Willowdale Estate Wedding in Ipswich, MA

East Coast Soul was fortunate to be asked to join Jennifer & Mike for their stunning Willowdale Estate Wedding in Ipswich, MA.

Preprations for Jennifer & Mike's Big Day

Our groundwork for the big day began well ahead, with Jennifer & Mike expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the big day (we take our preparation process extremely seriously). Jennifer & Mike were incredibly helpful during this advanced planning and incredibly helpful throughout.

Once the big day arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Ipswich, MA and moved swiftly through our standard load-in, set up, and sound check process for Willowdale Estate 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

In this case, East Coast Soul was not involved with couple's ceremony, with those arrangements having already been taken care of.

Cocktail Hour

As is often the case, East Coast Soul was asked to provide cocktail hour music. Cocktail hour is a wonderful chance for the bride and groom to unwind after the intense emotions of the ceremony. We do our part by performing a variety of relaxed music for guests to listend to. In this case, 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 provide MC services for the formal portions of the weddings. This Willowdale Estate Wedding was no different.

The couple’s First Dance

The bride and groom'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. With this portion of the wedding complete, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After as short a break as possible, East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble circled back to the stage.

Dance Party

East Coast Soul performances commonly kick off with vintage material. We've found this is a great way to get folks relaxed and dancing with songs they know and love. Artists like Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, The Temptations, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. We then transitioned 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 Jennifer & Mike for having us at their beautiful March wedding at Willowdale Estate! And thank you to Leona Campbell Photo for sharing these beautiful photos with us!