Willowdale Estate Wedding in Topsfield, MA

East Coast Soul was fortunate to be invited to join Jennifer & Mike for their stunning Willowdale Estate Wedding in .

Preprations for Jennifer & Mike's Big Day

Our preparations for the wedding began months in advance, with Jennifer & Mike sharing their music and logistical preferences and vision with us for the wedding (preparation is a key part of our process). Jennifer & Mike were incredibly helpful during this advanced planning and incredibly helpful throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to and carried out our normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Willowdale Estate 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

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 relax after the intense emotions of the ceremony. We contribute by performing a variety of relaxed music for guests to enjoy listening to. In this case, and featured music by artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davies, and more.

Reception

In a lion's share of wedding celebrations, the band is asked to handle MC services for the formal portions of the wedding celebrations. This Willowdale Estate Wedding was no different.

The bride and groom’s First Dance

The groom and bride's first dance is traditionally one of the most meaningful parts of the wedding. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. With this part of the evening finished, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After a quick break, East Coast Soul's Stax ensemble returned to the stage.

Dance Party

our shows often start with older material. We've found this is a great way to get folks relaxed and dancing with songs they know and love. Artists like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, and more dominated the beginning of our set list. We then moved 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 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!