Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa Wedding in Whitefield, NH

East Coast Soul was blessed to be invited to join Hilary & Chris for their stunning Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa Wedding in Whitefield, NH.

Introductions and Preprations for Hilary & Chris's Big Day

Hilary & Chris first got in touch with us in July of 2018. Our groundwork for the wedding began well ahead, with Hilary & Chris expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the wedding (preparation is a key part of our process). Hilary & Chris were heavily involved in this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Whitefield, NH and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa 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

Part of our groundwork involves outlining exactly what portions of the wedding East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Hilary & Chris were also interested in East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Hilary & Chris 's ceremony started at 3:30 pm on and was held just out the back doors of the ballroom at Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa. 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 found their seats, the ceremony took place. Hilary & Chris provided a beautiful collection of songs for us to perform for the ceremony:

• Prelude Suggestions: Paul Simon – Graceland and similar
• Processional: Dirty Projectors – Two Doves
• “Bride’s Entrance”: John Prine & Bonnie Raitt – Angel From Montgomery
• Special Song: Simple Gifts
• Recessional: Talking Heads – This Must Be The Place [Recording]

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 unwind after the intense emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by performing a blend of relaxed music for guests to listend to. In this case, cocktail hour took place garden/outdoor patio next to ceremony site. We provided a Guitar/Sax Duo and and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share of wedding celebrations, East Coast Soul is asked to take care of MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa 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 transitioned into the bride and groom’s first dance.

The bride and groom's first dance is invariably one of the most meaningful 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 song live, as opposed to performing it from a recording. Hilary & Chris danced to Time After Time by Chet Baker, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. With this part of the evening complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a super brief break, East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble returned to the stage.

Parent Dances

In many weddings, we are also asked to play the couple's parent dances. The parents dances were an opportunity for the to join Hilary & Chris to spend a couple minutes on the dance floor with their father and mother. For this specific wedding, the bride and her father shared a dance. Chris and his mother shared a dance as well. Parent dances are a great way to kick off the dance party portion of the evening. 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

As part of our preparation process, we like to get a sense of what the bride and groom are excited to hear. Hilary & Chris Were a huge help here, giving us a ton of great input. The bride and groom shared some amazing requests such as: his Must Be The Place by the Talking Heads, Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones, I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston. They also pointed to Kiss by Prince, Brown Eyed Girl and Into The Mystic by Van Morrison, Feel Like Makin’ Love by D'Angelo as additional tunes they'd love to hear.

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 Hilary & Chris for having us at their beautiful September wedding at Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa! And thank you to Billie Weiss for sharing these beautiful photos with us!