On December 3, 2016, Atlanta Wedding Band’s 8-piece ensemble, which included Gary Paulo on sax, Nathan Sexton on keys, guitar, and vocals, Marshall Coats on guitar and vocals, Travis Jones on drums and vocals, Rosalie Suarez on vocals, John Thrasher on guitar and vocals, Seth Watters on bass, and vocals, and Jeff Spirko on fiddle, violin and vocals, traveled down to Americus, Georgia for the wedding of Kristen and Andy Gordon.
The reception took place in the Best Western Americus lobby with about 300 of Kristen and Andy’s closest friends and family. Our father of the bride approached the band before taking the stage and had a special request, “Could y’all please run around in the balcony with your instruments and interact with the guests?” Well, what we thought was a tall order was fully achieved with our saxophonist Gary Paulo, and the wireless capabilities of our violinist savant, Jeff Spirko.
A major highlight of the night included our groom, Andy Gordon, joining the band towards the end of set 3 on drums for a rousing rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama”, a first for Atlanta Wedding Band.
Guests were so glued to the dance floor that the parents of our bride and groom asked if we could play an extra hour, and it was already 11pm!
Some notable artists covered for the 4 hour marathon reception included Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Journey, Rick Springfield, Ben King, Old Crow Medicine Show, Third Eye Blind, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Garth Brooks, Thoomas Rhett, Sam Hunt, Daft Punk, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, the B-52’s, to name a few.
A funny side note, there was an interesting connection on how Atlanta Wedding band acquired this gig. Rhythm guitarist and singer, John Thrasher (that’s me!), went skydiving in the Swiss Alps back in the summer of 2005 while studying abroad at the University of Georgia with the bride, Kristen Perry Gordon’s first cousin, Stephen! It was nice to catch up with an old friend!
Atlanta Wedding Band would like to thank again all the folks at Best Western Americus, the parents of our bride and groom, and of course, Kristen and Andy for having us.
Until next time!
-Atlanta Wedding Band
