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 groundwork for the big day began months in advance, with Anne & Derek offering a myriad of musical and logistical options with us for the big day (preparation is a key part of our process). Anne & Derek 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 and moved swiftly through our standard 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 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 relax after the heightened emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by providing a blend of relaxed music for guests to listend to. In this case, and featured music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.

Reception

In a bulk of weddings, the band is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Ocean Gateway Wedding was no different.

The bride and groom’s First Dance

The groom and bride's first dance is almost always one of the most emotional parts of the big day. It's an opportunity 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 quick break, East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble returned to the stage.

Dance Party

our shows 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're familiar with. Artists like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, and more dominated the outset of our performance. We then transitioned 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!