Topnotch Resort Wedding in Stowe, VT

East Coast Soul was blessed to be asked to join Ellen & Peter for their stunning Topnotch Resort Wedding in Stowe, VT.

Preprations for Ellen & Peter's Big Day

Our planning for the big day began many weeks prior, with Ellen & Peter expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the big day (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Ellen & Peter were incredibly helpful during this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the big day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Stowe, VT and took care of the normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Topnotch Resort 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

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, Ellen & Peter were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Ellen & Peter 's ceremony . East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Piano performance and Single Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul providing 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 performing a blend of relaxed music for guests to enjoy. In this case, We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share of receptions, East Coast Soul is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Topnotch Resort Wedding was no different. However, there were in fact no formal intros for this wedding.

The groom and bride’s First Dance

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

The groom and bride's first dance is invariably 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 particular wedding, we were asked to play the first dance tune live, as opposed to playing it from a recording. With this portion of the evening complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's King ensemble returned to the stage.

Parent Dances

In many weddings, we are also asked to play the couple's parent dances. This was a chance for the to join Ellen & Peter to share a brief moment on the dance floor with their mother and father. For this particular wedding, the bride and her father danced together. Peter and his mother danced together as well. Parent dances are a fantastic 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

East Coast Soul shows often start with older material. We've found this is a great way to get everyone relaxed and dancing with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Sam and Dave, The Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, and more dominated the outset of our performance. We then moved into playing tunes by artists like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince 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 Ellen & Peter for having us at their beautiful September wedding at Topnotch Resort! And thank you to Kelsey Regan for sharing these beautiful photos with us!