Private Residence Wedding in Underhill Center, VT

East Coast Soul was fortunate to be invited to join Hayley & Brad for their stunning Private Residence Wedding in Underhill Center, VT.

Preprations for Hayley & Brad's Big Day

Our planning for the wedding day began many weeks prior, with Hayley & Brad sharing their music and logistical preferences and vision with us for the wedding day (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Hayley & Brad were incredibly helpful during this advanced planning and a huge asset throughout.

Once the wedding day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Underhill Center, VT and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for Private Residence 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 wedding day East Coast Soul will be involved with. For this wedding in particular, Hayley & Brad were also looking for East Coast Soul to help out for their ceremony. Hayley & Brad 's ceremony . East Coast Soul prepared a a Solo Piano performance and Single Mic for speeches. Following East Coast Soul providing approximately 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 providing 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 majority of wedding celebrations, East Coast Soul is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the receptions. This Private Residence 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 changed gears to into the groom and bride’s first dance.

The couple's first dance is invariably one of the most unforgettable parts of the wedding day. It's a chance for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this particular performance, we were requested to play the first dance number live, instead of performing it from a recording. With this portion of the wedding finished, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a super brief break, East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble circled back to the stage.

Parent Dances

In a majority of wedding performances, we are also asked to perform the couple's parent dances. This was a chance for the to join Hayley & Brad to share a brief moment in the middle of the dancefloor with their parents. For this particular performance, the bride and her father danced together. Brad and his mother danced together as well. Parent dances are an amazing way to start 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 often start with older material. We've discovered this is an excellent approach to get folks up on the dance floor 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 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 Hayley & Brad for having us at their beautiful July wedding at Private Residence! And thank you to Jenna Brisson for sharing these beautiful photos with us!