Reception/Dance timeline question.

seesawgirl · April 2012

Good morning ladies!

As I was putting together our playlist, I realized I hadn't figured out the order of the reception, and the dances and toasts.
Mainly, I wonder if when we walk in, if we're supposed to immediately go to the first dance, or wait until after dinner, and when my brother and I dance together, if that should immediately follow the first dance, or if there should be some space in between the two.

How did you do everything?

MrsKathyC · April 2012

Your DJ will help you figure that out. This is how we did it:

First dance immediately following our entrance
Dinner
Father/Daughter dance
General dancing
Cake
Bride/son dance and Groom/mother dance (together)
More General dancing
Toast (this was not planned, one of my sisters made an impromptu toast)

rlavach · April 2012

You can make it whatever order you choose. Like PP said, your DJ will assist you in this as well as your Maitre'D or coordinator if you have those. We went a less traditional route & are doing

grand entrance

10min dancing

B&G first dance

mother/son dance

father/daughter dance

dinner

cake

open dancing

end

raes19 · April 2012

You can do things in whatever order works for you. We did:

Entrance
First Dace
Dinner
Toasts
Father/Daughter Dance
Cake
Party time!

baystateapple · April 2012

Ditto PP. Talk to your DJ.

Ours went like this:

Entrance
First Dance
Toasts
First Course and Table Visits)
Cake Cutting (because we were having it served, it had to be cut before dinner)
Dinner
F/D Dance
M/S Dance
Open Dancing

seesawgirl · April 2012

Yeah, we aren't having a DJ, just using iTunes for our specific dances, and a playlist from pandora that we've been cultivating for months.

Fluffernut · April 2012

I don't have everything quite planned out, but our venue suggested doing our cake cutting right after our entrance so that more guests could see it (versus later in the night when people may have had to leave). And it was also suggested that toasts be after everyone was served and still eating. So I'm guessing it will look something like this:

Entrance
Cake
Dinner served
Toasts during dinner
PowerPoint video thing at end of dinner/during clearing and cake serving
First Dance
Father/Daughter Dance
Mother/Son Dance
Open Dancing
End

miranda1211 · April 2012

We didn't serve dinner (just had h'or douerves and cocktails), but our reception was:

Entrance
Cake-cutting
First dance
Father-daughter dance
Mother-son dance

*20-30 minutes of music and dancing, and cake is served*

Toasts

*About an hour of music and dancing*

Bouquet toss

Our DJ recommended getting the "big" stuff out of the way early, especially because we had an evening ceremony/reception, so that people who didn't want to stay too late could take pictures and get some cake. And, I was afraid I would cry during the toasts (but I didn't!), so I wanted to make sure we had our cake-cutting and firsts dances over before that

July2012bride · April 2012

We're doing something like this:

Enter

First Dance

Cake Cutting

FOB welcome speech

Salads Served, B&G start eating dinner, Best Man and MOH toasts

Dinner Served to the rest of the guests and Table visits by B&G

Father/Daughter Dance

Mother/Son Dance

Announcement of Dessert Table/B&G thank you to guests

Open Dancing

End

seesawgirl · April 2012

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I think we'll be doing

Entrance
Dinner
Toasts (during dinner, after everyone has gone through the buffet line)
First Dance (Unforgettable- Nat King Cole)
Open Dancing
Cake Cutting/Dessert
Brother/Sister Dance (Sweet Child of Mine- Taken by Trees version)
Open Dancing
Bouquet/Garter Toss
Open Dancing

Kate61487 · April 2012

Just a word of caution - you may want to limit the number of times you break into the open dancing. Your guests might find it a little annoying, and you may lose the 'flow' of the party, KWIM? If people have to stop dancing and sit down to watch something they're less likely to get back up. Also if you're not having a DJ who would be doing the interruptions and actually clearing the dance floor?

We did:
Entrance
Cake
Toasts / prayer
Dinner
First Dance (while they were still clearing plates, etc)
F/D and M/S (while they served cake)
Open dancing

*edit - typo

seesawgirl · April 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_receptiondance-timeline-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:ed59db27-1cfc-4072-9f5a-31bcd951b51ePost:139a578d-4d38-487c-861c-c1745414bdf0">Re: Reception/Dance timeline question.</a>:
[QUOTE]Just a word of caution - you may want to limit the number of times you break into the open dancing. Your guests might find it a little annoying, and you may lose the 'flow' of the party, KWIM? If people have to stop dancing and sit down to watch something they're less likely to get back up. Also if you're not having a DJ who would be doing the interruptions and actually clearing the dance floor? We did: Entrance Cake Toasts / prayer Dinner First Dance (while they were still clearing plates, etc) F/D and M/S (while they served cake) Open dancing *edit - typo
Posted by Kate61487[/QUOTE]

You're right, and when I say "open dancing" I don't mean that people are going to neccesarily going to go out on the floor to boogie. I honestly highly doubt that anyone dances but FI, brother, and I. There will just be music playing (50's swing music) and nothing officially going on.

QueerFemme · April 2012

We are having

Entrance
Dinner
First Dance
Cake
Toasts
Everything else... which is pretty much just partying and open dancing.

We didn't want to have constant interuptions once the dancing started, and we aren't doing any parent dances or a garter/bouquet toss.

Reception/Dance timeline question.

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