5 out of 5 stars and 112 reviews
5
(112)Virginia, Maryland, DC, PA, DE, NC, SC +
About this vendor
THE BEST IN LIVE CELTIC MUSIC PERFORMANCE is now available to YOU for your Wedding!
"Your music is food for the spirit and balm for the soul.” Sara, Bride
Imagine shimmering Celtic melodies on flute, guitar, fiddle and drum surrounding you as you float down the aisle. The ancient airs that have accompanied brides since the days of Braveheart and Riverdance are yours from the finest musicians available. The rich ancient tapestry of Celtic music brings enchantment to your magical day.
"Their joyous and lovely music was exactly what we were looking for and made memories for a lifetime. We couldn’t recommend her more highly.” Allison
From bagpipes to fiddles and flutes; from guitar, Celtic harp, pipes and bodhrans (drums) let us evoke for you the beautiful emotions of your wedding ceremony with splendid airs and songs; then carry you and your guests into joyous celebration with lively jigs, reels and hornpipes.
"One of my favorite parts of our wedding day. The music was unique, lively, and unforgettable."
Megan
Would you like to include everyone in the dancing during the reception? Let us bring a dance caller who will teach you and your guests simple ceili dancing. We offer Scottish and Irish ceilis. It's easy, FUN, and everyone of any age can participate!
What You'll Love About Celtic Music for Your Wedding
Couples agree that these musicians created a beautiful atmosphere throughout the festivities. They also praise the team, who were flexible, professional, and easy to work with. Read through their reviews to see what it's like to book this company for your special day.
"They were SO AMAZING! We got so many compliments on the band and their beautiful music.
Michelle
Serving the Washington DC Metropolitan area, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the East coast.
We will travel!
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Instruments
- Accordion
- Bagpipes
- Banjo
- Cello
- Fiddle
- Flute
Music Genres
- Celtic
- Classical
- Folk
- World Music
Music Services
- Live Music
- Sound Equipment
Wedding Activities
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Rehearsal Dinner
- Wedding
- After Party
- Ceremony
Awards and Affiliations
10-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2025.2024.2023.+7 more.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Hall of Fame
Earned by winning 'Best of Weddings' four or more times.
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Reviews
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5
out of 5.0112 reviews
Review photos
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Elise and her bandmates were the exact fit for my wedding this past weekend. She was incredibly understanding and flexible throughout the planning process, even as the date and ven...
ue changed while I searched for my perfect spot. She was on board with making sure my dream came true. She took time to connect with the DJ, was willing to relocate to the reception site after the ceremony, sent us plenty of options to select from and helped find Bob the bagpiper to create the perfect vibe. Her band was the kicked off the party of the year! Thank you, Elise!
Absolulty beautiful celtic music for our Hobbit inspired wedding in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. It was a treat for our entire wedding party and guests to enjoy a ceilid...
h (kay-lee) dance. Everyone had a wonderful time!
It is with great appreciation and enthusiasm that our family positively reviews Celtic Music for All Occasions.
With the bride’s wish for the wedding ceremony to feature live Irish...
Celtic music, the search began and ended with Elise Kress and her special group of musicians.
Communication from zoom meetings to phone calls and texts was excellent. Elise listened to the dream and executed a flawless plan at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, Juno Beach, Florida in November 2025.
Several requested pieces of music were learned and the band also graciously allowed the bride to join in with her flute during cocktails- surprising the guests!
The musicians, Elise, Julia, Stewart, and Andrew were professionally talented and became an extended part of our family during the wedding weekend, making the event especially memorable!
When planning our daughter's garden wedding this summer, the choice of music was proving more challenging than the choice of entree to appeal to our vegan/pescatarian/carnivore gue...
sts. The bride was a classical/showtune fan and the groom was strictly Metallica. Our pianist friend tried gamely to play "Nothing Else Matters," before declaring it beyond her pay grade.
Enter Celtic Music for Your Wedding. Leader Elise exhibited the flexibility of a yogi and the patience of Job to accommodate the bride's wish list, and together they developed a pitch perfect program that had it all; the solemnity and moment of the processional, the joy and relief of the trip back up the aisle and the merriment to celebrate afterward.
When I hired Elise and Celtic Music, I knew I would get beautiful music and true professionalism but when my husband's sudden advancement of his terminal illness made the original wedding date untenable, I learned what more the musicians would provide. Elise worked her magic to accommodate our moving the wedding up several weeks,
was completely organized so I didn't need to worry, and Celtic Music totally met the poignant and complex emotional moment with stunning, transformational music.
All the guests, young and old, appreciated their skill and the warm embrace of the traditional music that defined the event with hope and joy. (Well, that and Jameson's Black Barrel!)
We are so grateful to Elise and her musicians for their musical gifts and inherent kindness and generosity. I am looking forward to having them help us celebrate our next major moment!
Ellise and her band were extremely professional and very courteous and accommodating. The communication was top knotch, even months before the wedding. She made sure that all of ou...
r requests and preferences were perfectly met, and our Lord of the Rings themed wedding wouldn't have been such a wonder if it wasn't for Ellise and her band. If you want to have an amazing wedding band hire her because you won't regret it!
Celtic Music for All Occasions were a delight to work with and really made our wedding beautiful. They were kind, enthusiastic, patient, and listened closely to our tailored reques...
ts. We asked for them to play our favorite hymns in a Celtic theme which they quickly obliged. Then during the wedding, their delivery was beautiful and added another level of depth to our ceremony. They are talented and professional musicians who we are thankful for and enthusiastically recommend.
Exactly the music we wanted for our daughter's wedding. Great selection of music, helpful suggestions and a very talented and professional group. Very easy to work with. We will...
certainly use them again for events in the future.
We are so thrilled that we had Elise and her team from Celtic Music play at our wedding! Their music was such a delight from prelude through dinner. Our guests enjoyed it as well ...
as we received several compliments. Elise was wonderful to work with in organizing and providing examples of their music. I would highly recommend for anyone looking to have live music at their wedding.
They were SO AMAZING! Elise was so easy to work with, and very personable. The musicians were all extremely talented, and they even worked with my friend so she could sing a song d...
uring our wedding ceremony with their accompaniment. We got so many compliments on the musicians and their beautiful music. They lent such an air of elegance and magic to our wedding day.
We loved having Celic music for our wedding! They were highly professional and flexible to however we wanted the night to go. Our guests are still talking about it! 10/10!
As we were thinking about live musicians for our wedding, we both knew we liked Celtic music and on a whim, we decided to see if anyone did that, and we are so happy we found Elise...
and her troupe! It was delightful working with her to come up with a program, and during a time when we exchanged so many emails with our vendors, her responsiveness stood out and her friendly notes were always welcome. We had an unusual request to have a bagpiper lead us on a procession from the site of our ceremony on a small walk through our venue property to the site of our reception. Elise made it all work wonderfully and the piper playing along our procession delighted us and our guests. My husband wanted to hear live renditions of a handful of his favorite video game pieces, and Elise worked with him to get all the custom songs he wanted and she and her musicians did a great job adapting and performing them in her lovely Celtic style. Her musicians played a mix of the requested songs and traditional Celtic tunes for our ceremony and they sounded great despite the added challenge of a windy afternoon! We knew we wouldn’t have as much time to listen as they played through our cocktail hour, but Elise made sure that as soon as she saw we did have time, she played the custom music we asked for. Her joyous and lovely music was exactly what we were looking for and made memories for a lifetime. We couldn’t recommend her more highly.
We hired a five-piece ensemble for our wedding, and they played before the ceremony, our recessional, reception cocktail hour, "first dance," and during dinner. The music was beaut...
iful, and not only were the musicians exceptional and first-rate professionally, they seemed to enjoy themselves, too, rather than simply playing another "gig." The coordinator, Elise Kress, was instrumental in helping us plan the music portion of the wedding and reception. Our guests were as impressed and as enchanted as we were. I most highly recommend Celtic Music for Your Wedding, and thank them for contributing to a magical experience.
The Celtic trio who played for my son's rehearsal dinner/welcome party was top notch! The music during the dinner was beautiful and then they played some livelier songs during the...
party portion of our event which had our guests singing, clapping, and dancing along. Elise Kress who helped us find this band was wonderful to work with; so kind and extremely communicative. I would highly recommend Elise and her musicians for any event!
Elise from Celtic Music was amazing. She was incredibly patient and helpful with us as we put our playlist together. The musicians that played our wedding were amazing they accommo...
dated our needs. Everyone loved their sound. We couldn’t be happier with our experience. I can’t recommend Elise and her musicians enough.
USA bride and UK groom, living in Manchester and getting married in Virginia we had a very unique vision for our wedding, and having a ceilidh was a high priority. When we met Eli...
se (on Skype) we knew our vision was going to be a dream come true! Elise was so much fun to work with and was very flexible. Elise and the musicians that she brought along with her played for our ceremony, they were able to learn Towers by Bon Iver for my walk out song -it was beautiful! All of our guests commented on how lovely the music sounded during our ceremony (We had a fiddle/guitar/ flute). Then when the ceremony was over and the party was ready to begin Elise and the other musicians and caller guided us through an unbelievable Irish ceilidh and it was too much fun!!! All of our guests loved it and it is an amazing way to get worlds to collide- the photos are amazing!! Seeing college friends from Colorado dancing with the Groom's father from the UK is soooo much fun!! If you want lovely live music, a very friendly talented group of musicians, and/or a very fun dance party Elise is the perfect fit for you!
Great music and professional.
Elise and her band were excellent. They were more than accommodating - learning new songs ahead of time to honor our grandmom’s memory. They truly made some beautiful music.
Everything was perfect! The music was exactly what we wanted and the team was so friendly!
Professional and fun! This was my first time working with a Celtic band and it was such an amazing experience. They really are a fun bunch and get the crowd moving! Thanks for ever...
ything Elise and team!
As a lover of Celtic music, I knew I wanted it to be part of my wedding. Elise was absolutely amazing! She was incredibly responsive & collaborative! On top of using the songs in h...
er and her team's repertoire, I asked if they could play a new, specific song for my walk down the aisle with my Dad and they did and it was perfection! I booked a harp, fiddle and penny whistle flute for my ceremony and cocktail hour. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the harpist could only play at the ceremony and Elise was kind enough to bring in a guitarist for the cocktail hour so guests could still enjoy a variety of Celtic songs. I highly recommend using Elise and Celtic Music for Your Wedding!
Celtic Music was beautiful at our wedding! They were very organized and personable to work with, loved the experience working with them. We used a harp and flute during our cocktai...
l hour and they were beautiful! Definitely would work with them again!
Elise and team were absolutely incredible to work with! When I first booked with her, she met with me and helped me curate my program of music with lots of guidance. I felt like s...
he really tried to understand the mood, theme, and feel of our wedding and was incredibly thoughtful. The flute and harp music throughout the ceremony were unbelievably beautiful and many guests commented on it after the ceremony. I can't recommend this vendor enough!
Elise is amazing! She worked with me to customize the music selection for our wedding day and even threw in a little something extra as a surprise on the day of. She was a joy to w...
ork with and created one of my favorite parts of our wedding day. The music was unique, lively, and unforgettable, and I am SO glad I stumbled upon her through The Knot. She is extraordinarily well-priced and extremely reliable. You won't go wrong with hiring her!
Fabulous! Set a wonderful tone for our wedding ceremony and cocktail hour. The guests loved it!
My husband and I hired Elise Kress to provide a ceilidh for our wedding reception including four musicians and a dance caller. They were prompt to arrive, set themselves up and wer...
e very self-sufficient. The music was very well-performed and having a dance caller made it easy for our guests to join in the dancing. Everyone who danced enjoyed doing so immensely and those who chose to watch were very entertained. We would strongly recommend Elise and company as entertainment that everyone can enjoy.
They were quite simply awesome! They were extremely easy to work with, helped us pick music to play during the ceremony and provided music during the cocktail hour after the weddi...
ng. You couldn't ask for a better experience.
During the ceremony they played brilliantly! We even asked them to do a special song for the bride's walk down the aisle and they did perfect! Highly recommended if you need live music for your wedding!
Elise Kress played at my Celtic-themed wedding recently. She brought four musicians and played for three hours. She and her group completely captured the atmosphere I wanted for th...
e cocktail hour and reception! The music created a lively, fun, and festive atmosphere for our cocktail hour and reception, which was exactly what I wanted! The music was perfect and many of the guests commented on how much they enjoyed it and the celebratory mood it created! For anyone seeking to hire Elise and her band for their wedding, I suggest opting for the caller and the opportunity to learn the group dances. Not having the caller was a missed opportunity to enhance the already great reception experience. Above all, I recommend hiring Elise Kress for any event! She and her band will do a great job!
Elise was a joy to work with during the planning and executed everything perfectly.
The music was absolutely beautiful and the dace caller was an amazing addition!
The band was a...
huge bright spot in our wedding!
We hired Elise to play before and during our ceremony in August. She was a pleasure to work with and very responsive. She walked us through the music selection process, provided sa...
mples of various song options according to what we were going for, and made sure we were happy with all of our selections. The trio was great and several of our guests mentioned that they enjoyed the music. I was so happy we found them for our wedding day.
When we decided to have a Scottish theme to our wedding, there was no better choice we could have made for music than Elise Kress and her Celtic Music for Your Wedding ensemble. T...
hey were fabulous, played for hours without a break, and even tolerated us and our guests, as Elise's colleague tried to teach us how to perform Scottish dances. Due to Covid, our planned honeymoon to Scotland is not likely to occur until 2022. However, they discussed with us places to go/visit, and have offered to speak to us further in advance of our trip. We could not have been more pleased with their skill, performance and attitude.
The music was fantastic for our cocktail and dinner hours! Created just the atmosphere we were hoping for. Elise was great to work with during planning - clear, timely communicat...
ion and a delightful personality.
Elise and her team came recommended by a musician we personally know. Due to the pandemic the wedding was downsized considerably, and we could only accommodate a bagpiper. She reco...
mmended a wonderful musician, Bob Mitchell.
We suggested a few tunes and he complemented our choices with tunes from his vast repertoire. His wonderful bagpipe gave a magical touch to the wedding ceremony. We are looking forward to listening to a life concert by Elise and her group in the near future.
This firm helped provide us lovely music for our wedding both for the ceremony and reception outside - as well as a piper as guests were arriving. Elise and her team were top notch...
, easy to work with and really made an effort to understand exactly what experience we were seeking. Most importantly they played amazingly. They’re best in class professionals that are responsive and very accommodating. We’ve recommended the company to friends and have worked with them for subsequent events well after we were married. They’ve helped arrange Celtic fiddlers for dinner parties and a piper for our son’s birthday.
We had them play ceremony music and for the cocktail hour. The music was performed beautifully. Elise was very helpful in selecting music choices. Elise was very responsive and re...
ceptive to email communication regarding Covid-19 precautions and concerns. Everyone was very pleased with the outcome. Would definitely recommend them!
What a wonderful group to work with! The bagpipe music for my ceremony was hauntingly beautiful and gave me goosebumps. Elise Kress who coordinates the group has been phenomenal ...
to work with; she is very prompt, professional, and incredibly kind. I would highly recommend this group to any bride!!
Elise is wonderful to work with and the music is beautiful!
It was a fantastic evening with wonderful music. Our guests liked it very much! The musicians were a pleasure to have!
Celtic Music played very beautiful Irish music at the celebration of my husband's life a week ago. The musicians are so talented; it was the perfect background for our gathering....
Elise was so wonderful to work with and made sure that it all went smoothly. I highly recommend the trio for any celebration.
We recently hired Celtic Music for Your Wedding for a celebration we hosted and we can't say enough positive things about the overall experience with Elise and her band. The music...
was wonderful and set the tone of the entire event, and Elise made the coordination so easy on us. Would highly recommend this band for your next event!
We couldn’t have been happier with Celtic Music for Your Wedding! We requested a trio to entertain 200 guests for the cocktail hour and dinner and the guests were delighted.
Elis...
e is a consummate professional, a world class talent, accompanied by equally amazing musicians who were personable and lovely to work with.. The Trio arrived early, with plenty of time to set up and do a sound check. The Celtic musical repertoire they expertly played was perfect for our theme. We highly recommend them!
Elise,
Everybody was delighted with the music and highly complimentary.
The music in both venues provided a wonderful atmosphere. The music choices fit perfectly with the ceremon...
y.
You and your chosen musicians, were punctual at both venues, engaging and professional in all aspects.
We all look forward to seeing you again in November.
Thank you for your contribution in making Elena and Ramy's wedding day so successful.
This trio of marvelous musicians truly capture the spirit of Ireland with their sound. Whether a reel or a rousing sing-along, they have you tapping your toes and clapping hands. T...
hey were a pleasant addition to our party.
Elise and her musicians were phenomenal at my daughters wedding last weekend. She was delightful to work with and fine tuned the music to fit the couples preferences. It was magica...
l and I would do it again without hesitation! They are now in my morning play list!
Elise and her musicians were FABULOUS on her wedding day. Elise was so extremely pleasant to work with from the very beginning. She set up a phone call for us to go over everything...
- playing all of the music options both live over the phone with me and also sent recorded versions as well. We hand-picked each song for each part of our ceremony that we wanted to play. She also played for our cocktail hour as well. The music was BEAUTIFUL! We received so many compliments and it was just the perfect cultural touch to bring in our Irish roots to our ceremony and cocktail hour. It was also so different from the cookie cutter selections most people have at their weddings - I loved that ours was true to our heritage, beautiful, and different! I would hire Elise and Celtic Music for Your Wedding for my wedding again in a heartbeat. Did I mention she played at my sister's wedding as well?! Thank you for everything!
I'm half Irish and my husband is Italian, so we decided the ceremony and cocktail hour would follow my Irish traditions and the party would follow his. We hired a harpist and a flu...
tist. I'm Irish, but I was not actually familiar with the more traditional tunes, so I needed to research quite a bit. Elise was extremely helpful in her suggestions, and eventually I gave her the reins since she was the expert. I did want two songs played specifically in honor of my father, and they played them beautifully. I walked down the aisle to "Married Life" from the Disney film "Up", which was our overall theme. Unfortunately they were set up on a patio behind the guests, but that was more because the DJ's sound system didn't reach far enough for them to be in front. Overall I'm happy we were able to afford live musicians for the ceremony. It gave it a very special touch and helped me feel a little closer to my dad, who died early 2017.
My husband and I carried an Irish theme throughout our wedding day so we were both very excited to come across Celtic Music for your Wedding. I wrote to Elise and she was always so...
prompt in getting back to me, answered all of my many questions, sent beautiful tunes to listen to, and was extremely helpful with narrowing down my song selections for the ceremony. We had the pleasure of meeting with Elise in person before our wedding and got to listen to her play which was such a treat! Not only was Elise such a pleasure to work with, she also added new/non Irish songs to her repertoire, per my request. I chose to have the flute/penny whistle, Celtic Harp and Violin. Elise and her team did a wonderful job. I highly recommend for your big day or any event!!
Elise was a pleasure to work with, from the first email to the final meeting. Elise was amazing and so sweet. She sent us music samples to listen to and helped us decide what music...
was perfect for our ceremony. The day of the wedding the band was great and the music was so beautiful. We had so many compliments from our guests on how perfect the music was. I highly recommend Elise and her band for your wedding.
Elise was so great to work with for our wedding. We had a Scottish touch throughout and the band greatly added to the experience! The music was amazing and they were so flexible. W...
e had hired Celtic Music for Your Wedding to do our ceremony and cocktail hour. Due to torrential downpours, our timeline had to be adjusted last minute to include a longer cocktail hour. They didn't miss a beat and continued to play through our extended cocktail hour. We got many compliments on their music, and wouldn't hesitate to work with them again.
Elise and her talented group of musicians provided the most romantic, wonderful music for our ceremony and dinner reception. They were an absolute pleasure to work with from start ...
to finish, and when wedding planning became tough I especially appreciated Elise taking the lead on choosing music as I admittedly had no idea where to begin. She helped us to pick out the most gorgeous songs for our Irish/Jewish wedding. The music enhanced the weddings setting exactly how I'd hoped! My husband and I were just thrilled with the music (and support!) provided by this group.
Elise was a delight to work with and catered to our specific requests. We loved having the Celtic music at our wedding and it provided such a fun experience for our guests. We al...
so included the dance caller so that everyone could learn the steps, and that was something special for our wedding reception.
Contact
Virginia, Maryland, DC, PA, DE, NC, SC +
Celtic Music for Your Wedding