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 big day began months in advance, with Hayley & Brad sharing their music and logistical preferences and vision with us for the big 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 big day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Underhill Center, VT and took care of the normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Private Residence weddings. Our process for loading in and setting up at any given venue is a big part of our preparation process. 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, Hayley & Brad were also interested in 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 performing 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 wonderful chance for the bride and groom to relax after the heightened emotions of the ceremony. We contribute by providing a blend of relaxed music for guests to listend to. In this case, We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davies, and more.

Reception

In a bulk of wedding celebrations, the band is asked to provide MC services for the formal portions of the celebrations. This Private Residence 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 moved into into the bride and groom’s first dance.

The groom and bride's first dance is consistently one of the most unforgettable parts of the big day. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this particular wedding, we were requested to play the first dance song live, as opposed to performing it from a recording. With this part of the evening complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's Soulsville ensemble circled back to the stage.

Parent Dances

In a majority of weddings, East Coast Soul is often requested to perform the couple's parent dances. The parents dances were an opportunity for the to join Hayley & Brad to spend a couple minutes in the middle of the dancefloor with their parents. For this particular wedding, the bride and her father shared a dance. Brad and his mother shared a dance as well. Parent dances are an amazing way to kick off the performance 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 dance performances often start with older material. We've found this is a great way to get everyone relaxed and dancing with songs they know and love. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. We then transitioned into performing music 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 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!