Occasional Brass & Strings

We were so glad we stumbled across Bryan and the Occasional Brass group on the Knot leading up to our wedding! My (now) husband and I love music, and were really thoughtful about the music during our wedding ceremony. Once we thought of hiring a brass quintet, we knew that would be just so much fun AND incredibly ceremonial for our wedding. The list of potential songs that Occasional Brass can play is *extensive* and their list of recommended wedding songs is really helpful in thinking through music selection. They also went the extra mile and learned new songs for us, including one that my dad composed years ago and I walked down the aisle to. It was incredibly incredibly moving and special, all thanks to Bryan and team! We highly recommend Occasional Brass to any and all couples!

I found Occasional Brass and Strings through the Knot's sister site "The Bash". They were so easy to book and work with. They have a huge selection of songs to choose from and sounded absolutely amazing while they played before and after my ceremony.

Occasional Brass and Strings was an amazing addition to our wedding day! We had a string trio for our wedding ceremony that was absolutely beautiful. The band then transitioned to a 3 person brass band + drummer for our cocktail hour, as well as our wedding parade from our ceremony to our reception venue! It was an absolute blast! We wanted a wedding parade like the New Orleans wedding parade and Bryan and his team made it happen! It was so much fun and having the live band really added to our day! Occasional brass and strings was very reasonably priced, flexible, and professional. We would highly recommend occasional brass and strings for any wedding or event and we will definitely hire them again for our future parties!

Occassional Brass and Strings performed at my daughter Meredith's wedding in Newburyport, MA June 12, 2021, and they were phenomenal! Bryan is collaborative and easy to work with. I highly recommend them!

Bryan and his musicians were excellent to work with. We were so excited to hear they were available for our May wedding at Gibbet Hill. I was set on having a harpist and violinist perform at our ceremony and cocktail hour due to the romantic feel and they sure delivered! Bryan had excellent pricing and was very responsive to any questions I had via email. Definitely recommend!

I contacted Bryan as both my fiancé and I were very interested in having a string band at our ceremony. Bryan was professional and responsive every time I had a question. I am so glad we decided to go with the quartet for our outdoor wedding. The musicians are so talented!!! Definitely worth the money and very affordable to boot! I will definitely recommending occasional brass and strings to friends and family! Thank you for making our pandemic wedding special!!!

Bryan and his team were phenomenal! the mixed trio was absolutely perfect for our ceremony and cocktail hour. From our first phone call, we knew that Bryan was an experienced, professional and he made the planning process so easy. Our guests were raving about your talent and how lovely every song sounded. You kept them wanting more! We truly appreciate how flawless the whole experience was. We would recommend your team of professionals to anyone in the area. Thanks so much!!

Occasional Brass & Strings provided a string trio for our wedding ceremony, and my only regret is that I wasn’t in the audience to get to hear all the songs they played. They were super talented and brought the ceremony to life in a way that recorded music never could have. The hardest part of working with them was choosing the songs, as there were almost 1000 songs to choose from. We chose a mix of traditional songs, old hits, and modern bands that we and our friends listen to.

Bryan and the team at Occasional Brass & Strings were TRUE professionals. They performed at our Catholic mass with a string trio and a soloist, and I have to share they were absolutely first class. I was blown away not only by the quality of the music, but by their organization and taste level with how they delivered each song. They enhanced the whole event to a new level I couldn't have imagined and I was worry free the entire time. I also felt the organization leading up to the event made me feel very confident that it would go as smoothly as it did. Bryan understood what we needed, his forms captured every aspect of the mass right down to aisle length for timing of songs. I can't recommend this talented team enough, you would be absolutely lucky to have them play at your wedding. True professionals and I'm so grateful to have worked with them.

I would highly recommend occasional brass and strings!! Angel and Caroline did a violin and cello duo for our wedding and did a beautiful job! They did all our song selections and worked with us due to getting off to a late start. Bryan was wonderful to work with as well and very helpful through the whole process. Thanks again!!

Working with Bryan and Occasional Brass was fantastic, and we would highly recommend them for any event. My wife and I were looking for some live music for our wedding reception and found Bryan through an online booking site. He was very responsive and easy to work with from start to finish – taking out any stress. When we decided to switch from strings to a jazz trio, he was able to seamlessly accommodate our request. The musicians he set us up with were wonderful – friendly, fun and very professional. Most importantly their music added the perfect ambiance for the event. 5 stars all the way around.

We had a 3 string band for our cocktail hour and all of our guests LOVED it! Very easy to work with and sounded beautiful. Truly a great addition to our wedding to make a very nice elegant atmosphere!

OBS was amazing for our wedding ceremony! Working with them before the wedding was so seamless and they were so organized, they sent me a list of their whole repertoire organized by genre and type of music, but were also open to songs not on the list. During the wedding the trio played beautifully! I highly recommend them for your wedding!!

We had a string trio for our April 22, 2017 wedding in Boston and we were so pleased with the variety of music that they could play and their professionalism. Every guest said they loved the ceremony music and the cocktail hour! Would recommend them to anyone!

My husband and I were married this past October in Newport, RI. We had a string trio from Occasional Brass & Strings play during our wedding ceremony. They were absolutely fantastic. Bryan was prompt in all correspondence-- he made wonderful suggestions and was attentive to detail. We booked them less than a month out from the wedding and couldn't believe they were able to compose and learn TWO new songs that we requested (one for the processional and one for the recessional). Additionally, Bryan sent us recordings of the songs the week prior to the wedding to ensure that we liked them. They were FABULOUS. We could not have been happier with our choice. Thank you!!

We worked with Occasional Brass and Strings for our ceremony music. Bryan was awesome to work with. He gave us great suggestions and promptly answered all our emails. He suggested having a trio - two string instruments and a trumpet. The combo sounded amazing. The company has a huge selection of songs to choose encompassing all genres. It was fun listening to samples and picking out our music. We both love Talking Heads and Bryan was able to come up with an arrangement of one of their songs for when we were introduced as husband and wife. It sounded incredible. Although I did not hear the music played before the ceremony, our guests raved about it. The live music definitely added a touch of fun elegance to our ceremony. I highly recommend OB&S!

I used a string quartet with trumpet for my ceremony music and it was beautiful! The music sounded great and the trumpet was a really cool touch. Bryan Hilliard was awesome to work with- he had great ideas and was responded to emails very promptly. Occasional Brass & Strings' repertoire is large and there is great variety. Their prices were very reasonable- definitely an amazing value!

Brian at Occasional Brass was very easy to work with. Responded to emails quickly and was able to set up a time to go through what we wanted. The music was great, though I'll admit I didn't hear much of it only because I was slightly preoccupied. Overall a good experience.

I had such a nightmare of a time trying to find ceremony musicians- I was going to have friends do it, but that fell through- more than once! It was getting late and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find anyone. Occasional Brass and Strings was able to provide the combo that we wanted (flute and guitar) for a very popular wedding date, with only a few months notice. The only downside was paying quite a bit more than I would have having friends do it- but the rates weren't bad compared to other musicians in the area. They did a great job with the music- and this is coming from a flute player. I got to walk down the aisle to Pachelbel's Canon on flute (and guitar) just like I wanted, and it was perfect.

One of the things that was important to us for our wedding was that the music be good, entertaining, and unique. Occasional Brass & Strings were amazing! We had a brass quintet for our outdoor ceremony, and a brass trio for our indoor reception. The music was clear, beautiful, emotional, and fun (they played the Jurassic Park theme for our Best Men). We had several people ask us where we found them, because they were so entertained by them. They definitely made us look good! Their song selections are incredible and Bryan Hilliard is a pleasure to work with--very easy-going, helpful, flexible, and professional. We wanted to honor deceased family members during the ceremony, and we worked together to find a song that would set the mood perfectly.

All of the guests commented on the beautiful music. Affordable---easy to work with---great music!!

Spoke with Bryan- he was great to work with- the day of the wedding was chaotic, but he took the time to say congratulations and introduced himself before he left. Great song selections, played exactly what we wanted, when we wanted. Much more unique than a harpist- very pleased.

We hired a string trio for our ceremony and they were amazing. Bryan was so easy to work with and provided us with videos, music samples, and a complete song list for us to pick from. This was super helpful when were deciding who to hire as musicians. The quality of music at our wedding was even better than the samples that were sent to us. The trio set a warm and elegant mood for our ceremony. Even our guests commented how talented they were. They even played a mix of classical and popular songs at our request which made for a great mix before and after the ceremony. The trio was amazing and was a great value as well! Our ceremony just wouldn't have been the same without them. :)

I worked with Bryan to figure out exactly what we wanted for our wedding ceremony. We ended up with a brass trio- trumpet, French horn, and tuba- which was PERFECT for our small ceremony. I am a brass player myself and it was important to me that we find GOOD musicians. These guys were fantastic! Super easy to work with, fabulous music, and reasonably priced. Hire them! You won't regret it!

Occasional Brass & Strings did a wonderful job performing at my wedding ceremony. We opted for a String Trio and was delighted with the large playlist of ceremony music to choose from. OBS has an online music database which made it easy to listen to how the songs would sound as performed by a String Trio. OBS was open learn a new song if requested by the bride and groom. OBS was very professional and easy to work with. The musicians showed up on time, dressed nicely and played well. I highly recommend OBS if you want to hear beautiful, live music on your wedding day!

bryan was great in every way. Communication during planning was easy and clear. We had a trio for the ceremony and cocktail hour. They were great and I never saw them setting up etc. They had to move from the lawn to the patio while we did the whole receiving line thing... They were flawless for the ceremony and fun for the cocktail hhour. I highly recommend OBS

I would recommend Occasional Brass & Strings to anyone. We had them as a brass quintet for our wedding ceremony. As a trumpet player myself (17 years), I tend to have a critical ear for ensembles like this and I must say that they were great! Their music filled the church beautifully without being too soft or overpowering and their chords sent chills down my spine! Outstanding!

Bryan was a pleasure to work with, always very helpful. Ceremony music was beautiful, and cocktail hour was a lot of fun!

The contact person was very on top of things -- that is why I selected them. They were able to play all the music we wanted.;One of the musicians wore black jeans.