An unbelievable August wedding at the The Maine Boathouse in South Freeport, ME where East Coast Soul's Daptone ensemble left absolutely everything out on the dance floor!
East Coast Soul was fortunate to be brought 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 day began many weeks prior, with Cara & Matthew offering a myriad of musical and logistical options with us for the wedding day (we take our preparation process extremely seriously). Cara & Matthew 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 South Freeport, ME and took care of the normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for The Maine Boathouse weddings. We get a lot of questions about the logistics of loading in to any given venue. 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, Cara & Matthew were also looking for 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 arrived, 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 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 majority of receptions, East Coast Soul is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the weddings. This The Maine Boathouse 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 changed gears to into the couple’s first dance.
The bride and groom's first dance is almost always one of the most meaningful parts of the wedding day. It's a chance 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, as opposed to performing it from a recording. Cara & Matthew danced to More Than Anyone by Gavin Degraw, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. With this portion of the wedding finished, 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
our dance performances often start with older material. We've found this is a great way to get everyone up on the dance floor with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, 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 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!
Ready to Learn More?
Planning a Wedding? Maybe at The Maine Boathouse, perhaps in South Freeport, ME? Either way, feel free to learn more, and let's connect!