The Maine Boathouse Wedding in South Freeport, ME

East Coast Soul was grateful 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 planning for the big day began well ahead, with Cara & Matthew sharing their music and logistical preferences and vision with us for the big day (preparation is a key part of our process). Cara & Matthew were heavily involved in this advanced planning and a huge asset throughout.

Once the big day 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 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

Part of our planning involves outlining exactly what portions of the big 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 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 intense emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by providing a blend of relaxed music for guests to enjoy. In this case, We provided a Guitar/Sax Duo and and featured music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share of wedding celebrations, the band 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 groom and bride’s First Dance

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

The groom and bride's first dance is consistently one of the most emotional parts of the big day. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this particular performance, 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 part 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

our performances commonly kick off with vintage material. We've discovered this is an excellent approach to get folks 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 moved into playing tunes 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!