Small Wedding/Early, Dry Reception/House After Party/Dancing?

zdmd14

I'm trying to wrap up all my concerns about the reception into one post so you can get the full picture and I don't blow up the board

FI and are mostly hosting the wedding ourselves (some family has contributed but along the lines of "heres $xx.xx, use it however you see fit).  We're having a about 40-50 people at our wedding.  About half don't drink or are kids.  Some that don't drink are VERY uppity about  drinking in general (I know...its "OUR" wedding, do what we want...but not causing months of judginess is something we want.  All of our friends (the other 20 or so) do drink and are pretty liberal.  

At this point we're thinking that we'll have a dry reception (beginning at 4:45ish) with an afterparty at our house.  Everyone will be invited to the afterparty, but we know that those who aren't interested in drinking/staying up past 9pm just won't come over, so I think that will work itself out.   

So, the catch is...I really want a first dance AND I really want to dance with my dad.  But I'm afraid that without alcohol, not many people at all will dance (and we already have a small crowd) and then things will get awkward.

Is this a valid fear? How do you all think I should deal with it?

(Keep in mind...we're from East Tennessee and we've got a fairly laid back crowd in terms of expectations  but some very conservative people in terms of values/judgement...welcome to the Bible belt).

Maggie0829

I think that you should have a DJ or DIY music yourself for your reception.  That way you can have your first dance and dance with your Dad and those that want to dance can and those that don't want to dance don't have to.  You should have music for your reception whether that be background music or dance music because music makes an event better.  You could talk to a DJ and discuss your crowd and that you want people to dance if they choose but to keep the music a bit more laid back rather then club style.

zdmd14

Thanks for this comment.

I think what I need (want) to hear is that the wedding isn't a total flop if there isn't a lot of dancing and no booze til later that night  (...we're not even big dancers; we just want a couple of dances together) and that people will still have a good time.  ...or a good enough time.

CMGragain

People don't need to drink alcohol to enjoy dancing.

Maggie0829

zdmd14 said:

Thanks for this comment.

I think what I need (want) to hear is that the wedding isn't a total flop if there isn't a lot of dancing and no booze til later that night  (...we're not even big dancers; we just want a couple of dances together) and that people will still have a good time.  ...or a good enough time.

I have been to weddings that have sucked and they had dancing and booze. I have also been to weddings that were lots of fun with little dancing and little booze. It really depends on your crowd. With an earlier wedding people will most likely be content with good food and good conversation. It most likely won't last as long as a wedding with booze and dancing but that is okay.

Edited because spelling is hard.

[Deleted User]

A co-worker of mine only did the first dance & father/daughter dance, their family & friends aren't into dancing so they had music played more for background atmosphere & it was still a great time.