Lauren Roy Entertainment

Lauren Roy truly made our wedding day perfect. She was a pleasure to work with from start to finish, and extremely flexible and understanding with our constant changes and adjustments as a result of COVID. Along with an acoustic guitarist, she lit up the room at our ceremony, nailing the slow, acoustic versions of some of our more up-beat favourites ("Best Friend" by Queen, "Home" by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes, "Believer" by The Monkeys) and putting a tremendous amount of heart and soul into some of the traditional wedding classics ("Moon River," "Can't Help Falling in Love With You"). I was originally concerned that the single guitarist and singer wouldn't be enough to keep the energy high at our intimate backyard reception, but Lauren assured me she and her guitarist alone could "bring the party," and they absolutely delivered. We couldn't believe how big of a sound they pulled off with just the two musicians; it felt like we had hired a 5 or 6 piece band (without bothering the neighbours). After the wedding many of our guests expressed how much they enjoyed the music, and some even asked for her information to hire her themselves. Lauren took so much of the stress off of us during the planning process, and made our wedding day unforgettable. I could not recommend her highly enough.

Lauren is just simply amazing. We came to her with a wacky idea for a company project, and she totally exceeded our expectations and created such a magical music piece, it is truly out of this world. We have worked with her a few times and she has always gone above and beyond. You'd be really silly to skip over Lauren, I promise you'll be so in love with the final product! She is so professional and detail-oriented, you'll love what she creates for you!

Look no further and cross live music off your planning to-do list. Hire SteelRiver and Southbound Soul; I promise you, it's the easiest and best decision you'll make! Lauren is a dream to work with. She's incredibly responsive, a genuinely lovely person, super enthusiastic, and OMG her voice -- talented doesn't even begin to describe her musical abilities. In addition to booking SteelRiver and Southbound Soul for our upcoming wedding, I've also booked Lauren and Will for a large virtual holiday celebration for work this past December, booked Lauren for the Love Locked Down virtual concert series this past Valentine's Day, and booked Lauren for a surprise virtual concert for my best friend on her wedding day this past February. (My friends joke that I should just have them on a retainer for all my life events.) The feedback I received from both colleagues and my friends/family was incredible; they loved the performances and talked about how much fun they had for days following the events. I really appreciated how hard Lauren worked behind the scenes to make sure that her performances would go off without a hitch. From taking the time to do sound checks and pre-performance practices, to ensuring she knows who she's performing for and learning names and relevant tidbits of information of her audience, she is always so well prepared and her passion for her craft is evident in everything she does. Without a doubt, SteelRiver and Southbound Soul are a must-have for your big day.

Over the past year, Covid restrictions have impacted many of the things we had always taken for granted. Not the least of these are dining out, visiting with close friends and live music. The sense of loss of these things feels even more acute at traditional times of gathering – like Christmas. People have come up with some innovative ways create substitutes for these simple pleasures, and at Christmas this year, Lauren Roy helped put some magic into the Christmas season for a group of 14 friends who first met while studying at McMaster in 1982. We always gather a few times each year and invariably, one of those occasions is Christmas. This year, gathering for a meal was replaced by a Zoom call. And to bring a bit more holiday spirit to the Zoom call, I arranged for a mini-concert of Christmas songs from Lauren Roy and her guitarist, William Mukuna. Lauren had the great idea of gathering the titles of attendees favorite Christmas related songs and took the time to learn them and give a shout out each time she played someone’s favorite. In a year when we lost so much human contact, Lauren’s talent and warm style made us feel like we were in the same room and made us forget the distance that has unceasingly separated us this year. Thanks again Lauren.

Lauren and Will are truly talented beyond words! For the last few years, I have had the honour of working with Lauren and she has always gone above and beyond for my clients. As a wedding planner, you put full trust into those vendors that you share with clients. Lauren, never fails and clients are always left speechless. She is kind, hard working and an all around amazing person. Thank you for exceeding expectations and being apart of so many lovely couples dream wedding days!