A breathtaking October wedding at the Toad Hill Farm in Franconia, NH where East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble blew the roof off the place!
East Coast Soul was fortunate to be invited 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 got in touch with us 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 planning for the big day began well ahead, with Valerie & Austin offering a myriad of musical and logistical options with us for the big day (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Valerie & Austin were happy to be a key part of this advanced planning and incredibly helpful throughout.
Once the big day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Franconia, NH and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for Toad Hill Farm 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 planning involves outlining exactly what portions of the big day East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Valerie & Austin were also interested in 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 arrived, 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 unwind after the intense 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 Piano/Sax Duo and and featured music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.

Reception
In a majority of receptions, we is asked to take care of MC services for the formal portions of the wedding celebrations. This Toad Hill Farm Wedding was no different. However, there were in fact no formal intros for this wedding. The bridal party crushed it by dancing in to The Temptations - Get Ready with the wedding guests cheering them in.
The bride and groom’s First Dance
With no introductions to take care of, we headed into into the bride and groom’s first dance.
The couple's first dance is consistently one of the most emotional parts of the big day. It's a chance for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this wedding in particular, we were asked to perform the first dance tune live, instead of performing it from a recording. Valerie & Austin danced to Shining Star by Earth Wind & Fire, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. With this part of the wedding complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After as short a break as possible, East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble returned to the stage.
Parent Dances
In many 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 spend a couple minutes in the center of the floor with their mother and father. For this wedding in particular, 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!

Ready to Learn More?
Planning a Wedding? Maybe at Toad Hill Farm, perhaps in Franconia, NH? Either way, feel free to learn more, and let's connect!