Dance Floor Insurance
Every one of these gets decided weeks before your wedding. None of them can be fixed during it.
It saves in this browser. Nothing gets sent anywhere.
One: the clock
The clock is running
Check it out: Let's say your ceremony starts at 5pm, and the reception ends at 10pm. Once the clock hits 5 o'clock, it's ON!
The clock stops for nothing and nobody. Not for guests who arrive late, bathroom breaks, or the time wasted trying to figure out where Aunt Sara is.
The worst part? Your guests feel every bit of it. For instance, Sunset Photos. Your guests are done eating and waiting to party, but the quick "10-minute" outside photo shoot is now pushing to half an hour. Everyone inside is dying, waiting for you to come back into the room.
How much money is each minute worth at YOUR wedding? Fill in your numbers below. I'm confident this will convince you to stick to your timeline.
Think about that. Wasting just a few minutes, once your wedding starts, now has a whole new meaning. Let's see what it will cost you.
Two: the thieves
Three things that steal your time
You won't feel any of them happening, that's what makes them expensive.
Here is the thing about all three: Fix them BEFORE your wedding date on the timeline, and then stick to it!
1. Changing your outfit
If you are going to change your wedding dress mid-reception, you might figure that takes five minutes. (I promise it's NEVER just 5 minutes). Figure 15-20 minutes, easy.
The fix if you want a dress change: Change during dinner, before the dance floor opens.
2. Working the room table by table
You want to see everybody. You should! These people love you.
You think you'll spend a few minutes at each table (probably more). But even at just 3 minutes per table, that's 30 minutes for 10 tables.
30 to 45 minutes of your reception, gone.
The fix. Do a Photo Table Dash. See all your tables in the space of one song; your photographer snaps a photo of you both at each one. Then have fun on the dance floor!
3. Too many toasts
Toasts are a wonderful tradition that you should embrace. But not too many.
3-4 toasts/speeches are the sweet spot, about 4 minutes each. More than that is risking taking away party time or boring your guests. You'll lose 4-5 minutes for every toast after the 4th one.
The fix. Four toasts, max. Everybody else who wants to say something can speak at your rehearsal dinner, where everyone is not "waiting" for the dancing to start.
You can lose an hour without even thinking about it. When you stick to your timeline, these thieves can't rob you.
Three: competing attractions
Everything else is competing for your guests
Cigar rollers are awesome. Some guys love cigars, some gals love cigars, and the guy rolling them is fun to watch.
But here's the problem. The cigar roller is outside and your reception is inside, so everybody who wants one has to leave your party to go get it. All the guys will be outside. Half the gals will be inside. Not good.
And nobody left because they were bored. They left because you gave them somewhere else to be.
The fix. Do the cigars at your rehearsal dinner. That's twice now the rehearsal dinner has solved a problem for you (it's the most underused night of the whole weekend).
A cigar roller isn't the only exit
Every wedding has a few of these, and none of them are bad things. You want them. The question isn't whether to book them, it's where they sit and when they're open.
Two questions sort out all of it:
Here's what usually does it:
- The bar in a separate room. Every drink turns into a trip, and a trip turns into staying gone.
- A photo booth around the corner. It isn't just that it's in another room, there's also a line of ten people waiting to get their picture taken. That's ten guests off your dance floor, and from out there they can't even see the party they're missing.
- Late night food that opens during peak dancing. Food beats dancing. Every time.
- The patio or the fire pit. On a perfect Florida night, it wins.
- Anything else people have to wait for. A caricature artist, a coffee cart, a churro truck. The wait turns into the hangout, and now that's where your guests are.
The fix. Put your amenities and activities where everyone can see them, including from the dance floor, and have them open during cocktail hour and dinner instead of during dancing. If you're still touring venues, look for one that keeps everything in one room. Moving your guests from room to room to room all night is a real challenge, and it's a lot easier to avoid it than to fix it.
The best guarantee for a great party? YOU!
Here's a real easy way to know where the focus is going to be at your reception. It's on you, the couple. Wherever you are, that's where the party is.
Hang out at the bar and your guests will hang out at the bar. Step outside and they'll go looking for you. Get out on that dance floor and let loose, and guess what? They're right there with you, every single time.
Pick what your priority is. A packed dance floor, a crowded bar, or a room full of people sitting at their tables. You choose it by where you are. Everybody's looking at you both. Make it count.
Four: the room and the gear
The room is part of your entertainment
This is the last one, and it's what nobody thinks about while they're touring wedding venues. Your DJ can be great and the songs can be perfect, but if the room is lit like a grocery store, you're already fighting an uphill battle. Everything here can be taken care of before your Day begins.
Lighting. (And this one isn't even close)
This is the biggest one by a mile. Every person is a bit anxious about being the first guest on the dance floor, but low light is what makes it okay. Under full house lighting, your reception feels like a corporate meeting instead of a party.
So visit your venue at night. Have them turn the lights on and walk the room, then ask what dims, how low it goes, and who's allowed to touch it once your reception starts. The worst offender is if they have only fluorescent lighting. It'll look like an office meeting at work.
The fix. See your venue at night, look at the different lighting levels, and ask about additional lighting from the venue (or your DJ).
Your party is hot!
A packed dance floor throws off real heat. A ballroom that feels perfect during dinner can be miserable an hour and a half later. You don't want your guests stepping out to cool off.
The fix. Find out who controls the thermostat that night and how to reach them. Have them take it down a few degrees right before dancing starts.
How many bartenders?
One bartender for 150 guests is a line all night, and everybody standing in that line is somebody who isn't dancing.
This one's different from everything else in here, because it does cost money. Not much, but it isn't free, so it's your call.
The fix. Ask your venue or caterer how many bartenders come with your package and what it costs to add one for the reception. Then decide if it's worth it to you.
Where the DJ goes
Your dance floor should be right next to your DJ, with nothing in between. No guest tables, no cake table, no gift table.
When a venue or wedding planner places guest tables between the dance floor and DJ, odds are grandma and grandpa are sitting at the tables with LOUD speakers pointed right at their ears.
The fix. Ask your venue for the floor plan and check one thing. Is the dance floor touching the DJ? If it isn't, ask them to move it.
One night visit, a couple of questions, and a look at the floor plan. That's it.