Toad Hill Farm Wedding in Franconia, NH

East Coast Soul was fortunate to be brought to join Valerie & Austin for their stunning Toad Hill Farm Wedding in Franconia, NH.

Introductions and Preprations for Valerie & Austin's Big Day

Valerie & Austin first reached out to East Coast Soul in June of 2019. Valerie had mentioned seeing the Soulsville ensemble at a friend's wedding the weekend prior to reaching out to us -- always one of the best ways for people to get introduced to the band! Our groundwork for the wedding began well ahead, with Valerie & Austin sharing their music and logistical preferences and vision with us for the wedding (we take our preparation process extremely seriously). Valerie & Austin were happy to be a key part of this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Franconia, NH and carried out our normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Toad Hill Farm 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 East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Valerie & Austin were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Valerie & Austin 's ceremony started at 4:00 pm on and . East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Guitar performance and One Wireless Mic and One Lavalier Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul providing roughly 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests found their seats, the ceremony took place. Valerie & Austin provided a beautiful collection of songs for us to perform for the ceremony:

Processional (including Bride): Christina Perri – A Thousand Years
Recessional: Hall & Oates – You Make My Dreams

Cocktail Hour

As is common, East Coast Soul was requested to perform cocktail hour music. Cocktail hour is a great opportunity for the bride and groom to relax after the heightened emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by providing a variety of relaxed music for guests to enjoy listening to. In this case, We provided a Piano/Sax Duo and and featured music by artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davies, and more.

Reception

In a majority of celebrations, the band is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Toad Hill Farm Wedding was no different. However, there were actually no formal intros for this wedding. The bridal party crushed it by dancing in to The Temptations - Get Ready with everyone cheering them on.

The couple’s First Dance

With no introductions to take care of, we transitioned 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 an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this particular wedding, we were asked to perform the first dance number live, as opposed to performing it from a recording. Valerie & Austin danced to Shining Star by Earth Wind & Fire, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. With this portion of the evening finished, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble returned to the stage.

Parent Dances

In a majority of weddings, East Coast Soul is often requested to perform the couple's parent dances. This was a chance for the to join Valerie & Austin to share a brief moment in the middle of the dancefloor with their mother and father. For this particular wedding, Valerie and her father danced to My Little Girl by Tim McGraw. Austin and his mother shared a dance to My Wish by Rascal Flatts. 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

As part of our preparation process, we like to get a sense of what the bride and groom are excited to hear. Valerie & Austin Were a huge help here, giving us a ton of great input. Proud Mary September Lady Gaga - Bad Romance The O’Jay’s - Love Train

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 Valerie & Austin for having us at their beautiful October wedding at Toad Hill Farm! And thank you to Jessie Casey for sharing these beautiful photos with us!