Granite Links Golf Club Wedding in Quincy, MA

East Coast Soul was blessed to be invited to join Emily & Dan for their stunning Granite Links Golf Club Wedding in Quincy, MA.

Introductions and Preprations for Emily & Dan's Big Day

Emily & Dan first reached out to East Coast Soul in January of 2018. East Coast Soul actually performed at the groom's brothers wedding several months prior. The bride emailed with "I can honestly say anytime someone brings up that wedding people start raving about you." Of course, we're thrilled to join for another family event! Our groundwork for the wedding day began well ahead, with Emily & Dan offering a myriad of musical and logistical options with us for the wedding day (preparation is a key part of our process). Emily & Dan were incredibly helpful during this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Quincy, MA and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for Granite Links Golf Club weddings. 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

One aspect of our groundwork involves outlining exactly what portions of the wedding day East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Emily & Dan were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Emily & Dan 's ceremony started at 5:30 pm on and took place The Lawn at Granite Links Golf Club. East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Guitar performance and One Wireless Mic and One Lavalier Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul providing roughly 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests arrived, the ceremony took place. Emily & Dan provided a beautiful collection of songs for us to perform for the ceremony:

• Prelude: James Taylor
• Processional: James Taylor – Carolina on My Mind
• “Bride’s Entrance”: Zac Brown Band – Free (performed by the Best Man)
• Recessional: The Band – Atlantic City

Cocktail Hour

As is common, 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 heightened 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 Piano/Sax Duo and and featured music by artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davies, and more.

Reception

In a majority of celebrations, we is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Granite Links Golf Club Wedding was no different. The bridal party crushed it by dancing in to Teenage Dream by Katy Perry with the wedding guests cheering them in.

The groom and bride’s First Dance

The newly married couple's first dance is consistently one of the most meaningful parts of the wedding day. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. Emily & Dan danced to I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Mark Jones, 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.

Dance Party

East Coast Soul shows often start with older material. We've found this is a great way to get guests relaxed and dancing with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Sam and Dave, The Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, and more dominated the outset of our performance. We then transitioned into performing music 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 Emily & Dan for having us at their beautiful June wedding at Granite Links Golf Club! And thank you to Somerby Jones for sharing these beautiful photos with us!