Private Residence Wedding in Underhill Center, VT

East Coast Soul was grateful to be brought to join Hayley & Brad for their stunning Private Residence Wedding in Underhill Center, VT.

Preprations for Hayley & Brad's Big Day

Our groundwork for the wedding began months in advance, with Hayley & Brad expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the wedding (preparation is a key part of our process). Hayley & Brad were happy to be a key part of this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Underhill Center, VT and began our standard load-in and sound check for Private Residence 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 groundwork involves outlining exactly what portions of the wedding East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Hayley & Brad were also interested in East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Hayley & Brad 's ceremony . East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Piano performance and Single Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul performing roughly 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests arrived, the ceremony took place.

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 relax after the intense emotions of the ceremony. We contribute by providing a variety of relaxed music for guests to enjoy listening to. In this case, We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share of celebrations, the band is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Private Residence Wedding was no different. However, there were actually no formal intros for this wedding.

The couple’s First Dance

With no introductions to take care of, we headed into into the couple’s first dance.

The groom and bride's first dance is traditionally one of the most emotional parts of the wedding. It's a chance for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this particular performance, we were asked to perform the first dance number live, instead of performing it from a recording. With this portion of the wedding finished, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble circled back to the stage.

Parent Dances

In many weddings, we are also asked to play the couple's parent dances. This was a chance for the to join Hayley & Brad to spend a couple minutes on the dance floor with their father and mother. For this particular performance, the bride and her father danced together. Brad and his mother danced together as well. Parent dances are a great 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

East Coast Soul shows commonly kick off with vintage material. We've discovered this is an excellent approach to get guests up on the dance floor with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and more dominated the outset of our performance. We then transitioned 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 Hayley & Brad for having us at their beautiful July wedding at Private Residence! And thank you to Jenna Brisson for sharing these beautiful photos with us!