The Sound of Love

The Bluewater Kings Band, one of the most popular wedding bands in the Midwest, will return for the fifth time to the Ultimate LGBTQ Wedding, Home & Life Expo on Sunday, Oct. 13. While the band is fully customizable – from three to 14 pieces – it will be a quartet who will perform at the expo.
"We customize band size, we customize vibe depending on what our clients desire," said Tasha Lord, a vocalist with the band and also one of its producers. She was also quick to point out that the band doesn't only do weddings.
"Recently, about three weeks ago, we just backed about five different Motown acts," Lord said. "That was a private event, but we've done it publicly as well. So, we do a lot of stuff. Probably about 70 percent of our work is weddings though. We're hopeless romantics and we love weddings."
Founded in 2012, the band is composed of a variety of musicians, including many well-known local session artists and several members who perform regularly with big-name acts.
"We do work with a lot of touring artists, so we'll block out time if someone is going on tour," Lord said. "We have people working in our bands that go on big national tours. We communicate with them year-round, 'This is your touring schedule, and this is when you're in town.' So, it works for them because when they're off the road they play with the best people in the state, playing awesome events, and we get to offer awesome talent."
Lord explained that while band size can vary significantly, the band actually has a pool of vocalists they work with that far exceeds its maximum of 14 performers.
"We have about 22 singers here in the Detroit area that we work with, and we're known for our horn section. We actually book multiple events per night, so we have a huge musical family. But in peak season in June, and September was crazy too, we book multiple events per night. So, we get a lot of people working. People do different things."
Since the band will be performing at the LGBTQ Wedding Expo for the fifth time, it's clear that inclusivity is a goal of the band's creators. Lord said that almost since the band's inception, they've been playing LGBTQ weddings.
"A couple's a couple," Lord said. "The Bluewater Kings is all about inclusiveness in general. That's part of our ethos. As soon we started that's kind of been our thing. The LGBTQ community, that's something that I've felt very strongly about since I was born. We've been doing it since we started, and when we saw the opportunity to be a part of the expo we said yes and knew it would be fun."
Enquiring minds want to know: Is there any difference between playing an LGBTQ wedding and a straight one?
"Honestly, I mean straight weddings are very fun, too. But LGBT weddings? I've never done one that wasn't fun. I have done straight weddings that weren't fun sometimes. … I think when you're forced to think outside the box your whole life you become a more creative individual in all that you do. And every LGBT wedding we've done has had a cool twist to it.
"When you overcome adversity, there's this inspirational aspect to it that you don't get at straight weddings," Lord continued. "Every wedding is beautiful because love is beautiful, but there's something about LGBT weddings that is special. Their creativity is wonderful. A couple is acouple and a market is a market, but there are just cool, creative things about LGBT weddings that I love to be a part of personally."
And The Bluewater Kings go beyond simply performing at weddings, they've developed a reputation for working closely with couples and adding their own special touches.
"I work with the couples, typically, for a whole year," Lord said. "I give them a couple pages of info or sometimes I meet them at a showcase or a bridal show, and we talk about their taste in music, the vibe, all the family traditions they have, how they met each other, etc."
And whether LGBTQ or straight, Lord said every wedding contains within it a portion of joy.
"It's a once in a lifetime thing," she said. "It's a high. It's a beautiful, magical, hopeful place to be. There's so much hope and love in the air. Families come together and seeing all this realness, that's what makes weddings great. There's all this joy and realness happening in one place. I love the décor, the decorations … it's like Cinderella's ball. It's wonderful and it's not the worst job I've ever had for sure."
For more information about the Bluewater Kings Band, come see them perform live at the Ultimate LGBT Wedding Expo or visit bluewaterkingsband.com.