Ocean Gateway Wedding in Portland, ME

East Coast Soul was grateful to be invited to join Anne & Derek for their stunning Ocean Gateway Wedding in .

Preprations for Anne & Derek's Big Day

Our planning for the wedding day began many weeks prior, with Anne & Derek offering a myriad of musical and logistical options with us for the wedding day (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Anne & Derek were heavily involved in this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for Ocean Gateway 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

In this case, East Coast Soul was not involved with couple's ceremony, with those arrangements having already been taken care of.

Cocktail Hour

As is common, 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 heightened emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by providing a blend of relaxed music for guests to enjoy. In this case, and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share of receptions, the band is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the weddings. This Ocean Gateway Wedding was no different.

The couple’s First Dance

The newly married couple's first dance is traditionally 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. 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 Stax ensemble returned to the stage.

Dance Party

East Coast Soul performances commonly kick off with vintage material. We've found this is a great way to get guests up on the dance floor with songs they know and love. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, 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 Anne & Derek for having us at their beautiful April wedding at Ocean Gateway!