A beautiful wedding at the Artists For Humanity in Boston, MA where East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble had an incredibly time that will *not* soon be forgotten!
Gallery
Check out some images from this Artists For Humanity wedding!
East Coast Soul was fortunate to be invited to join Sarah & Ben for their stunning Artists For Humanity Wedding in Boston, MA.
Preprations for Sarah & Ben's Big Day
Our preparations for the wedding began well ahead, with Sarah & Ben expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the wedding (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Sarah & Ben were heavily involved in this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.
Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Boston, MA and carried out our normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Artists For Humanity weddings. Being prepared for load-in and set-up at any given venue is a critical part of our workflow. 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
Part of our preparations involves outlining exactly what portions of the wedding East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Sarah & Ben were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Sarah & Ben 's ceremony started at 6:00 pm on and was held Artists for Humanity at Artists For Humanity. East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Piano performance and Single Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul providing roughly 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests found their seats, the ceremony took place. Sarah & Ben provided a beautiful collection of songs for us to perform for the ceremony:
- Processional: The Who – Love Reign O’er Me
- Recessional: Bill Withers – Lovely Day
Cocktail Hour
As is often the case, East Coast Soul was requested to perform cocktail hour music. Cocktail hour is a great opportunity for the bride and groom to relax after the intense emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by providing a blend of relaxed music for guests to enjoy. In this case, cocktail hour took place Second floor of Artists for Humanity. We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.
Reception
In a majority of celebrations, the band is asked to take care of MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Artists For Humanity Wedding was no different.
The couple’s First Dance
The newly married couple's first dance is consistently 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 specific wedding, we were asked to play the first dance number live, instead of performing it from a recording. Sarah & Ben danced to The Horrah, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. With this part of the wedding complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble returned to the stage.
Parent Dances
In a majority of wedding performances, East Coast Soul is often requested to play the couple's parent dances. This was a chance for the to join Sarah & Ben to spend a couple minutes in the center of the floor with their mother and father. For this specific wedding, the bride and her father danced together. Ben and his mother shared a dance to The Temptations - My Girl/Ain't Too Proud to Beg. Parent dances are a great way to start 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
our dance performances commonly kick off with vintage material. We've found this is a great way to get guests relaxed and dancing with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. 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 Sarah & Ben for having us at their beautiful November wedding at Artists For Humanity!
Ready to Learn More?
Planning a Wedding? Maybe at Artists For Humanity, perhaps in Boston, MA? Either way, feel free to learn more, and let's connect!