Perfect Harmony String Ensemble

They were terrific - the highlight of the wedding, playing a fantastic mix of Handel, Reggae, Vivaldi, Gaga and Fall Out Boy. Lovely, professional and very talented musicians who clearly enjoy their work.

Gretchen and Prefect Harmony String Ensemble - answered all of my questions within 24 hours, shared their knowledge of weddings as well as how we could make our wedding unique to us. They worked with us, the weather, the venue and our coordinator to make the day as smooth as possible! I have recommended them to all the couples who were engaged at our wedding.

Gretchen was helpful and understanding throughout the planning process. We opted for the quartet for our ceremony in Florida. The musicians were lovely and played beautifully. Many of the guests shared in the weeks that followed how wonderful the quartet performed. Hope all of you are blessed!

Perfect Harmony provided a String Trio for my daughters wedding in October. They were wonderful, very professional and had a lovely sound. I would definitely recommend them!

Perfect Harmony Strings was an amazing addition to our wedding. They really helped to add that touch of elegance we were striving for. They were very accommodating with my lists of music selection for preceremony, ceremony and cocktail hour and they sounded amazing!! Gretchen was a pleasure to work with and very communicative over the two years we took to plan our wedding. Would definitely recommend them!!

We worked with Gretchen at Perfect Harmony to provide a string ensemble for my daughter's wedding outside of Charlottesville VA. Perfect Harmony offered a great selection of music for the ceremony and cocktail hour. They hit all the cues for the processional and you know they nailed it when they played "Another One Bites the Dust" with great energy as the groom and his groomsmen took the stage! Our guests loved it…I highly recommend.

The Ensemble was on time, on point and very professional. The music was amazing! We are still getting compliments on our selection of music and how beautiful it was delivered. Highly recommend!

My mom came across them, and they added the perfect touch to our June 2018, Cathedral wedding! The string quartet and the organ mixed together, I could not have asked for a better group.

Gretchen Heller of Perfect Harmony Strings was incredibly dishonest, rude and unprofessional. I would not recommend her to anyone. We contracted Perfect Harmony for a string quartet to play our wedding ceremony in the Poconos for $1225. Gretchen explained that because the musicians would be traveling from Philly (5 hour R/T), we might need to pay an additional $200 in travel fees, which we agreed to. After several weeks of no communication, Gretchen emailed us FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE WEDDING to say that she had "good news and slightly bad news." The "good news" was that she'd lined up some great musicians for our ceremony! (Congrats on doing your job?) The "slightly bad news" was that we'd need to pay $400 in "travel fees" due to the long commute from Philly to Mt. Pocono. Gretchen did not explain what these "travel fees" covered -- no itemized breakdown, nothing. She merely reminded us that we had "indicated previously being open to some extra travel fees," as if we should have expected this. When we said that this seemed like an outrageous amount of money to surprise us with just 5 days before the wedding, she responded that she'd run into "SO many issues finding good players" that she "literally was worried about not being able to produce a group at all." (What?!?) She seemed indignant that her efforts to fulfill the contract THAT SHE BID ON were being "disregarded" and "unappreciated." She told us that the $400 fee was non-negotiable if we wanted a string quartet and that if we weren't happy with it, "then we can go ahead and cancel [the contract] all together." I felt my hands were tied, so I sent her a check with the extra money. The musicians who showed up to our wedding were fine, but they were clearly students and NOT professional musicians! (One even had a Temple University music folder, though Ms. Heller had told us that the musicians would be from the far more prestigious Curtis Institute of Music.) So, we paid over $1600 for a bunch of kids to play our ceremony. And things didn't end there! After the wedding, my husband and I left the country for our honeymoon. We did not have cell service and had limited WiFi. The day before we flew back home, I found an area with WiFi and noticed 2 text messages from Gretchen. The first noted that there was an issue with the check and said that I needed to call her immediately. The second, sent two days later, accused me of intentionally ignoring her first text and insinuated that I'd sent her a fraudulent check. She went so far as to threaten us with legal action. In a panic, I called my bank to ask about the check -- and they informed me that no one had attempted to cash or deposit it! I texted Ms. Heller back to say that the bank confirmed the check was fine, and I told her that she could either deposit it, or I could stop payment on it and send her a new check upon returning to the US. Ms. Heller chose the former, but continued to send texts implying that she still believed the check to be a fraud. She updated me with these rude texts for days ("I'm going to the bank shortly to deposit the original check and trust it will fully clear.") The check cleared, as expected, but of course Ms. Heller never apologized. Working with Gretchen Heller was an utter nightmare from start to finish. Not only did she essentially extort us for $400, she then went on to harass, threaten and insult me during our honeymoon. If you need musicians, do yourself a favor and hire literally anyone else.

My mother came across Perfect Harmony Quartet online and booked them for our wedding at Keswick Vineyards in Charlottesville, VA. Gretchen with Perfect Harmony and my mother were in close contact over about a year’s time coordinating music for our wedding. Perfect Harmony has pages and pages of music to choose from for your big day; AC/DC and Journey to Bruno Mars and Adele. We used their services for the ceremony and cocktail hour. Guests raved about them all night. We are so happy to have shared our day with them. If you book them, they definitely will not disappoint! 5-stars.

A few cues were missed but this could have been the result of the wedding coordinator not communicating with them. Overall the music was great and they were very professional.

My husband and I have received so many compliments about the music that Perfect Harmony provided for our wedding in October. Our guests (including some seasoned musicians) thoroughly enjoyed every song they played, and have commented to us on their skill, the diversity of their set list, and the beauty of their music. I wish I had been able to hear more of it, but when they played the song I had selected for my walk down the aisle, it was perfectly executed and beautifully arranged. Gretchen was very professional and easy to work with throughout the entire process. I would highly recommend Perfect Harmony!

We booked Perfect Harmony String Ensemble rather late in our planning process because our original ceremony musician fell through. Despite the limited time, they were very accommodating. They have a very deep repertoire of traditional and contemporary music. They offered many suggestions for the processional and recessional, including the order or processing in and out and appropriate tempos for each. We really liked that they were able to incorporate some of our more quirky requests like the Game of Thrones theme song in the pre-ceremony selections. They will play outdoors as long as it is warm enough and it was just warm enough for them on our wedding day. It was quite cold actually. This did not affect their performance or general happy attitudes. You can tell they love what they do and have a good time doing it. Their pricing is very reasonable for the area and they are seasoned experts who have played all over. They were very familiar with our venue, so what we paid them was worth it overall. I would highly recommend them to any bride and groom.

For my daughter’s wedding at the Airlie Center in VA we wanted a string ensemble to play during the ceremony as well as the cocktail hour. Let me start by saying we were very lucky and blessed to get Gretchen Heller and Perfect Harmony String Ensemble. My daughter and fiancé decided on a trio with the violin, viola and cello, and were blown away from the extensive repertoire list offered by Perfect Harmony. They chose beautiful, traditional music for the ceremony and had fun changing it up to more modern for the cocktail hour. We also had Perfect Harmony accompany a family member (an accomplished flutist) they had never worked with before. After coordinating everything via email and phone and with just 30 minutes of practice prior to the ceremony, they played Ave Maria…and it still gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. It was simply beautiful! And so many of our guests commented on how great they were and how they added to the ambiance. I most highly recommend Perfect Harmony to any couple who wants that “something special” on their wedding day!

So a note for all brides, picking someone to do your ceremony music is tricky because in the reality you personally will hear or remember very little of it so you just hope for the best. and thats what I got with Perfect harmony. They did such a good job, people told me how great they were and their music was always on point. I loved how they had a great variety of music, so if you dont want just regular classical played at your wedding they can do it and do it well! I would totally recommend them to anyone!

Gretchen emailed after my early Oct wedding asking us to review PH. Our wedding was held in an intimate garden setting. We had discussed the use of a sound system to ensure appropriate volume and enjoyment for the guest. Our contract paperwork included the use of a speaker/ sound system as promised to us as a special perk of booking PH through a bridal expo. Despite our agreement for this sound system to be supplied and used it was not brought to my wedding. The quartet was not loud enough to be heard throughout a very small garden. My mom was seated approx. 20-25 feet from them and could barely hear them. As my bridesmaids, the flower girl and I processed and recessed the music was too quiet to hear. Some of my guest who were seated in the section directly in front of the quartet and though they were very pleased with the music they also remarked to me the music was not very loud , as did many of my guest who were seated on the opposite side of the garden. It would have been nice to have a sound system as promised in our contract so everyone could have enjoyed the music. In addition many of our own formal pictures showed one of the musicians wearing a very large oversized bright blue sweatshirt like jacket...as there was a cool wind blowing on the beautiful Oct day. I understand the need for warmth but also feel that a more appropriate and professional sweater or jacket cold have planned for and worn. It really did not look professional at all and many of my guests even commented, as all of the other musicians were dressed in black/white. In addition to everything, responsiveness to emails and phone calls was always very slow through our year of planning the wedding. We wrote Gretchen to voice all of these concerns two weeks after the wedding asking for a partial refund due to their lack of upholding the contract. To this day we still have not ever heard back from her or the company. No email, no phone calls. Very unprofessional. Spend your money elsewhere.

Perfect Harmony played classical music for the ceremony, then switched to everything from AC/DC to the Beatles for the cocktail hour. We chose the violin/cello/flute trio and the flute really added to the sound. Gretchen was very easy to work with--a few emails and phone calls and we were set!

I contacted Perfect Harmony only about 3 weeks before our wedding to request services for our wedding. We selected a solo violinst and couldn't be happier with our choice. Gretchen was so quick and responsive to get a contract out and get the services confirmed. The violinst that played at our event was wonderful! She played everything beautifully, and was so professional and nice. It added that extra special touch to our ceremony!

Perfect Harmony performed during my wedding ceremony and cocktail hour on May 12, 2012. They were simply fantastic to work with--from the initial contact with Gretchen, through the music selection process, and the performances that day. They are consummate professionals--very communicative, punctual, and just so talented! There's a lot of things to worry about on your wedding day, but Perfect Harmony won't be one of them. Not only will I recommend them to everyone I know, but if an event arises in the future, I will definitely hire them again myself!

I was so excited to have Perfect Harmony's string trio play at our outdoor ceremony, however, on our wedding day we were sad to learn that they would not be able to play because temperatures were too low for their instruments. We didn't realize when we booked them that they would be unable to play if the temperature was below 65 degrees. We were told this a few weeks before the wedding, but we were still hoping for the best temperature-wise. When our wedding day came and the temperatures were in the 50s, they couldn't play. This was very disappointing because we were still holding our ceremony outside. However, they were flexible and offered to play inside as the wedding party walked outside to the ceremony, and as guests came back inside afterwards. They sounded amazing and did a great job, we just were not able to utilize them as we had originally hoped. Keep this in mind if you are a bride that's planning on having an outdoor ceremony during a month where the weather and temperatures could be questionable.

I loved working with Perfect Harmony. From the first contact Gretchen was very professional! They were on time, performed extraordinarily and I could not have been more pleased! The wedding party and guests all complimented their performance. Beverly