Topnotch Resort Wedding in Stowe, VT

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

Preprations for Ellen & Peter's Big Day

Our planning for the wedding began well ahead, with Ellen & Peter offering a myriad of musical and logistical options with us for the wedding (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Ellen & Peter were heavily involved in this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding 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. 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 planning involves outlining exactly what portions of the wedding East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Ellen & Peter were also interested in 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 performing approximately 30 minutes of “prelude” music as guests arrived, the ceremony took place.

Cocktail Hour

As is often the case, 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 contribute by performing a blend of relaxed music for guests to enjoy listening to. In this case, We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and more.

Reception

In a bulk of wedding celebrations, we is asked to handle 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 bride and groom’s First Dance

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

The groom and bride's first dance is consistently one of the most meaningful parts of the wedding. It's a chance for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this wedding in particular, we were asked to play the first dance tune live, instead of performing it from a recording. With this portion of the wedding complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a super brief break, East Coast Soul's King ensemble returned to the stage.

Parent Dances

In a majority of wedding performances, we are also asked to play the couple's parent dances. The parents dances were an opportunity for the to join Ellen & Peter to share a brief moment in the center of the floor with their mother and father. For this wedding in particular, 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 main dance performance. 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 performances commonly kick off with vintage material. We've found this is a great way to get guests relaxed and dancing with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, The Temptations, 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 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!