order of events at reception

inshapebride

Hi all

What does the order of events look like for your reception?

Our first dance will be first, obviously, but then I dont want to go into the mother/son father / daughter dances right away. 

I also dont want to do the toasts right away either. I want to do our (upbeat fun!) first dance and that kicks it off.

Then, maybe the other stuff happens later? Thoughts? 

Giaspo

We changed it up. Instead of our first dance, we entered and then had a fast dance song played. We grabbed our families and started dancing like crazy until everyone joined in. People were a little confused at first but it was so much fun and a great way to kick off the night! We did toasts with our appetizer and our first dance (which was slow) right before dinner. It was nice to mix it up although it wasn't traditional. You could do the family dances in between apps and dinner, which would be a nice slow set of music and well timed with dinner.

37 Butter Knives

Our DJ persuaded us to veer a bit from the traditional format. We were reluctant at first - we've only ever seen the first dance and parent dances done back to back, and we were concerned our guests would go "WTF?" - but it turned out to be a hit. People enjoyed not having to stand at rapt attention through three songs before they could party!

Here's how we did it...

• First dance. We didn't have the attendants join us.
• Immediately following that, the DJ played "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," and everyone was called up to dance. I believe a couple of other uptempo songs followed.
• Toasts were done 20 minutes after the first dance concluded, then the salads came out.
• After the salad was served and people had time to eat it (about 15-20 minutes), we had the parent dances.

cindyn9178

I guess we did it the traditional way.. we entered, danced our first dance (we had everyone join in dancing for about half of the song), then did the father/daughter dance, Mother/son Dance (People were seated during them).
Then, the toasts, appetizer/salad was served.. then a bunch of dancing, dinner, then more dancing, anniversary dance, then cake. (no bouquet or garter toss).

kristen8040

We did it the traditional way, but we just wanted to get everything done so we didn't have to stop dancing later on.

LissyM83

I think we're going to do the entry - right into first dance into an upbeat song. Toasts will be right before everyone sits down for first course. We're not doing a garter/bouquet toss so we'll do the parent dances right after we cut the cake. 

sgdc2011

We were introduced, did the first dance and invited ppl up halfway through, then did the Horah since everyone was up already, then as the apps were coming out we did the father/daughter mother/son dance.   My cousin did the parent dances during dinner... I was not a fan..but to each their own

rlavach

I am a non-traditional person & therefore a non-traditional bride, so I really wanted to vary the order during our reception. Unfortunately, my FI is painfully shy, so the idea of dancing in front of a crowd makes him shake in fear. (literally!) 

So in his words, we're going to get the first & parent dances 'out of the way' early, so he can relax & enjoy the rest of the night. If I put any of those dances later in the night, he'd be all tense & wound up the entire time...