The Barn at Gibbet Hill Wedding in Groton, MA

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

Preprations for Lindsay & Jared's Big Day

Our groundwork for the wedding day began months in advance, with Lindsay & Jared expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the wedding day (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 day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to and carried out our normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for The Barn at Gibbet Hill 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 groundwork involves outlining exactly what portions of the wedding day 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 roughly 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests arrived, the ceremony took place.

Cocktail Hour

As is often the case, East Coast Soul was requested to perform cocktail hour music. Cocktail hour is a wonderful chance for the bride and groom to unwind after the intense emotions of the ceremony. We contribute by performing a blend of relaxed music for guests to listend to. In this case, We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share 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 groom and bride’s First Dance

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

The couple's first dance is consistently one of the most unforgettable parts of the wedding day. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this particular performance, we were asked to perform the first dance tune live, instead of playing it from a recording. With this portion of the evening finished, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a super brief break, East Coast Soul's Atlantic ensemble circled back to the stage.

Parent Dances

In a majority of wedding performances, we are also asked to play the couple's parent dances. The parents dances were an opportunity for the to join Lindsay & Jared to share a brief moment in the middle of the dancefloor with their father and mother. For this particular performance, the bride and her father shared a dance. Jared and his mother shared a dance as well. Parent dances are an amazing way to kick off 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're familiar with. 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 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!