Celebrating Success

The Impact of Our Music Through Your Words

Celebrating Success

The Impact of Our Music Through Your Words

Share Your Symphony of Success

If Northside Brass Music Company had the honor of playing a part in your unforgettable event, we’d love for you to share your story. Help others envision the magic we can bring to their special occasions by recounting your experience with us.

Hear from a previous client

The three musicians from Northside Brass took my breath away at our wedding. Their performance completely transformed the feel of our ceremony and gave our wedding music the unique touch we were looking for. Ryan, the leader of the group, was wonderful to work with from start to finish. He answered the million questions I had, no matter how important they really were, and he always did it in a timely fashion. There is no doubt how passionate is he about music. He and his group were definitely worth every penny, and I would recommend them to any bride and groom looking to make a statement on their wedding day
Georgia
St Joseph Parish, Aurora IL
The easiest part of planning my wedding was the band! They only played at my ceremony, but they were fabulous. They showed up on time, played the songs I requested BEAUTIFULLY and at the right pace. They didn't make the planning before hand too technical. They worked with me over email to get the gist of the timing of the songs I wanted and then day of, sort of felt out the pace of the bridal party. They were great, would highly recommend.
Kathryn
The Drake Hotel Chicago
Ryan played with a string quartet at my wedding. My husband and I were married in a garden setting, and I walked down the aisle to "Trumpet Voluntary," which showcased Ryan's trumpet. One of the most vivid memories that I have of that day was standing at the back of the aisle, waiting to walk down it, and hearing Ryan's soaring trumpet. It was a wonderful moment. The trumpet definitely encapsulated the grandness of the moment for me, and was a wonderful addition to the quartet. Ryan is a truly talented musician, and an extremely flexible person to work with. He played exactly what I wanted, and even though "Trumpet Voluntary" is technically a trumpet and piano duet, the difference in the quartet didn't seem to phase Ryan one bit. As an amateur musican and music lover myself, I admire Ryan's talent, and professionalism, and his ability to learn music extremely quickly. He was a wonderful addition to my wedding. I would gladly recommend him to anyone, and would love to have him play at any of my future events!
Meg
Cantigny Mansion, Wheaton IL
Ryan played the trumpet for us at our wedding, and we couldn't have been happier with his service and talent. We received many compliments from our guests about his performance, and would definitely recommend Ryan to play at other's weddings. He was very professional, easy to work with, and we knew we could count on him to make our wedding ceremony special.
Julie Wuka
St. Cecilia's, Mt. Prospect IL
Ryan was an incredible and memorable addition to our wedding! My husband and I were married almost three years ago, and we still get comments on what a unique and elegant touch Ryan added to our special day. I wish I could do the whole day again and Ryan would be the first musician I'd book!
Kristen
Mary, Queen of Heaven, Elmhurst, IL
Northside Brass serenaded guests at our annual Christmas Walk open house. We have a restaurant inside a large store, and offer complimentary hot mulled cider and cookies to guests while they take a break from shopping. Northside Brass was stationed inside the restaurant. I initially was concerned that having a brass quintet playing inside a restaurant with low ceilings and terra cotta floors would be too disruptive to guests, but this did not prove to be the case at all. In fact, we received many compliments on the music throughout the evening. It was a welcome compliment to a festive evening.
Mike
Wedding Wire
Ryan was excellent to work with. He had two detailed calls with my fiance and I (we were from out of town) prior to our wedding, and he and his group performed well beyond our expectations. They showed up early and sounded spectacular. I wanted to walk down the aisle to Appalachian Spring, which I wasn't sure would work. Ryan made it work and it was wonderful! Northside Brass is a great group of people with a lot of talent. I highly recommend them!
Wedding Wire
NorthSide Brass was a pleasure to work with for our fundraising event. The quintet lent an air of sophistication, were professional and talented. Any questions about the event were promptly answered. They arrived on time, played as requested, were all very gracious, and dressed appropriately for the event. Although NorthSide Brass was hired to provided "background" music, they received well wishes and applause as they exited from an appreciative audience. I would highly recommend NorthSide Brass for any event.
Kristina
Wedding Wire
The Northside Brass Quintet has performed at my church on at a number of events. They have done everything from traditional classical works to dixieland jazz. I have worked with them as an ensemble and also with Ryan Hobbs as a trumpet soloist and they are excellent musicians - always prepared, on time, and easy to get along with. My church asks to have them back all the time and loves when they perform!
Larry
Wedding Wire
Ryan was responsive, helpful, and incredibly accomodating from the start of the process. He responded to all of my emails quickly and even entertained my most ridiculous questions. He and the other musicians arrived with plenty of time to spare and set up and broke down without us even noticing as we took pictures and talked with our guests (we were getting married on private property so there wasn't even a coordinator to help him get things ready). The ceremony wasn't a standard religious ceremony, but they still never missed a beat with the music. Additionally, Ryan went above and beyond to get speakers and microphones for the ceremony officiant and readers so that I didn't have to. On top of everything the music was lovely and really added a nice touch to our ceremony. It was outdoors and the sound carried beautifully throughout the entire space. We received a lot of compliments. At the end of the day, I can't say enough great things about working with Ryan and Northside Brass.
Molly
Wedding Wire
When our daughter announced she was getting married, my husband and i began searching for the most appropriate way to compliment her wedding ceremony with beautiful music. As we are a family of music lovers, it was very important that we find the perfect pieces. Ryan Hobbs of Northside Brass worked with me and was a tremendous asset in this process. Ryan made the selections of preludes, postludes and ceremony music simple and thoroughly enjoyable. The result was spectacular and celebratory. The Northside Brass Quintet was magnificent! Their performance made it the truly memorable event we had hoped it would be.
Lynn
Wedding Wire
Ryan and Northside Brass were fantastic. We hired them as a trio for a wedding, had high expectations, and were not disappointed. They were easy to work with, extremely responsive - and most important, sounded phenomenal on our wedding day. We'd recommend hiring this group in a second. At the end of the day, I can't say enough great things about working with Ryan and Northside Brass.
Chris
Wedding Wire
As mother of the bride, it was my desire to provide an instrumentalist specifically the trumpet for my daughter's wedding ceremony. Fortunately, I located Ryan Hobbs, of Northside Brass,who presented the most beautiful performance playing his wonderful trumpet solo and including a vocalist who played the piano and sang elegantly. The sounds created such a magnificent moment as my daughter walked the aisle with her father. I am truly appreciative of Ryan's assistance and recommendations, and also his flexibility for the bride and groom. Anyone who is planning a wedding or a special event, I highly recommend Ryan Hobbs, Northside Brass and you will have first-class, marvelous musicians who will make you affair amazing.
Barbara
Wedding Wire
Ryan Hobbs and his colleagues are amazing! My wife and I wanted to find a good live music choice to play at our ceremony, and Northside Brass couldn’t have been easier to work with. One of our wedding guests who is a longtime trumpet player informed us that the group really knew what they were doing. Not only does Northside Brass have a large catalog of songs to play, they also created a special brass quintent arrangement of “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” as our recessional song. Amazing. Ryan and team helped create a magical event, and we are so grateful. We recommend wholeheartedly.
Wedding Wire
We had the pleasure of hiring Ryan Hobbs of Northside Brass to be our trumpeter at our wedding. He was one of the most professional, gracious, and easygoing vendor I have encountered. He responded promptly to any communication sent. He coordinated with our organist without questions asked. Most importantly he was and is a sensational trumpeter. Not only would I hire him again in a second, I would also recommend him to anyone looking for a musician. Thank you Ryan Hobbs!!!
Kim
Wedding Wire
Northside Brass played Quintet Favorites for us last Friday-- and they were terrific. Some of our residents noted that Northside Brass was their favorite musical ensemble yet to perform for our community. Ryan Hobbs offered highly professional communication throughout the planning process. The group was punctual and prepared. They brought printed performance programs--a rarity. Overall a great experience. Highly recommended. -- a continuing care retirement community
Wedding Wire
Super easy to work with for our wedding ceremony music. Provided examples and help for song selection and on the day-of worked directly with my other vendors for set up and sound checks. They worked with our officiant ahead of time to ensure her music requirements were met. Very professional in all conversations and beautifully delivered ceremony music. Great company to work with and would highly recommend.
Wedding Wire
Northside Brass performed at our wedding. We were very happy with the quality of musicianship presented which added a lot to our special day. As musicians ourselves we were very happy with the results. I even wrote a piece for them to play during the ceremony and they accommodated us without hesitation. They were very professional and easy to work with. Thank you for bringing music to our day.
Jordan
Wedding Wire
We used the Northside Brass Quintet at our wedding ceremony at Two Brothers Roundhouse. We are both music teachers and always knew we wanted a brass quintet at our wedding. They were also a great choice since our wedding was outside in the courtyard/gazebo. They also had a great selection of music to choose from (some tradition AND non-traditional), and even were able to play an original composition that the groom wrote. They sounded absolutely beautiful and are definitely worth the money we paid. So glad we hired them to make our day even more special!
Katie
Wedding Wire
Northside Brass was the perfect choice. They ran our entire Catholic mass with the most perfect music. We had a vocalist and pianist. We were very thrilled. Northside Brass needed very little direction from us. Ryan and his team were proactive in checking with the church for anything they needed. They didn't miss a beat and I would highly recommend them to anyone.
Wedding Wire
First, I'd like to start by saying that I never write reviews, but I found online reviews so helpful when vetting my own vendors that I feel obligated to contribute. I worked with Ryan at Northside Brass to book the String Quartet for my September 2015 ceremony & cocktail hour. We were very happy with the music and I would highly recommend working with Ryan. He was extremely responsive and very flexible with my (regrettably) multiple changes to who was walking down the aisle to what song. He successfully passed along the message to the String Quartet & they got it right for the ceremony! My only critique is more for Ryan than for other couples. About one month before our wedding, he asked us to cover parking costs for up to 2 vehicles. This was not included in our contract price. In the spirit of love & not wanting to potentially piss off a vendor so that they didn't show up therefore ruining our wedding, we offered to pay $40 more to cover parking. However, this really should have been negotiated at the beginning & included in the contract.
Wedding Wire
We booked a 4 piece jazz quartet (upright base, saxophone, drums, keyboard) through Northside Brass for our wedding reception. They played throughout our cocktail hour, dinner, and also for our first dance as husband and wife. The musicians were spectacular and it added great ambiance during cocktails and dinner. We requested classic jazz hits and also some jazzy Christmas songs as our wedding was in December. Dancing to live music for our first dance made it all the more romantic. We had lots of compliments from guests as well. I would highly recommend booking a band through this company! They were very reasonable as well.
Sarah
Wedding Wire
Northside Brass was phenomenal! We used a jazz quartet (upright bass, percussion, trumpet, and piano) for our ceremony and cocktail hour. I had done quite a bit of shopping around regarding price and stipulations for playing at an outdoor ceremony. So many vendors were very particular about the temperature being above 60 degrees or 65 degrees, which is hard to guarantee for an April wedding in Chicago. Ryan was much more accommodating in this regard. NSB was low maintenance regarding their requirements. They allowed us to use their microphones for the ceremony. They rehearsed with our singers before the ceremony. Ryan completely let us customize our song lists and what the quartet played when. I got exactly what I wanted, and we heard so many compliments after the fact regarding how great the music was. Ryan was very responsive and helpful with the planning and execution process.
Christine
Wedding Wire
We booked Northside Brass & Strings to perform our ceremony music and to play during our cocktail hour. We met with Ryan and were very impressed with his attention to detail and ease to work with. Everything we suggested was met with enthusiasm, and he had a number of suggestions in turn that were wonderful. The day of the wedding, everything went smoothly. The quartet added a lot of fun to the ceremony, and the live music was everything we'd hoped it to be. They also played at the cocktail hour. While we were required outside for photos, I was told by many guests that they made the atmosphere there just as wonderful. In fact, I received a large number of compliments on the band from guests throughout the night and for the days following. We're so happy they were part of our special day, and would highly recommend them to anyone else looking for fun, live music!
Dustin
Wedding Wire
Northside Brass played at our outdoor ceremony in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Ryan was phenomenal to work with; they were also very flexible on our wedding day. Despite the rain, everything turned out perfectly. I walked down the aisle to Trumpet Voluntary; and it sounded so regal, just how I imagined. It truly blew our guests away. My husband and I received so many compliments on our ceremony as well as our cocktail hour. They played at our outdoor cocktail hour for an additional two hours, and our guests enjoyed every second! Thank you Ryan and Northside Brass for making our wedding day so beautiful!
Maria
Wedding Wire
We were absolutely thrilled with the music at my daughter and son-in-law's wedding. Sarah on trumpet and the string quartet all did a superb job! We are so grateful for their outstanding skill and artistry. And Ryan, you were the most wonderful person to work with on the music...you were responsive and flexible and SO fun to work with. The music really was flawless...we were overjoyed. THANK YOU.
Wendy
Wedding Wire
We had a brass quintet from Northside Brass play for our outdoor wedding ceremony at the Wilder Garden in Elmhurst. Ryan Hobbs runs Northside Brass, and he was also the lead trumpet player/director of the quintet at our ceremony. I dealt with Ryan throughout the planning process, primarily through e-mail, and he was always highly responsive and helpful in answering my questions. We chose specific tunes from a brass quintet wedding repertoire that Northside Brass has. Their repertoire was broader than other brass groups that we looked at, and pricing was also reasonable. Those factors, along with Ryan's responsiveness, helpfulness, and professional experience were the reasons we chose Northside Brass. We were very pleased with our choice! When watching our wedding video, the brass music is one of the highlights, as it added joy, beauty, and class to the entire ceremony. We chose 5 tunes that were played as guests were arriving for the ceremony; a couple of tunes for the wedding processional; one for the bride's entrance; one during the ceremony; one for the recessional; and two for postlude music as guests left the ceremony. The wedding day went very smoothly as Ryan's group arrived promptly and set up efficiently in the perfect location for our specific wedding venue. We dreamed of having beautiful, uplifting brass music at our ceremony and Northside Brass made our dream come true!
Kevin
Wedding Wire
Northside brass were so great to work with, and provided such wonderful service. They provided a string quartet for our ceremony and a jazz combo for our cocktail hour. Our guests raved about both groups of musicians. Everyone arrived early, handled set up and break down efficiently, and were just outstanding musicians. I would recommend them without hesitation to anyone looking for just the right touch of live music for any part of their wedding.
Nora
Wedding Wire
Northside Brass: an awe-inspiring component of our daughter's wedding My daughter asked me to look into live music for her outdoor wedding in the loggia at Cafe Brauer. I cold-contacted Ryan Hobbs at Northside Brass and was immediately hooked. Ryan was responsive, pleasant and professional at all times. NSB has samples of its wide-ranging ceremonial repertoire on its website, so the wedding party was able to get a true sense of what we actually would be hearing at the wedding. On top of that, NSB is flexible: I was looking for the depth provided by the brass quintet, but my daughter wanted a trio piece as her processional; no problem, they arranged it for the quintet. The bride and groom wanted "their song" for the recessional; no problem, NSB found an arrangement and learned it. Another flexibility advantage of a brass choir (compared to strings): it's not fragile. While exploring our music options, we learned that the violins get put away pretty quickly if the weather is not to their liking, but the trumpets and tubas keep on playing. Also, brass instruments have the ability to increase the volume if necessary: we had a windy day, but every guest heard the music. It is hard to do justice in words to the joy and majesty that Northside Brass brought to this wedding. These guys simply knocked it out of the park. That was just part one. Part two was the cocktail hour for which they unobtrusively filled the loggia with a mix of jazz, standards and Motown. It's not like the UW Marching Band playing Sousa marches: these musicians are seasoned professionals who know how to set the right tone. The bottom line: a brass choir at a wedding takes everything to the next level, and Northside Brass exceeded our already-high expectations.
Steve
Wedding Wire
Ryan made my vision of an emotional grand entrance into the church a reality. Every girl wants to feel like a princess on her wedding day...and once the trumpets sounded I think everyone attending felt that..including my soon to be husband. Ryan was very professional and worked with the organist on the songs with a tight schedule. He gave me advice on song selection and which ones would make my vision come true. I received many compliments afterwards and needless to say I have a tough family to impress, especially my mom!! I would definitely recommend Ryan's services and I feel his performance is exactly what you need if you want something special and memorable and not the stale old songs everyone hears at weddings. Even if you do choose those songs he can make them a bit more powerful than just an organist playing.....
Carena
Wedding Wire
Northside Brass and Strings were great! They accommodated for the music I suggested and helped me to pick out the best music for the ceremony and cocktail hour. We received such great compliments from out guests! They were very professional and extremely nice. I knew everything was going to be great!
Kim
Wedding Wire

Bring Your Event to Life with Unforgettable Brass Music

Experience the elegance and energy of Northside Brass, perfect for everything from sophisticated weddings to lively corporate gatherings. Let us tailor a musical experience that’s just right for your special occasion.

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