Sometimes it rains…a lot. Sometimes one plans the perfect wedding at a beautiful venue like Willowdale Estate in Topsfield which has a gorgeous courtyard and a permanent tent structure (site of many wonderful Flipside events over the years) and then, just after the ceremony, the sky opens up in a huge, record-breaking deluge of rain and strong winds. Does this mean that the wedding is ruined or that it’s not going to be a great night? Do we all just give up and call it a day? Not a chance-there’s still a wedding reception that has to happen no matter what the weather does. As far as we’re concerned, something like stormy weather is not a crisis, but rather an opportunity to show the clients just why they hired the mighty Flipside. In this case, our bride and groom Mandy and Dave, kept smiles on their faces and and stayed on the dance floor all night and their guests followed their example. In fact, the reception started off on a particularly special note. After the Rolling Stone’s “Wild Horses” for a first dance, Mandy’s father Frank surprised her by singing the first verse of “The Way You Look Tonight” before joining his daughter for a parent dance. He did a great job and we extended an open invitation for him to sit in on any other Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett songs we played.
After dinner, Flipside plowed into a high-energy set with tons of Motown and 80’s and 90’s hits that the bride and groom asked for, even as water started to creep up behind our gear! It was a raucous crowd and the rain didn’t deter them one bit (see video). In fact, at one point while we were playing “Uptown Funk”, the power went out and there was a second of total darkness in the tent before Willowdale’s backup generator kicked in. When it did, our digital mixer had to reboot and we were left with no vocal mics for about 45 seconds so our drummer Anthony laid into major funk groove that had the whole crowd screaming, clapping and bouncing for the entirety of what would have been an unfortunate lull for most bands. When the PA kicked back on suddenly, we finished “Uptown Funk” like conquering heroes and Anthony got a special ovation for his quick thinking. The power outage actually helped take the party to another level. It was one of those special nights when the catering and event staff, the band and the guests, all pulled together against the elements to make sure that Mandy and Dave got the wedding reception they deserved: a huge, fun party.
