Timing of Hora?

Colby2000

I'm hoping you ladies can help.  My FI is Jewish however I am not.  Many of my friends however have married jewish guys and have had the hora at their wedding. In all cases, the hora was done after dinner and after dancing had been going on for a bit.  The wedding coordinator at my venue and my band leader are both suggesting we do the hora right after our first dance which will be immediately after our cocktail hour.  They say it really energizes the crowd and sets the tone for the night.  However they are more than happy to do it when I want to.  I trust their judgement but am concerned that this is too early in the evening.  With their plan, we will go right into dinner after doing the hora.  For those of you who did the hora, when did you have yours? 

eeyore4771

We had the hora right after dinner and I think it worked out perfectly. I was in the same situation as you, hubby is Jewish and I'm not. I didn't want to do the hora later on since I was afraid it would disrupt the flow of dancing and fun, and frankly I wasn't looking forward to being thrown up in a chair in front of a bunch of people. Our DJ actually advised doing it after dinner as well, and I highly recommend doing it that way. I wouldn't do it before dinner. You lose the energy that you get from everyone getting up and dancing, plus if I were a guest I'd much rather eat first since I'm likely to be hungry by that point. HTH!

Melbelle11

We did ours right after our first dance, and it was great - totally got the crowd up and dancing, so when they played a couple more songs, everyone was already on the dance floor and stayed there while the salad was being served. 

foolforfood

We did it right after the formal dances, which coincided with the end of dinner.  The hora kicked off the dance party and kept everyone on the dance floor, which was exactly what we wanted.I recently went to a wedding where the hora started before the the salad course.  Dancing continued after the hora and then the band leader announced that our salads were ready.  Everyone left the dance floor and attended to their food.  Then the couple did the first dance and the parent dances.  A few people stayed on the dance floor during the meal courses, but the majority didn't.  I thought the flow was odd, however, I think that the hora traditionally begins at the start of the evening.

Colby2000

Thanks for your responses.  I can see benefits of both and just not sure which to choose.  Our parent dances will occur after dinner so I'm torn between whether to do the hora before dinner  or immediately after the parent dances.  I can see the benefits from both, and it sounds like both choices work well based on your experiences. I sort of want dinner to begin and end in a reasonable time fashion.  If doing the hora before dinner, did you think that it prolonged dinner at all?  Maybe I am overthinking this and should just go with what is being advised to me by the pros.  My venue (The Langham) has dancing separate from the dinner tables so I'm also concerned that this may cause people to miss the hora, or stay on the dance floor too long and not be back for dinner to start.  Again, I am probably overthinking this!   

killian09

We did it right after the first dance, before dinner.   It worked for us that way.    It helped open the dance floor, so people danced b/w courses at dinner.

amybw

I haven't decided yet either.  I was thinking of doing our first dance right after cocktail hour and then the hora and then salad and dinner.  I'm still up in the air.  i do feel like the hora should be earlier in the night, but then i don't want to break up the dancing by starting the meal.  But i also don't want to eat too late either!  I guess i'll have to discuss with my DJ.

jenvalet

We did ours after dinner, but before dessert. We did the parent dances and then went into the hora.