An unbelievable May wedding at the Migis Lodge in South Casco, ME where East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble definitely made some new best friends!
East Coast Soul was blessed to be brought to join Avery & Jack for their stunning Migis Lodge Wedding in South Casco, ME.
Preprations for Avery & Jack's Big Day
Our groundwork for the wedding began well ahead, with Avery & Jack offering a myriad of musical and logistical options with us for the wedding (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Avery & Jack were happy to be a key part of this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.
Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to South Casco, ME and took care of the normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Migis Lodge weddings. We get a lot of questions about the logistics of loading in to any given venue. 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, Avery & Jack were also interested in East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Avery & Jack 's ceremony . East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Piano performance and Single Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul performing approximately 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests arrived, the ceremony took place.
Cocktail Hour
As is often the case, 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 do our part 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 bulk of celebrations, the band is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the wedding celebrations. This Migis Lodge Wedding was no different. However, there were in fact no formal intros for this wedding.
The bride and groom’s First Dance
With no introductions to take care of, we changed gears to into the bride and groom’s first dance.
The groom and bride's first dance is consistently one of the most unforgettable parts of the wedding. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this wedding in particular, we were requested to perform the first dance tune live, as opposed to performing it from a recording. With this part of the wedding complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After as short a break as possible, East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble returned to the stage.
Parent Dances
In a majority of weddings, we are also asked to play the couple's parent dances. The parents dances were an opportunity for the to join Avery & Jack to spend a couple minutes in the middle of the dancefloor with their mother and father. For this wedding in particular, the bride and her father shared a dance. Jack and his mother shared a dance as well. 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
our dance performances commonly kick off with vintage material. We've discovered this is an excellent approach to get everyone up on the dance floor with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, and more dominated the outset of our performance. We then transitioned into playing tunes by artists like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince 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 Avery & Jack for having us at their beautiful May wedding at Migis Lodge! And thank you to Natalya Desena for sharing these beautiful photos with us!
Ready to Learn More?
Planning a Wedding? Maybe at Migis Lodge, perhaps in South Casco, ME? Either way, feel free to learn more, and let's connect!