Elm Bank Wedding in Wellesley, MA

East Coast Soul was blessed to be asked to join this beautiful couple for their stunning Elm Bank Wedding in Wellesley, MA.

Preprations

Our preparations for the wedding began well ahead, with the bride and groom offering a myriad of musical and logistical options with us for the wedding (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). The bride and groom were happy to be a key part of this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Wellesley, MA and began our standard load in and sound check process for Elm Bank. We're often asked about our process for loading in and sound checking at various venues. 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, we learned that The bride and groom were also interested in East Coast Soul to provide ceremony music. In this case, The bride and groom 's ceremony was held at Elm Bank. After East Coast Soul performed approximately 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests arrived, the ceremony began. Specially, we provided a Soloist performance for the processional, bride’s entrance, recessional.

Cocktail Hour

As is often the case, 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 performing a blend of relaxed music for guests to enjoy. In this case, we provided a and featured music by artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davies, and more.

Reception

In a bulk of receptions, East Coast Soul is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Elm Bank Wedding was no different. With introductions finished, we transitioned into the couple’s first dance. The first dance is consistently one of the most meaningful parts of the wedding. It's a chance for the couple to take a moment for themselves. With this portion of the evening complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After resting briefly, East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble returned.

In many weddings, we are also asked to perform the couple's parent dances. This is a chance for the bride and groom to spend a couple minutes on the dance floor with their father and mother. In this case, the bride and her father danced together. The groom and his mother shared a dance as well. Parent dances are a great way to start the performance portion of the evening. We generally ask for the attention of the guests to start. We then often ask them to join the couple and their parents on the dance floor, and then move directly in to the rest of the performance.

Our performances often start with older material. We've found this is a great way to get folks up on the dance floor with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, The Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. We then moved into performing music by artists like Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. 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 this beautiful couple for having us at their beautiful August wedding at Elm Bank! And thank you to Lovely Valentine for sharing these beautiful photos with us!