It’s always extra special to do a downtown Boston wedding around Christmas. All the lights on the trees and decorations downtown make things feel a bit more magical. In the case of a venue in the old section of Boston, of course, one anticipates part of the charm of that section of town being loading gear over cobblestoned streets. It’s just part of the deal when working in that area. However, one doesn’t necessarily anticipate there being a charity Santa run ending right at the same time as load in! As hundreds of Santas in various states of holiday cheer poured into the bars and pubs around Faneuil Hall, yelling such sophisticated musical encouragement as “Hey! Hey you, guitar man, play us a song, c’mon!”, we made our Flipside way into the beautifully decorated Millennium Bostonian Hotel.
After an acoustic guitar cocktail hour on the first floor (featuring a rousing acoustic version of the Pogues’ “Fairytale Of New York”, all the guests made their way up to the 4th floor ballroom for dinner and dancing. Don and Kate, our bride and groom, chose an old sentimental favorite for their first dance; “Say You Say Me” by Lionel Richie, which they navigated with grace- including the part in the middle where ether whole songs speeds up! Following that, we were treated to one very sarcastic and humorous best man speech from Don’s brother, Brendan. He had tears of laughter running down the red cheeks of his family by the time he finished! 
Photos by deborahzoephoto.com
While doing the MC-ing, I quickly discovered large contingent of guests who work at Vertex Pharmaceutical, a company who’s holiday party we have played at many times. They were as excited to see Flipside as we were to see them and it didn’t take very long at all for the dancing to kick off. It’s always a bit easier to get things going when we have some “ringers’ planted in the audience and it took about 15 minutes for a spontaneous “Love Train” to go snaking around the room, gathering new passengers the entire way. The entire night was an absolute blast for the band and guests alike and there were still a few slightly wrinkled Santas lingering outside as I loaded out at the end of the night
