Structured reception or go with the flow?

Lasairiona

Which do you prefer as a guest? A wedding where something is planned for every 10-15 mins with the dj making announcements the whole time or letting the event flow naturally? With the latter, are people really unable to figure out what is going around them without it being formally announced?

scoetto

I hope something isn't "planned" every 10-15 minutes. I think there is a nice medium you should consider.

tmm140

I think announcements are good.  That way during the father/daughter dance, other people aren't dancing.

janedoe1113a

I think there's a happy medium.  We're letting things go with the flow, but we plan on having announcements for us coming into the reception, when dinner is served, cake cutting, and bouquet toss.

peachkins

Yeah, we're planning on having things fairly relaxed.  We will have the DJ do announcements for big things like WP introductions, dinner, first dances, cake cutting.  Otherwise, everyone can dance, mingle, party, drink, whatever!

banana468

I'm a fan of structure at the beginning. Keep the cocktail hour to just the hour and begin intros on time and idelally, do all the key dances right away too. Make sure meals are served in a timely manner but when the dance floor is open to guests, keep the interruptions to a minimum and make sure the band or DJ read the crowd well so they keep dancing.

jessiegirl_98

Ditto bananaGo with the flow for cocktail, prompt intros, do dinner, get the dances out of the way and then let the floor stay open

tenofcups4me

Maybe it's the weddings I go to, but I don't really understand the question. If you're planning on doing certain things, don't you have to (at least loosely) schedule them and announce when they're happening? But I've certainly never seen so many things scheduled that there are constant announcements. Once the reception starts (afte the intros and first dance), usually the only "announcement" is when the bride and groom are about to cut the cake. I guess they also announce bouquet and garter throws, but I haven't seen those in years.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Agreed with banana, as usual.How much structure do YOU want? I'm probably not doing announces dances (first dance, father/daughter, etc) because I'm not much of a dancer, so I figure people who WANT to dance can do so on their own, whenever. I'm also not doing a garter or bouquet toss, but if you are, those will obviously have to be announced at some point. And people need to eat on time - whenever they are used to eating, preferably soon after the end of cocktail hour. Cake cutting should be announced, but it's up to you when you do it.Give your DJ/MC a decent outline of when things will take place. If things get a bit off, don't sweat it. And don't add a bunch of unneccessary stuff that people won't expect.

kmmssg

What banana said.....exactly.

zitiqueen

I just want to know WTH could possibly be planned and announced every 10-15 minutes.