The Maine Boathouse Wedding in South Freeport, ME

East Coast Soul was fortunate to be asked to join Cara & Matthew for their stunning The Maine Boathouse Wedding in South Freeport, ME.

Preprations for Cara & Matthew's Big Day

Our groundwork for the wedding began months in advance, with Cara & Matthew expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the wedding (preparation is a key part of our process). Cara & Matthew were incredibly helpful during this advanced planning and a huge asset throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to South Freeport, ME and carried out our normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for The Maine Boathouse 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

One aspect of our groundwork involves outlining exactly what portions of the wedding East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Cara & Matthew were also interested in East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Cara & Matthew 's ceremony started at 4:00 pm on and . East Coast Soul prepared a a Guitar/Keyboard Duo performance and Single Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul performing roughly 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 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 enjoy listening to. In this case, We provided a Guitar/Sax Duo and and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share of weddings, the band is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the receptions. This The Maine Boathouse Wedding was no different. However, there were actually no formal intros for this wedding.

The bride and groom’s First Dance

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

The newly married couple's first dance is consistently one of the most emotional parts of the wedding. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this wedding in particular, we were requested to play the first dance tune live, instead of playing it from a recording. Cara & Matthew danced to More Than Anyone by Gavin Degraw, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. With this portion of the wedding complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's Daptone ensemble returned to the stage.

Dance Party

East Coast Soul dance performances commonly kick off with vintage material. We've discovered this is an excellent approach to get everyone relaxed and dancing with songs they know and love. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. 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 Cara & Matthew for having us at their beautiful August wedding at The Maine Boathouse! And thank you to Leslie Swan for sharing these beautiful photos with us!