Wychmere Beach Club Wedding in Harwich Port, MA

East Coast Soul was grateful to be brought to join Marissa & Rick for their stunning Wychmere Beach Club Wedding in Harwich Port, MA.

Preprations for Marissa & Rick's Big Day

Our preparations for the wedding began many weeks prior, with Marissa & Rick expressing a variety of musical and logistical preferences with us for the wedding (we always leave an excess of time for preparation). Marissa & Rick were heavily involved in this advanced planning and super helpful throughout.

Once the wedding arrived, East Coast Soul traveled to Harwich Port, MA and took care of the normal load-in, set up, and sound check process for Wychmere Beach Club 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 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 performing a blend of relaxed music for guests to enjoy. In this case, We provided a Playback and and featured music by artists such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, 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 receptions. This Wychmere Beach Club Wedding was no different. However, there were actually 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 newly married couple's first dance is almost always one of the most meaningful parts of the wedding. It's an opportunity for the bride and groom to take a moment for themselves. For this wedding in particular, we were asked to perform the first dance tune live, as opposed to playing it from a recording. With this portion of the evening finished, the guests and vendors took a break for dinner. After as short a break as possible, 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 Marissa & Rick to share a brief moment on the dance floor with their parents. For this wedding in particular, the bride and her father shared a dance. Rick and his mother shared a dance as well. Parent dances are a great 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 performances often start with older material. We've found this is a great way to get everyone up on the dance floor with songs they're familiar with. Artists like Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, and more dominated the outset of our performance. We then transitioned into playing tunes 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 Marissa & Rick for having us at their beautiful August wedding at Wychmere Beach Club!