Newport Marriott Wedding in Newport, RI

East Coast Soul was fortunate to be asked to join Emily & Drew for their stunning Newport Marriott Wedding in Newport, RI.

Preprations for Emily & Drew's Big Day

Our preparations for the big day began well ahead, with Emily & Drew expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the big day (preparation is a key part of our process). Emily & Drew were happy to be a key part of this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the big day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Newport, RI and carried out our normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Newport Marriott 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 preparations involves outlining exactly what portions of the big day East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Emily & Drew were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Emily & Drew 's ceremony started at 6:00 pm on and was held the Atrium at Newport Marriott. East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Piano 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 & Drew provided a beautiful collection of songs for us to perform for the ceremony:

• Processional: The Beatles – In My Life
• “Bride’s Entrance”: Roberta Flack – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face [Performance]
• Recessional: Hall & Oates – You Make My Dreams [Recording]

Cocktail Hour

As is often the case, East Coast Soul was requested to perform 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 variety of relaxed music for guests to listend to. In this case, cocktail hour took place Upstairs from ceremony in the hallway outside of ballroom. We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davies, and more.

Reception

In a majority of celebrations, the band is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the receptions. This Newport Marriott Wedding was no different.

The couple’s First Dance

The couple's first dance is almost always one of the most meaningful parts of the big day. It's a chance for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. Emily & Drew danced to Crazy Love by Van Morrison, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. With this portion 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.

Dance Party

East Coast Soul 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 Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, and more dominated the outset of our performance. We then moved 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 Emily & Drew for having us at their beautiful October wedding at Newport Marriott! And thank you to Silver and Salt Photo for sharing these beautiful photos with us!