Rivermill at Dover Landing Wedding Performance - Dover, NH

An unbelievable November wedding at the Rivermill at Dover Landing in Dover, NH where East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble just crushed it!

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Testimonial

"I can't even begin to tell the internet how incredible this band was!! We had the Stax ensemble and they. SERIOUSLY. BROUGHT. IT. Everyone at the wedding kept talking about how beautiful the venue & decor was...until the band started playing. Then the band was all anyone could mention!!! For much of the night, I couldn't tell if we were at our wedding or a concert of the best, most danceable songs!! All the band members brought so much energy to the music - EVERYONE was on the dance floor, either fan-girling out to the musicians and singers, or breaking it DOWN with their bad selves!!! As far as communication is concerned, they are top notch. I'm a pretty detail-oriented person, and I was highly impressed with their communication throughout the wedding planning process and questions for what we wanted for sound. These guys are responsive, helpful, creative, and SO SO much fun. I HIGHLY recommend you book them...before someone else does!!!"

Lauren (Bride)

Dover, NH

November 10, 2018

Gallery

Check out some images from this Rivermill at Dover Landing wedding!

East Coast Soul was grateful to be invited to join Lauren & Jacob for their stunning Rivermill at Dover Landing Wedding in Dover, NH.

Preprations

Our groundwork for the big day began well ahead, with Lauren & Jacob expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the big day (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Lauren & Jacob 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 Dover, NH and began our standard load in and sound check process for Rivermill at Dover Landing. 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

One aspect of our groundwork involves outlining exactly what portions of the big day East Coast Soul will be involved with.

For this wedding in particular, we learned that Lauren & Jacob were also looking for East Coast Soul to provide ceremony music. In this case, Lauren & Jacob 's ceremony took place at Rivermill at Dover Landing. After East Coast Soul performed roughly 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests arrived, the ceremony commenced. Specially, we provided a Soloist performance for the processional, bride’s entrance, recessional.

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 intense emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by providing a blend of relaxed music for guests to enjoy listening to. In this case, we provided a and featured music by artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davies, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share of weddings, East Coast Soul is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the wedding celebrations. This Rivermill at Dover Landing Wedding was no different. With introductions wrapped up, we moved into into the groom and bride’s first dance. The first dance is traditionally one of the most meaningful parts of the big day. It's a chance for the couple to take a moment for themselves. With this portion of the evening complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After resting briefly, East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble returned.

In many weddings, we are also asked to perform the couple's parent dances. This is a chance for the bride and groom to spend a couple minutes on the dance floor with their father and mother. In this case, the bride and her father danced together. The groom and his mother shared a dance as well. Parent dances are a great way to start the performance portion of the evening. We generally ask for the attention of the guests to start. We then often ask them to join the couple and their parents on the dance floor, and then move directly in to the rest of the performance.

Our performances often start with older material. We've found this is a great way to get folks up on the dance floor with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, The Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. We then moved into performing music by artists like Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. 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 Lauren & Jacob for having us at their beautiful November wedding at Rivermill at Dover Landing! And thank you to Jess Jolin for sharing these beautiful photos with us!