Ocean Gateway Wedding in Portland, ME

East Coast Soul was grateful to be brought to join Anne & Derek for their stunning Ocean Gateway Wedding in Portland, ME.

Preprations for Anne & Derek's Big Day

Our groundwork for the wedding began well ahead, with Anne & Derek sharing their music and logistical preferences and vision with us for the wedding (we take our preparation process extremely seriously). Anne & Derek were incredibly helpful during this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Portland, ME and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for Ocean Gateway weddings. We get a lot of questions about the logistics of loading in to any given venue. This is a part of the day that we take seriously, spending extra time to avoid rushing, and ensuring our gear is properly tuned for the room.

Ceremony

In this case, East Coast Soul was not involved with couple's ceremony, with those arrangements having already been taken care of.

Cocktail Hour

As is often the case, East Coast Soul was asked to provide cocktail hour music. Cocktail hour is a great opportunity for the bride and groom to unwind after the intense emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by performing a variety of relaxed music for guests to enjoy. In this case, and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and more.

Reception

In a bulk of weddings, the band is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the wedding celebrations. This Ocean Gateway Wedding was no different.

The couple’s First Dance

The groom and bride's first dance is invariably one of the most emotional parts of the wedding. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. With this portion of the wedding finished, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a super brief break, East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble returned to the stage.

Dance Party

East Coast Soul dance performances commonly kick off with vintage material. We've discovered this is an excellent approach to get folks relaxed and dancing with songs they know and love. Artists like Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, The Temptations, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. We then moved into playing tunes by artists like Whitney Houston, Prince, Michael Jackson and more. Finally, we ended the night performing contemporary material that everyone could sing along with.

Guests danced non-stop from beginning to end, and we limited our breaks to ensure people had as much time to dance as possible.

Thanks so much to Anne & Derek for having us at their beautiful April wedding at Ocean Gateway!