Nicole found us online in the midst of the Holiday season and booked us before the new year started.
During the last week of August we were all watching Hurricane Irene as it swirled up the coast, but none so closely as Nicole and Arnaud. Their wedding was scheduled for the weekend that Irene was projected to make landfall…in the early morning hours of August 28th…in New York City… about 60 miles from their wedding venue. Yikes!
The morning of the wedding Nicole called Yves to "make sure you guys are still coming". "Of Course" was his reply. Apparently several guests would be unable to make it to the wedding because of travel restrictions, and Nicole was worried that the band might fall into that category. Never! We knew what was coming and all planned to head out early to beat the storm to Nicole and Arnaud's wedding. After the wedding? We would cross that bridge when we came to it.
No worries though, the good folks at The Candlewood Inn have seen weather before, so plan B was enacted and the ceremony was set up in the main reception room with just a little bit of adjustment. The guests would have thought that was the way it was planned. Once we were all safely inside (a few guests short) the ceremony went off with out a hitch. Nicole and Arnaud, a mixed religion couple, had both a Rabbi and a Minister present who worked extremely well together. The ceremony was touching and heartfelt with some humorous and lighthearted moments thrown in. Solo classical piano was the perfect backdrop to it all.
Solo piano continued for the cocktail hour, but switched genres to light jazz. Appetizers were passed while the room was reset from ceremony to reception seamlessly. At this point I think most of us forgot there was a storm bearing down on the east coast, nonetheless, Nicole offered to get us all hotel rooms if anyone needed to stay. It was truly gracious of her, and if she was stressed out by the storm in any way she sure didn't show it.
As the cocktail hour ended and we transitioned to reception it was time to get the dancing started with Nicole and Arnaud's first dance, That's All. This beautiful jazz standard love song is a perfect choice for a first dance. Check out the lyrics, they would make great wedding vows! From That's All we went into a hora medley to wish the bride and groom good luck.
People really got into dancing that night to all kinds of music. We went, as usual, from Van Morrison to Ke$ha and back again. All the hurdles of the storm had been overcome, the news was that it was slowing down, so most people would be able to get back home and everyone cut loose!
AMAZING BAND! PROFESSIONAL. FLEXIBLE. Extensive song list. Yves worked with us during the planning stages. He is friendly, easy to communicate with and I had complete confidence in their service from the moment we first spoke. They were EVERYTHING that we could have wanted, and more! We would absolutely hire them again in the future. There is nothing that they could have done better or differently. We were extremely impressed and so were our guests. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!