The Barn at Gibbet Hill Wedding in Groton, MA

East Coast Soul was fortunate to be asked to join Lindsay & Jared for their stunning The Barn at Gibbet Hill Wedding in .

Preprations for Lindsay & Jared's Big Day

Our preparations for the wedding began months in advance, with Lindsay & Jared sharing their music and logistical preferences and vision with us for the wedding (preparation is a key part of our process). Lindsay & Jared were happy to be a key part of this advanced planning and a huge asset throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for The Barn at Gibbet Hill weddings. Our process for loading in and setting up at any given venue is a big part of our preparation process. 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 wedding East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Lindsay & Jared were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Lindsay & Jared '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 common, East Coast Soul was asked to provide cocktail hour music. Cocktail hour is a great opportunity for the bride and groom to unwind after the heightened emotions of the ceremony. We contribute by performing a variety of relaxed music for guests to listend to. In this case, We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and more.

Reception

In a majority of weddings, we is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the receptions. This The Barn at Gibbet Hill Wedding 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 moved into into the couple’s first dance.

The groom and bride's first dance is consistently one of the most unforgettable parts of the wedding. It's a chance for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this particular wedding, we were requested to perform the first dance number live, instead of playing it from a recording. With this part of the evening complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's Atlantic ensemble circled back to the stage.

Parent Dances

In a majority of wedding performances, East Coast Soul is often requested to play the couple's parent dances. The parents dances were an opportunity for the to join Lindsay & Jared to share a brief moment on the dance floor with their father and mother. For this particular wedding, the bride and her father danced together. Jared and his mother danced together as well. Parent dances are a fantastic way to start the dance party portion of the evening. 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 performances often start with older material. We've discovered this is an excellent approach to get guests relaxed and dancing with songs they know and love. 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 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 Lindsay & Jared for having us at their beautiful June wedding at The Barn at Gibbet Hill! And thank you to Lacey Gabrielle for sharing these beautiful photos with us!