Six ways to add more dance time and keep the momentum of the party going!

Six ways to add more dance time and keep the momentum of the party going!

• Shorten the cocktail hour from one full hour to 45 or 50 minutes. No one will even notice.

• Cut the cake before dinner so that the catering staff can slice and plate the cake during dinner, and not after.

• Instead of having the cake served to the tables, have a dessert station where guests can help themselves to dessert after they finish their meal. I once saw a wedding where cupcakes where part of the table centerpieces and guests did not even have to get up from the table to get their dessert.

• Instead of having the toasts after dinner, have them between the salad and entree. Nothing is usually happening during that time anyway. A bonus is that the bridal party and the guests are still seated and don't have to be called back to their tables.

• Combine the Father Daughter and Mother Son dance into one dance.

• Instead of a traditional bouquet and garter toss (which I see being eliminated more and more), have the DJ do a Dedication Dance Off!. I have all the guests form a circle and have a fun upbeat song playing – I then call different groups into the center of the circle and recognize them and have them show off their dancing skills
  ​ ​
  Example are: All the out of State guests, all the guests under 21, co-workers of the bride, etc. Then have the DJ invite all the single women to the center of the circle and announce that the bride will be throwing the bouquet into the center of the circle. Same thing with the garter toss with the single men being called into the center of the circle and the groom tossing the garter.

Congratulations, you have just added a minimum of 30 minutes of dancing and made your celebration even more fun!

For more ideas like these emeil Mark Beecher at mark@grapevinedj.com