Transition from ceremony to reception in same room?

purplelily678 · July 2015

Hi there! I'm planning a wedding on a tight budget and because of that we are having the ceremony in the same room as the reception. Everyone will be seated at their dinner tables during the ceremony and because of budget constraints there will be no cocktail hour after the ceremony. My question is, how do I transition from ceremony to reception without it being awkward? I do know that I don't want to exit the room to be reannounced back into it and I'm not too keen on starting a receiving line either. My original idea was to have the officiant announce us as husband and wife and then we take our seats where my dad will give a congratulatory/thank you for coming speech and then start dinner or I thought after the officiant announces us we could walk back down the aisle and across the room to the dance floor and immediately go into our first dance with the DJ saying something along the lines of "Ladies and gentlemen, the first dance as husband and wife." Then after that, take our seats, have my dad's speech, and then dinner. Do either of those sound awkward? Other than those two ideas I got nothing so any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[Deleted User] · July 2015

I prefer having your dad give the "thank you for coming speech" as the transition. It just has a more definitive feel - I think your dad's speech will signal to the guests that the reception has started.

purplelily678 · July 2015

That's kind of what i was thinking. Thank you for your input!

[Deleted User] · July 2015

You could also walk out to the dance floor right into your first dance & then do the reception. We did our first dance when we were walked in for introductions. At that point the guests were all seated & both the DJ & photographer had told me that doing the first dance right away allows for better photo opts because the guests are seated and not standing up & around the dance floor watching.

MandyMost · July 2015

I like the idea of the first dance, seats, toast, then dinner. The ceremony is all talking, so going directly from that to someone else talking (the toast) doesn't seem to flow too well to me.

I think to make this successful all you have to do is embrace it, and not try to pretend like it's a different room. Don't leave and come back, get all the pics done prior to the ceremony so you don't have to leave for pics, etc.

I think it will work out great!

mrandmrspunk · August 2015

I'm doing the same thing, ceremony and reception in the same room, though for different reasons. Our date is in November, so the sun is going to go down around 5-530. In order to have plenty of light, I want to do my pictures outside and am leaning more and more towards doing a first look and taking our pictures before hand somewhere else (not that I don't love our venue) to avoid having to leave our guests in between.

I agree with MandyMost for the transition. What I'm thinking of doing though is going straight into our first dance with a fun routine that includes our whole bridal party. Not trying to jump on a bandwagon or anything, I just love performances. I even have a theater tattoo and I think that plays into us perfectly.

justsie · August 2015

mrandmrspunk said:

I'm doing the same thing, ceremony and reception in the same room, though for different reasons. Our date is in November, so the sun is going to go down around 5-530. In order to have plenty of light, I want to do my pictures outside and am leaning more and more towards doing a first look and taking our pictures before hand somewhere else (not that I don't love our venue) to avoid having to leave our guests in between.
I agree with MandyMost for the transition. What I'm thinking of doing though is going straight into our first dance with a fun routine that includes our whole bridal party. Not trying to jump on a bandwagon or anything, I just love performances. I even have a theater tattoo and I think that plays into us perfectly.

Do not do this. Do not put your bridal party through this. Do not put your guests through having to watch this. Leave performances out of it, this is your wedding not a theater production.

There are multiple threads on here of this exact topic. No one likes to be forced to watch them. No one likes to be in them, except for the person dictating it.

[Deleted User] · August 2015

justsie said:

mrandmrspunk said:

I'm doing the same thing, ceremony and reception in the same room, though for different reasons. Our date is in November, so the sun is going to go down around 5-530. In order to have plenty of light, I want to do my pictures outside and am leaning more and more towards doing a first look and taking our pictures before hand somewhere else (not that I don't love our venue) to avoid having to leave our guests in between.
I agree with MandyMost for the transition. What I'm thinking of doing though is going straight into our first dance with a fun routine that includes our whole bridal party. Not trying to jump on a bandwagon or anything, I just love performances. I even have a theater tattoo and I think that plays into us perfectly.

Do not do this. Do not put your bridal party through this. Do not put your guests through having to watch this. Leave performances out of it, this is your wedding not a theater production.

There are multiple threads on here of this exact topic. No one likes to be forced to watch them. No one likes to be in them, except for the person dictating it.

Quoted because I couldn't Like it twice.

ShesSoCold · August 2015

adk19 said:

justsie said:

mrandmrspunk said:

I'm doing the same thing, ceremony and reception in the same room, though for different reasons. Our date is in November, so the sun is going to go down around 5-530. In order to have plenty of light, I want to do my pictures outside and am leaning more and more towards doing a first look and taking our pictures before hand somewhere else (not that I don't love our venue) to avoid having to leave our guests in between.
I agree with MandyMost for the transition. What I'm thinking of doing though is going straight into our first dance with a fun routine that includes our whole bridal party. Not trying to jump on a bandwagon or anything, I just love performances. I even have a theater tattoo and I think that plays into us perfectly.

Do not do this. Do not put your bridal party through this. Do not put your guests through having to watch this. Leave performances out of it, this is your wedding not a theater production.

There are multiple threads on here of this exact topic. No one likes to be forced to watch them. No one likes to be in them, except for the person dictating it.

Quoted because I couldn't Like it twice.

Yeah this. Unless every member of your bridal party is a fire-eater or some other type of circus performer, no one will want to see this.

artbyallie · August 2015

Ditto PPs. And theatre tattoo? I have a theatre degree and know this is a bad idea.

[Deleted User] · August 2015

artbyallie said:

Ditto PPs. And theatre tattoo? I have a theatre degree and know this is a bad idea.

I can see someone getting a tattoo of the two masks. But other than that... yes, I agree.

ShesSoCold · August 2015

I have a kool aid man tattoo and I need a PPD because I missed the fantastic opportunity to have someone dress up as the kool aid man and burst through walls.

artbyallie · August 2015

adk19 said:

artbyallie said:

Ditto PPs. And theatre tattoo? I have a theatre degree and know this is a bad idea.

I can see someone getting a tattoo of the two masks. But other than that... yes, I agree.

(ETA:box goes here)

Oh, I have no problem with someone having whatever tattoo they like. I was more bothered by the idea that it's somehow an excuse to cast one's bridal party in a performance without their consent.

Transition from ceremony to reception in same room?

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