Toad Hill Farm Wedding in Franconia, NH

East Coast Soul was grateful to be invited to join Valerie & Austin for their stunning Toad Hill Farm Wedding in .

Introductions and Preprations for Valerie & Austin's Big Day

Valerie & Austin first got in touch with us in June of 2019. Valerie had mentioned seeing the Soulsville ensemble at a friend's wedding the weekend prior to reaching out to us -- always one of the best ways for people to get introduced to the band! Our planning for the wedding day began well ahead, with Valerie & Austin sharing their music and logistical preferences and vision with us for the wedding day (we take our preparation process extremely seriously). Valerie & Austin were happy to be a key part of this advanced planning and incredibly helpful throughout.

Once the wedding day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for Toad Hill Farm weddings. Our process for loading in and setting up at any given venue is a big part of our preparation process. 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

One aspect of our planning involves outlining exactly what portions of the wedding day East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Valerie & Austin were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Valerie & Austin 's ceremony started at 4:00 pm on and . East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Guitar performance and One Wireless Mic and One Lavalier Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul performing approximately 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests arrived, the ceremony took place. Valerie & Austin provided a beautiful collection of songs for us to perform for the ceremony:

Processional (including Bride): Christina Perri – A Thousand Years
Recessional: Hall & Oates – You Make My Dreams

Cocktail Hour

As is common, East Coast Soul was asked to provide cocktail hour music. Cocktail hour is a wonderful chance for the bride and groom to unwind after the intense emotions of the ceremony. We contribute by providing a blend of relaxed music for guests to listend to. In this case, We provided a Piano/Sax Duo and and featured music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.

Reception

In a majority of celebrations, East Coast Soul is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the weddings. This Toad Hill Farm Wedding was no different. However, there were actually no formal intros for this wedding. The bridal party crushed it by dancing in to The Temptations - Get Ready with everyone cheering them on.

The groom and bride’s First Dance

With no introductions to take care of, we transitioned into the groom and bride’s first dance.

The newly married couple's first dance is almost always one of the most emotional parts of the wedding day. It's a chance for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this specific wedding, we were asked to perform the first dance song live, instead of playing it from a recording. Valerie & Austin danced to Shining Star by Earth Wind & Fire, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. With this part of the wedding finished, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble returned to the stage.

Parent Dances

In many weddings, East Coast Soul is often requested to perform the couple's parent dances. This was a chance for the to join Valerie & Austin to share a brief moment in the center of the floor with their parents. For this specific wedding, Valerie and her father danced to My Little Girl by Tim McGraw. Austin and his mother shared a dance to My Wish by Rascal Flatts. Parent dances are a fantastic way to kick off the main dance performance. We often ask guests to join the couple and their parents on the dance floor, and then move directly in to the rest of the performance.

Dance Party

As part of our preparation process, we like to get a sense of what the bride and groom are excited to hear. Valerie & Austin Were a huge help here, giving us a ton of great input. Proud Mary September Lady Gaga - Bad Romance The O’Jay’s - Love Train

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 Valerie & Austin for having us at their beautiful October wedding at Toad Hill Farm! And thank you to Jessie Casey for sharing these beautiful photos with us!