Photo: Chris Bailey Photography
This Valentine’s Day, we are thrilled to feature interviews with some of our newlywed couples, who we had the pleasure of helping find the perfect entertainment for their wedding receptions. Read on for more about these adorable couples, and about how Gulf Coast Entertainment can help you find the perfect entertainment for your wedding reception and beyond.
Kaitlyn & Louis
Planner: Belle Events
Venue: Asia Society
DJ: DJ Druw
Wedding Ceremony: Stacey Franklin, solo harp
Photographer: Ashlen Sydney
What is one piece of advice you would give another couple going through the wedding planning process?
Get a wedding planner!!! Whether you only have a few months to plan or a year and a half like us, having a planner will take so much of the stress and decision-making off your plate.
What is one thing you were glad you did/had at your wedding reception?
Try to get all the hellos and small talk out of the way during the cocktail hour and dinner. This will let you focus on enjoying your reception with your new spouse and all your friends and family. At a certain point, Mark and I stopped trying to talk with everyone and just enjoyed our time together with everyone. We really got to be part of the celebration, and it was so amazing.
What was your favorite moment of your wedding day?
There were so many wonderful little moments, but our favorite aspect of the day was spending time with all our favorite people. Our friends and family are spread out, so it’s rare to have everyone in the same place. Seeing them all together celebrating with us was the best part, and it’s something we’ll both cherish forever
What was your first dance, and why did you choose it?
“Stand By Me” by Skyler Grey. We picked it because we both liked the song, and the lyrics felt right for a first dance. We cared more about our private last dance song since we knew we’d get to enjoy that more. There’s so much pressure with the first dance that I don’t think I even listened to the music—we just talked the whole time about what move was next!
Which song got the most guests on the dance floor at your reception?
“LEVELS” – Mark loved how much everyone enjoyed it so much that he asked Druw to play it again.
How will you all celebrate this Valentine’s Day?
Mark and I actually don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day because it’s his birthday. Since we started dating, I’ve always made it about his birthday and not about Valentine’s.
Margaret and Sam
Venue/Planner: Boxwood Manor
Band: Undercover Band
Photographer: Sweet Nest
What is one piece of advice you would give another couple going through the wedding planning process?
Remember that the importance of your wedding day is the fact that you’re marrying the love of your life, not the party you throw or the people that are there or the food you eat. No matter what, at the end of the day you’re married and that’s what matters! I think remembering that throughout the whole process just helps keep the stresses of wedding planning in perspective.
What is one thing you were glad you did/had at your wedding reception?
We made sure that we were together for every second of the reception. Everything about our wedding was incredible and so fun, but what makes each of us happiest is each other, and we wanted to get to experience every bit of it with each other.
What was your favorite moment of your wedding day?
The moment this picture was taken. It was our private last dance, and it was just such a perfect way to end the perfect day!
Booking Entertainment for your Wedding Reception is Easy with Gulf Coast Entertainment
At Gulf Coast Entertainment, we love celebrating love! Whether you are looking to hire a wedding band, string quartet, acoustic duo, motown band, mariachi bands, big bands, soul bands, funk bands for your wedding reception – we have the perfect band for you.
Booking any musical style is easy when you hire Gulf Coast Entertainment to help you book the perfect party band for your event. Gulf Coast Entertainment represents you in booking a live wedding band. We work with you and your event coordinator to help you find talented musicians for your needs. Our goal is for the live music or wedding dj to play the perfect soundtrack to your day.
It is so simple to find bands for hire near me when you call Gulf Coast Entertainment for live music. Gulf Coast Entertainment gets to know you and asks questions to make sure you hire the best wedding bands for your needs. We want to know about the musical style you like best, if you have your venue booked, if you want a live wedding band, local band, or a wedding dj, and help you find the best local musicians and performers or talented musicians from across the country to fit your budget needs.
When couples are looking for bands for hire near me for their wedding reception, they often call us wanting a string quartet, classical guitar, or classical singers for their ceremony, and then something unique for cocktails, before we get to the party band part of the night. Cocktail music can be anything rom mariachi bands, to classical singers, to folk bands, a jazz band, or a solo band member or acoustic duo playing guitar or keyboard from the cover bands the client has hired for their reception, depending on the clients’ musical style and preferences.
The wedding reception is where we see our couples invest most of their entertainment budget for their wedding day. A live band for a wedding reception is always fun! Cover bands’ genres can run the gamut from a motown band, to swing bands, to big bands, soul bands, funk bands, rock band, and everything in between. We are lucky to work with talented musicians from across the country who perform in some of the best wedding bands and function bands for our clients’ ceremonies and receptions.
A wedding DJ is always fun too, and different from a traditional cover band, in that you can dictate the exact set list you are wanting to hear with a DJ. If you know you want them to play hip hop or rock or contemporary music and you want to hear the exact cut of a specific song, a wedding dj might be the right fit for you. A wedding dj is also a great way to save space at your venue too if you are limited on the footprint for your stage. But, if you are looking for bands for hire near me and you really want a live band to perform at your wedding reception, that is great too! If you’re in Texas, a local band will likely be more cost effective than a cover band that flies in from out of state like New York, the north west, or Southern California. Finding the best wedding bands and function bands for you depends on all sorts of factors, and GCE is ready to help you find the perfect band and performers that meet all of your needs.
Gulf Coast Entertainment works with couples across the country, from New York to Southern California, Colorado to New Orleans when they are looking to hire a party band for their wedding reception, but a large part of our business is in booking corporate event live music as well. Whether the corporate event calls for a function band or cover band, mariachi bands or an acoustic duo, Gulf Coast Entertainment is ready to help find the most reliable and professional local musicians for our clients. GCE often helps our clients hire not only local musicians, but also celebrity performers that perform in a range of genres, from rock to hip hop, country to classical, as well as motivational speakers.
Hiring celebrity entertainment or motivational speakers for your corporate event can be a great way to drive interest in your event and elevate your company brand, but it is also much more complicated than booking a string quartet, live wedding band, or function band to perform a song. There are lots of production elements that go into producing a headliner show, and Gulf Coast Entertainment would love to help walk you through the process of what it takes to produce a national headliner show. With 45 years of experience, we have strong relationships with nationally touring artists and their teams, and can help make the process of booking a celebrity headliner easy. We work with your event coordinator, venue, and other vendors to make the day seamless for you, and make sure the celebrity entertainment you hire has everything they need to put on a great show. Whether you want to book a rock band, hip hop artist, folk bands, swing bands, jazz band, or even motivational speakers for your corporate event, Gulf Coast Entertainment is ready to help.
With Valentine’s Day upon us, we wanted to focus the majority of this blog post on booking entertainment for your wedding reception! Gulf Coast Entertainment is based in Houston, TX, but we go wherever our clients are, from New York to the north west, southern California to Kentucky. We would love to help you find a local band, classical singers, jazz band, swing bands, folk bands, function band, solo artist on guitar, or even a rock band to fit your musical taste and budget.
If you’re looking to hire a live band, let Gulf Coast Entertainment help you find cover bands that fit your needs and perform the perfect song for your big day. Whether it’s a motown band or soul bands, big bands or funk bands, function bands, GCE makes booking performers easy.
Call 713-523-7004 to learn more about how the Gulf Coast Entertainment team can help you book the perfect band for your wedding or corporate event.