5.0
Verified reviews from real couples
Living & giving our music together!
Monty and his wife were absolutely amazing at our wedding! You can instantly tell how much Monty loves what he does—his excitement and passion for the music truly shine through and made the ceremony feel so special. The two of them played beautifully together, and their energy carried perfectly into the cocktail hour, creating such a fun and elegant vibe. They were professional, talented, and a joy to work with, and we had so many guests commenting on how great the music was. We couldn’t recommend them more!
Paige M.
5.0
We were so happy with Monty on our wedding day. He was incredibly kind, easy to work with, and even took the time to learn all of the songs we requested, including Indian songs. He performed together with his wife, who played the cello, and the two of them sounded absolutely beautiful. Their music created the perfect atmosphere for our ceremony and reception. We would highly recommend them to anyone looking for live music for their wedding or special event.
Zobia M.
5.0
CONGRATULATIONS on your coming wedding day!
Who do you like the idea of providing your wedding MUSIC?
Hey, how about a WEDDED COUPLE with thirty years of experience! Versatile musicians devoted & excited to provide the wedding music of your dreams!
We are Trilla Ray-Carter and Monty Carter. For three decades we've served Kansas City and surrounding areas as soloists, ensemble artists and directors, and members of multiple orchestras. Cellist Trilla is an esteemed FOUR-CENTURY-SAVVY performing artist, and Monty's strings of choice are that of violin, viola, and vocal cords! We are both studio instructors honored with awards from the American String Teachers Association, and we're also each experienced in music composition and arranging. Trilla is the Founder & Artistic Director of the Kansas City Baroque Consortium, and Monty loves creating fun, rewarding (& sometimes goofy) materials for growing musicians!
With all the musical hats we wear, what would you guess has remained our favorite form of freelance performaning engagement? YES, you got it: providing WEDDING MUSIC!
For no wedding is *just a gig* to us!! Your wedding music is the element that beautifully blesses ALL the elements of your ceremony and the celebrations that follow, and we cherish the honor of providing it! The musicians who join us in ensembles are professional colleagues with whom we’ve performed extensively, who share our love for playing for weddings!
And one of our favorite things about it is CONNECTION. Monty handles our client correspondence, and he LOVES it! Whether or not you're interested in hearing viola jokes or the impressive voice of our cat soprano Seena, Monty is very eager to chat or exchange texts anytime, and to host online meetings with you! It means a lot to us to ASSIST YOU in the music planning process, including joining in contact with your wedding coordinator and officiant.
(Heh, our experience in musical styles is more diverse than the number of designations shown by the Knot. Hopefully they'll update it soon with additions including Bridgerton, Bollywood, and Indie-Hip ... for WE certainly do! 🤟😎💛) To be honest, our favorite engagements are those that include both fulfilling your specific song requests PLUS being deservedly trusted to provide the general ambience of the personal FEEL & FLOW you desire for your wedding! No need to pick & choose every single note we play.🎶😌
The ensembles we most frequently provide are strings: Violin & Cello Duo, String Trio (two violins and cello), and String Quartet (two violins, viola, and cello). But we also have great experience in collaborating with vocalists, keyboard, harp, flute, guitar, bagpipes and more!
We can't wait to hear from you and assist you with the wedding music of your dreams!
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Details
Instruments
Cello
Fiddle
Flute
Guitar
Harp
Keyboard
Organ
Piano
Trumpet
Violin
Vocals
Music Genres
Celtic
Classical
Folk
Klezmer
Pop
World Music
Music Services
Live Music
Wedding Activities
Rehearsals & Parties
After Party
Rehearsal Dinner
Wedding
After Party
Ceremony
Cocktail Hour
Reception
Rehearsal Dinner
Any questions?
Reviews
5.0
out of 5.018 reviews
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Review Summary
This AI-generated summary is a snapshot of this vendor's ratings and feedback.
Carray Music, led by Monty and Trilla, received glowing reviews for their exceptional live music performances at weddings. Reviewers praised their professionalism, responsiveness, and ability to create the perfect ambiance for both ceremonies and cocktail hours. The duo's talent and dedication to learning specific songs, including Indian music, were highlighted, with guests commenting on the beautiful atmosphere they created. Monty's approachability and genuine care for couples were also noted, making Carray Music highly recommended for those seeking exceptional live music for their special day.Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 2
Sarah L
Highlighted review.
5.0
4/18/2025
Big thank you to Monty and Trilla for making our wedding day so incredibly special! From the first time meeting with Monty, you can really see how absolutely sweet he is and how mu...
ch he cares about the couples and what he does. Having them as a duet on our wedding day helped make it beyond magical. They are super talented and have such positive energy. Highly recommend!
Paige M
5.0
1/02/2026
Monty and his wife were absolutely amazing at our wedding! You can instantly tell how much Monty loves what he does—his excitement and passion for the music truly shine through and...
made the ceremony feel so special. The two of them played beautifully together, and their energy carried perfectly into the cocktail hour, creating such a fun and elegant vibe. They were professional, talented, and a joy to work with, and we had so many guests commenting on how great the music was. We couldn’t recommend them more!
Any questions?
Zobia M
5.0
12/30/2025
We were so happy with Monty on our wedding day. He was incredibly kind, easy to work with, and even took the time to learn all of the songs we requested, including Indian songs. He...
performed together with his wife, who played the cello, and the two of them sounded absolutely beautiful. Their music created the perfect atmosphere for our ceremony and reception. We would highly recommend them to anyone looking for live music for their wedding or special event.
Lily B
5.0
12/29/2025
Monty and Trilla were such a treat and an amazing addition to our wedding day! They were super responsive and really listened to all of my requests. Having live music for the cerem...
ony and cocktail hour was a total game changer, and they created exactly the vibe I had envisioned for our guests. They’re true professionals—every moment flowed perfectly!
Olivia F
5.0
12/24/2025
Monte was wonderful to work with! It meant so much that he was willing to learn a couple of our favorite songs for our processional. Highly recommend!
Gloria J
5.0
12/24/2025
One thing that was a MUST for me on my wedding day, was live string music. I was so excited to come across Carray Music, especially after seeing the rave reviews! My excitement was...
definitely matched by Monty, who happily answered any questions we had and was dedicated to making sure our vision was achieved, and even took requests for songs outside of their list without any extra charge. They helped us create a playlist for the seating of our guests through the recessional with their expertise of what flows best and would capture the “mood” of the day based on our meetings!
They kept great communication and were extremely professional - with all the things to worry about for a wedding, I never had to worry about them! Also, Monty is so approachable and kind, and really took the time to get to know us.
The day of the wedding, and right on time, the venue was filled with the beautiful sounds of violin and cello and felt like a dream come true! We definitely recommend Carray Music to anyone looking for exceptional live music and just great people to be a part of your day! Thank you Monty and Trilla ❤️
Erin W
5.0
8/10/2022
A HUGE thank you to Monty and Trilla for helping make our wedding day so special. From our initial meeting we knew right away that this power duo was just what we needed to help br...
ing our ceremony music to life. They are uber talented, professional, and brought so much life and laughter to the whole planning process. Could not recommend them enough!!
Zach P
5.0
6/03/2022
Thank you so much Monty and Trilla! You guys are amazing, kind, attentive, and on point, answering back to emails, calls, changes and concerns. You guys made our wedding extra spec...
ial! Sampling your live music was also the most fun Sarah and I had wedding planning. Thank you guys!
Ashley M
5.0
1/14/2022
I knew I couldn’t walk down the aisle without the sound of strings! I mean it, my feet just won’t move.
Monty and Trilla are the cream of the crop, the best of the best, they’re th...
e cat’s meow! (you’ll understand that one once you hire them to play ;))!
We can all recognize songs conventionally played at weddings, but to know the titles and/or composers is another thing, not to mention taking key and tempo into thought. The selection can quickly seem daunting. But not with Carray Music!
Carray Music has expertise, the talent and the patience to guide you along the way. To keep with tradition but adapt to make the ceremony yours! Monty and Trilla take into consideration not only your ceremony music (which is all I had focus on at the time), but also your prelude and your recessional. They fill the air with heavenly sounds!
After e-meeting with the duo, I’d put together the list of songs we’d discussed; but I didn’t need to. Monty and Trilla are organized, on top of all else. The two definitely work well with one another, one could say a harmonious relationship.
I can go on and on with reasons as to why you should hire these two to play at your wedding. They know what they’re doing, they’re reliable, and they bring the best energy. Your guests will be cooing about the sweet symphony.
Stephanie S
5.0
9/25/2020
Monty & Trilla made our wedding day so fun and elegant! They are a pleasure to work with and took time to get to know us and carried out our music wishes beautifully!!! We are so...
pleased we put our trust in them for our wedding day music!!
Response from Carray Music on 09/26/2020
Stephanie & Rick, thanks so much for your kind words, and CONGRATULATIONS on your wedding!...
We are so excited for you! Becoming acquainted & thoughts of your beautiful ceremony will bring us smiles for years to come.
Jennifer K
5.0
6/25/2020
Monty and Trilla have been WONDERFUL to work with and everything we could have wanted in our ceremony musicians. You can tell that they are truly passionate about what they do and...
want to work with their customers to make their weddings as special as possible.
In the beginning, I was a little doubtful about the need for an in-person consultation, but let me tell you, this is a HUGE benefit to booking Carray Music. We didn't have a strong idea of what kind of music we wanted, so they played us a sampling of wide variety until we found the right songs that fit our vibe and really worked to make sure that the music they played was right for us. They even gave us some fun ideas of rituals to add to the ceremony.
I'm so glad that we chose to work with Carray Music and would highly recommend for people looking to make their wedding music more custom and significant to the couple.
Response from Carray Music on 06/25/2020
Thank you so much, Jennifer & Chris! We had a ball with you, and "fitting your vibe" is al...
l the reason we need for having strings on the fingerboard, hair on the stick, and rosin on the bow! :-D We send you our best wishes and look forward to staying in touch. yours, Monty & Trilla
Emily S
5.0
2/15/2020
Monty and his lovely fellow ensemble members are the LOVELIEST people out there. Monty was the only one I met before the wedding, but he was so invested in making sure our music wa...
s perfect and that everyone was happy. He even helped arrange a cantor for our wedding! Their performance at our Mass and cocktail hour was highly complimented and we loved the arrangements they had. They really do mean it when they say "it's not just another gig." We will certainly seek out their performances when we come back to KC in the future!
Rebecca S
5.0
7/08/2018
WE LOVE CARRAY MUSIC!!! Monty and Trilla are so kind and so talented and so fun. Initially we were not sold on booking ceremony musicians, but after meeting with Carray Music the f...
irst time, we asked ourselves why we didn't book earlier! Our first meeting was at their house, where they treated us to wine and live music. We had a lovely time with them and Gary, their pianist, and we left feeling like we had known them for years. We went to the meeting with a few songs that we liked, but truthfully we had no idea what we were doing or what to pick. They were patient with us, helping us decide what music would be perfect for our special day. They even came up with an idea to surprise my dad at the ceremony, and I will be forever grateful for that. Their services are maybe $50 more than other musicians in the KC area. They are worth the extra money and much more. Their kindness, knowledge, and love of music makes them an easy choice for any ceremony. We are so happy they were able to play at our wedding, and we would recommend them to absolutely anyone!!
Lisa J
5.0
3/18/2018
Great music and company
Marissa W
5.0
11/02/2017
My husband and I live in NYC but were getting married in our hometown of Topeka, KS. Since we aren't able to visit Kansas very often through out the planning process, we scheduled ...
a last minute meeting with Monty and Trilla over the Holidays (which they so graciously worked with us around the crazy holiday schedules). Needless to say we fell in love with Monty and Trilla. It is so clear that they are very passionate about what they do. We walked back out to our car after the meeting and decided we wanted to book them right then and there (even though we still had a few more meetings scheduled with other ensembles that day.. oops). Monty and Trilla will exceed your expectations with charm, fun, charisma and professionalism. They were perfect. I'd recommend them to ANYONE!
Lauren W
5.0
6/06/2017
Monty and Trilla are amazing! The string trio that performed for our wedding ceremony was perfect thanks to The Carray Ensemble. Monty and Trilla also invited us into their home so...
they could play for us when we booked them. They also made an arrangement for the string trio and piano when I requested a song for the processional that wasn't traditional and it was beautiful. Exactly as I imagined it would be. Our ceremony would not have been the same without them.
Michele M
5.0
12/30/2016
I can't say enough wonderful things about Monty and Trilla! They performed in a string quartet for our wedding ceremony and made it so beautiful. Monty also performed a gorgeous so...
lo of the Lord's Prayer during the lighting of our unity candle. They are so friendly and easy to work with. My husband and I loved meeting with them to pick out the music for our ceremony. They made it fun and played us samples of music I wouldn't have thought of myself. You will not be disappointed if you choose them!!
Carrie R
5.0
5/10/2010
Friendly made a special arrangement just for us - we loved it.
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