it upon herself to write a beautiful arrangement for it and then wanted us to pay her extra for it. I don't like to renegotiate contracts after the fact and it would have been nice to know that ahead of time - she backed off and didn't charge us for it. I appreciate that.
    - We had a mixup regarding final payment. As brides and grooms can attest to, making vendor final payments can be tough to organize. In the course of events, we forgot to make final payment to Candlelight. Mistakes happen and we had no intention of stiffing them for their great service. I guess Betty did not figure it out either until right before the event. After the ceremony she actually followed the wedding party and interrupted us during our family pictures to ask us where her check was.
    First of all, we were really upset that she interrupted our family photos.
    Secondly, it's probably pretty obvious that it's hard to carry a checkbook on your person during the wedding ceremony - we had no way to pay her right on the spot.
    She didn't like having wait for 2 days for us to get back to get home.
    In that time she called the mother of the groom as well as we got 3 voicemails from her looking for the money. The mother of the groom actually offered to pay her to get her off our backs.
    Knowing that these things happen, we were shocked that she was hounding us during the rest of the day, instead of calling the week before.

    In summary, the actual music was great and we have no regrets. However, if there were 3 other quartets who were also exceptional, we would have picked a different group.
  • A
    Anna Sent on 10/17/2017
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    Bette Byers is completely unprofessional and uncaring about the service she provides. I hired a string quartet to play at my wedding. I was very specific about the music I wanted and when I wanted it played. Hiring them was a complete disappointment. My wedding was scheduled for 4:00, at 1:30 three musicians arrived, not 4 as I had expected. When I asked them why they had arrived so early they said Bette Byers told them the wedding started at 2:00, not 4:00. At this point one of the 3 musicians, says he can't stay because he has another engagement. This leaves me with 2 musicians. Those two stayed however they did not play what I had requested, and most importantly as I am walking down the aisle there was absolutely no music playing. These people were completely unprofessional and were only interested in collecting a fee. They took away moment I will never get back. I regret hiring them and have demanded my money back. Don't hire this group!

    The Candle Light Strings's reply:

    Our contract signed by Anna specified that I was to provide a string TRIO ensemble for two hours from 2PM to 4PM on Saturday, October 14th, 2017. My trio of professional studio musicians arrived at 1:30 to set up music, stands, and tune instruments. They were informed that they would have to wait around until 4PM to play for the ceremony. They let one violinist go at 3PM because he had an orchestra concert scheduled for 4:30, and they agreed to play a duo until released 5:30 even though no contractural overtime was offered. The bride stated she really had no idea of tunes and had asked me to select selections for the ceremony and those tunes were performed, including Pachebel's Canon for her entrance. Members of the audience enjoyed requesting Frank Sinatra, Elton John, and Beatles tunes after the ceremony. Candle Light Strings work very hard to please and perform beautiful music for the couples and their wedding guests, and we are very sorry about the miscommunication with Anna. We invite you to read the other reviews that showcase our work
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