Ocean Gateway Wedding in Portland, ME

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

Preprations for Anne & Derek's Big Day

Our preparations for the wedding day began many weeks prior, with Anne & Derek expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the wedding day (we take our preparation process extremely seriously). Anne & Derek were heavily involved in this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to and took care of the normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Ocean Gateway 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

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 requested to perform cocktail hour music. Cocktail hour is a great opportunity for the bride and groom to relax after the heightened emotions of the ceremony. We contribute by providing a variety 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 majority of celebrations, East Coast Soul is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Ocean Gateway Wedding was no different.

The couple’s First Dance

The couple's first dance is consistently one of the most meaningful parts of the wedding day. It's a chance for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. With this portion of the evening complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a super brief break, East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble circled back to the stage.

Dance Party

our 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 Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, The Temptations, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. We then moved into performing music 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!