Shady Lane Farm in New Gloucester, ME

East Coast Soul was fortunate to be brought to join Abby & Joel in .

Preprations for Abby & Joel's Big Day

Our preparations for the big day began many weeks prior, with Abby & Joel expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the big day (preparation is a key part of our process). Abby & Joel were incredibly helpful during this advanced planning and a huge asset throughout.

Once the big day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to and carried out our normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Shady Lane Farm weddings. Being prepared for load-in and set-up at any given venue is a critical part of our workflow. 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 preparations involves outlining exactly what portions of the big day East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Abby & Joel were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Abby & Joel 's ceremony . East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Piano performance and Single Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul providing approximately 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests found their seats, the ceremony took place.

Cocktail Hour

As is often the case, East Coast Soul was asked to provide 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, We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.

Reception

In a majority of wedding celebrations, the band is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Shady Lane Farm was no different. However, there were actually no formal intros for this wedding.

The couple’s First Dance

With no introductions to take care of, we transitioned into the couple’s first dance.

The newly married couple's first dance is traditionally one of the most unforgettable parts of the big day. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this particular wedding, we were asked to perform the first dance song live, instead of performing it from a recording. With this portion of the evening complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's ensemble circled back to the stage.

Parent Dances

In a majority of wedding performances, we are also asked to perform the couple's parent dances. The parents dances were an opportunity for the to join Abby & Joel to share a brief moment on the dance floor with their father and mother. For this particular wedding, the bride and her father shared a dance. Joel and his mother shared a dance as well. Parent dances are a great way to start the main dance performance. We often ask guests to join the couple and their parents on the dance floor, and then move directly in to the rest of the performance.

Dance Party

our shows commonly kick off with vintage material. We've discovered this is an excellent approach to get guests relaxed and dancing 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 Whitney Houston, Prince, Michael Jackson 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 Abby & Joel for having us at their beautiful July wedding at Shady Lane Farm! And thank you to Lensy Michelle Photo for sharing these beautiful photos with us!