Reception without dancing... what do you think?

[cseca]

OK,
We're only going to be doing a dinner only reception without any dancing.
Has any of you done so?
DF isn't very keen on the idea of dancing and also we only have 2-3 hours between ceremony to DP.

Sooo... my idea is only to have dinner and cake cutting.
BUT here are my concerns:
1. I am planning to have videographer, what in the world would they do if all we do is eat and do the cake cutting? :rotfl:
2. For you gals/guys who've done this, is it ok to have no speeches? Neither one of us (or my MOH) is big on giving speeches...
3. Also if your group is so small (ours will be 30 people or less) who do you have do the announcements? Like "Here's Mr. & Mrs. so and so" or "Dinner's served", etc. etc. Do we have to hire another MC or something?
4. Is it ethical to just have a bride & groom first dance?

Thank you!
This is oh so confusing... :laughing:

[Ember]

Your wedding sounds a lot like mine! We only had 21 guests. Our wedding planner announced us, we walked into the room and had our first dance. Then we began the reception meal, had the cake cutting, and the bouquet toss. Then everyone mingled for a bit and went back to their hotels to get ready for the dessert party that night. I don't think anyone missed the dancing!

As for speeches, we didn't plan any and didn't really want them. But we had four! People just wanted to give them spur of the moment and it seemed wrong to stop them saying all those nice things about us! :rotfl:

Hope that helps!

[LKLush]

I don't seen any problem w/ a non dancing reception. My plans actually include the same - dinner w/out dancing, but include dancing later at a club (out of wedding attire, etc). I think it's a great idea, especially w/ the informality of the whole affair (at least on this end) and w/ the small guest count.

[cseca]

Thanks Ember & LKlush!
Yours sound so much like what I want to plan except for the returning back to the hotels part and the dancing at the club part.

Thank you!!

Now I just have to figure out if our planner could do the MC-ing a little bit :)

[lurkyloo]

My wedding will be a lot like Ember's! We're having no dancing, just 35 people, just first dances with me and DF and us and our parents.

However, our planner flatly refused to announce anything for us - I think she was so shocked that we didn't want a DJ that she's refusing to go along with such unorthodox tomfoolery!

We are going to have DF's brother announce things, and we're not going to be announced when we enter cuz we're riding to the reception with our guests - that would be silly!

[cseca]

However, our planner flatly refused to announce anything for us - I think she was so shocked that we didn't want a DJ that she's refusing to go along with such unorthodox tomfoolery!


:lmao: unorthodoz tomfoolery....
Would she really expect that small party size to indulge in a full dancing session with DJ? :confused:

oh well... I guess we'll see what our planner would say when we get one...

[JandJ]

I think she was so shocked that we didn't want a DJ that she's refusing to go along with such unorthodox tomfoolery!



:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
That gave me such a giggle this morning!!

One of my dearest friends had a non-Disney wedding, about 50 guests, and did not have dancing. It was a very nice reception. We took pictures, ate a delicious meal, had the cake cutting, bouquet toss, etc. I think her brother or other mail relative did all of the announcing (hard to remember, it was 7 years ago).

[BaBeeCee14]

I'm having sort of the same issues here as well. We are having somewhere between 40 -50 guests, but no one dances. Our cocktail hour is from 3:30 - 4:30 and the reception is from 4:30 til 8:30. DF and I plan to have a first dance (to a cd) but thats it. I'm just not sure what we are suppose to be doing for all that time.

I also don't know what to do about the whole announcing thing. I don't want everyone, including myself to be like whats going on? What are we doing next?

[caryndisneydiva]

we're not dancing, but there will be dancing at the reception. my df is terrified of dancing in front of others in a formal setting (he's a dj and his version of dancing inspires a rave more than a ballroom...), so i think i'll dance with my dad and leave it at that.

[cseca]

I'm having sort of the same issues here as well. We are having somewhere between 40 -50 guests, but no one dances. Our cocktail hour is from 3:30 - 4:30 and the reception is from 4:30 til 8:30. DF and I plan to have a first dance (to a cd) but thats it. I'm just not sure what we are suppose to be doing for all that time.

I also don't know what to do about the whole announcing thing. I don't want everyone, including myself to be like whats going on? What are we doing next?

We're having the same issues... that's why we're cutting our cocktail + reception time from 5~6 hrs to 2~3hrs, that'll give everyone enough time to eat a nice meal and then head out to the DP... hopefully nobody will miss the speeches, garter toss, dances, etc... sigh...

I'm not sure about the announcing thing. I don't think anybody in either our families would want to be a DJ for the day... So we'll have to talk to our planner and find out our options.
Maybe hire a DJ for the reception is our only option...

[BaBeeCee14]

We're having the same issues... that's why we're cutting our cocktail + reception time from 5~6 hrs to 2~3hrs, that'll give everyone enough time to eat a nice meal and then head out to the DP... hopefully nobody will miss the speeches, garter toss, dances, etc... sigh...

I'm not sure about the announcing thing. I don't think anybody in either our families would want to be a DJ for the day... So we'll have to talk to our planner and find out our options.
Maybe hire a DJ for the reception is our only option...

I was thinking to hire a DJ even though I really didn't want to. I know that no one is going to dance and it seems silly to me to basically pay someone $1500 to come in just to make a few announcements. As a couple of other brides here have mentioned, their WPs were willing to do it. If not, I may have to find an outgoing family member...:rolleyes1.

The other thing about the length of the reception is that I was unable to shorten it really. My ceremony is at 2:30 and the reception (at LSS) is immediately after, plus we are having a DP at 8:30. It wouldn't make sense really to have everyone leave for an hour and then have to come back to Epcot again.

Do you guys think a plated dinner vs a buffet would take up more time?

[figmentfan814]

We're not having regular dancing at our reception either. My matron of honor's husband is doing our announcing and we're using an Ipod for our first dances. The rest of the time we're having a pianist play background music to set the mood. We're having around 55 people and our crowd isn't big on dancing.

[lurkyloo]

Well, my No. 1 tip is to cut the reception short, but since that's out, what about hiring musicians to play ambient music and/or having a character appearance, a magician (really!), or a caricature artist to fill the time?

[BaBeeCee14]

Those are all great ideas! I would love to have Mickey and Minnie come! Unfortunately, its a bit out of my budget... I remember another bride on here had a caricaturist and she said everyone loved it. So that might be another option.. I think it'll all be ok and I'm sure the time will fly by. I think I'm just stressing because I don't want people to be bored.

[cp_princess]

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who was a bit stressed about hearing that we have a 5 hour time block for our reception. Our ceremony is also at 2:30 with a reception right after until 8:30 PM.

We are having about 45-50 guests as well and don't plan on having dancing. But while we'll have a wonderful view for everyone to look at - we're in the Napa Room at the CR - I don't want people feeling like all they have to do is look out windows and eat!

Some of the posts on here have been really great though for ideas! With a tight budget I wasn't sure how we'd use up the time either but hiring someone other then characters and a DJ as mentioned on here might be a wonderful solution!

Thanks again!
princess:

:cloud9: Less than a year till I marry my Prince Erik in our DFTW!

[Janell]

I was stressed about having to dance and a DJ. I tired to get my WP to annonce the buffet is open, scuba mickey is here, mickey and minnie and the cake, but she wont do it.

I was told WP don't make annocments, its the one thing that has really upset me with the wedding.

[lurkyloo]

I was stressed about having to dance and a DJ. I tired to get my WP to annonce the buffet is open, scuba mickey is here, mickey and minnie and the cake, but she wont do it.

I was told WP don't make annocments, its the one thing that has really upset me with the wedding.

Hmmm... I wonder if we have the same WP!

Could you have the Best Man make these announcements? Or someone else responsible who is not afraid of public speaking?

[Janell]

Hmmm... I wonder if we have the same WP!

Could you have the Best Man make these announcements? Or someone else responsible who is not afraid of public speaking?


We don't have any groomsman or bridemaids. I could have my parents do it, but I want them to enjoy their only childs wedding. Maybe thats silly. So I just bit the bullet and went with the DJ and we are taking dnacing classes so we don't look stupid out there. LOL

I was told that none of the WP make annocments, so I was told it wasn't just my WP, its all of them. Well from this tread I can tell thats not true and its upsetting, but what can you do? Not much.

I would have done things differently if I would have known our WP wouldn't make these small annocments. Live and learn.

[BaBeeCee14]

I guess its really up to the individual WP and whether or not they feel comfortable making the announcements. I don't know if my planner would be willing to do it or not, but I'm still going to ask her. If she says no, I will probably ask DF's cousin, who is also the best man to do it.

[DisBride2007]

WOW... This was truly an issue I did not give one moment's thought to when planning our DFTW. We did not have a DJ. Our reception was at the LS and we had about 30 guests. We chose not to be "announced" when we came into the reception, but a male CM announced things like the cake cutting, etc. I suppose one of our guests could have easily done it. I wonder if the reason why the WP won't do it is because they're not necessarily going to be there the whole time? Ours wasn't...

Oh, and in response to the OP, we didn't have dancing either, and it wasn't an issue at all. :goodvibes

[ecoon]

Wow, sounds like we are all having similar weddings. Well I will be writting this in my TR within a few days but I thought I would share my experience.

We had 29 people (including us) at the Attic. We did not get announced coming in and I don't think it was a big deal at all to not be announced. I didn't have a DJ. I had Disney set up an AV tech with a speaker and hooked it up to our ipod. When it was time to eat, the planner told us and we started going though the buffet. Everyone saw this and realized it was time to eat so no announcement was needed. It was the same for everything else. With a small group everyone just seemed to see what was going on and didn't need to hear an announcement. We had out first dances after diiner, and then had music that was very dance optional. If people wanted to it was appropriate but it was low enough volume to still be kinda in the backgroud. We had donald duck come for the cake cutting and so everyone was watching him and knew it was time for the cake cutting.

I have to say though I had alot of the ame concerns you guys have about keeping people entertained for several hours. Two things I am really glad we squeezed into the budget. 1.) A character: Everybody loved having donald there and every single person there had their picture taken with him. He was worth every penny. 2.) A bar: My family doesn't drink so orginally we had no had a bar in our budget but we added it last min. We had the bar open after dinner and it encouraged mingleing and gave everyone something to do.

WOW sorry that was so long, it is just so fresh in my memory, read my TR for more info!

[cseca]

Thanks everyone :)

ecoon, what time was your ceremony and your reception?
(btw I read your PJ and you looked beautiful in your dress... )
We picked the 5pm because firstly the 2:30 were already booked and because we don't want the pre-reception to take hours...
And now *I* worry about the time being too short (1hr pre-reception, 2hr dinner, 1hr DP) ... sigh... there's no winning for me... :rotfl:

[ecoon]

ecoon, what time was your ceremony and your reception?
(btw I read your PJ and you looked beautiful in your dress... )
We picked the 5pm because firstly the 2:30 were already booked and because we don't want the pre-reception to take hours...
And now *I* worry about the time being too short (1hr pre-reception, 2hr dinner, 1hr DP) ... sigh... there's no winning for me... :rotfl:

Our wedding ceremony was at 2:30. We got married at SBP and then just had to walk to the Attic (after pics of course) Out guests got to the Attic at about 3:30 and we got there at about 4:00. We did a dessert party so we left the Attic at about 7:45 to grab the limos to Epcot.

If you really are not planning on doing dancing I think two hours for dinner will be fine. Good Luck!

[yanners]

I think many people have answered this well but I thought I could thow out an idea for the non-speech.

I didn't want to have to give a speech so what I did was write each person a little note saying how they positively affected my life.

Everyone LOVED that and it wasn't hard to do. They thought it was the most touching and heartfelt thing they had ever seen.

Just a thought......

[lurkyloo]

I love that idea too! :goodvibes What a wonderfully personal and meaningful gift.

Dang - another thing to add to my list of projects...:cutie:

[figmentfan814]

I was thinking to hire a DJ even though I really didn't want to. I know that no one is going to dance and it seems silly to me to basically pay someone $1500 to come in just to make a few announcements. As a couple of other brides here have mentioned, their WPs were willing to do it. If not, I may have to find an outgoing family member...:rolleyes1.

The other thing about the length of the reception is that I was unable to shorten it really. My ceremony is at 2:30 and the reception (at LSS) is immediately after, plus we are having a DP at 8:30. It wouldn't make sense really to have everyone leave for an hour and then have to come back to Epcot again.

Do you guys think a plated dinner vs a buffet would take up more time?

We're at the LSS and we're paying to have a pianist play background music throughout the entire reception. There aren't any real dancers and we're using an iPod for our first dances. The piano there is really cool- clear acrylic with gold, so there are always options for other background music from live musicians too which is less than a DJ.

[cseca]

I think many people have answered this well but I thought I could thow out an idea for the non-speech.

I didn't want to have to give a speech so what I did was write each person a little note saying how they positively affected my life.

Everyone LOVED that and it wasn't hard to do. They thought it was the most touching and heartfelt thing they had ever seen.

Just a thought......

That is an EXCELLENT idea... may we borrow it too? :lovestruc
Thanks for posting that...

[PrincessBride07]

Another non dancing wedding here. We did have a dj though. All he did really was play background music. He did announce last call for the bathroom, and the dances. He kinda announced us in the room (actually fed the words to my 9 yr. old nephew). Even if you don't have dancing, I would suggest some sort of background music whether it be a dj or Ipod.

Cseca ~ our wedding was at 5p.m. with dinner served at 7. We ran a little late (about 20 minutes) to our dp, but illuminations started at 9:30 that night. It didn't seem like it was too little time at all.

[cseca]

Another non dancing wedding here. We did have a dj though. All he did really was play background music. He did announce last call for the bathroom, and the dances. He kinda announced us in the room (actually fed the words to my 9 yr. old nephew). Even if you don't have dancing, I would suggest some sort of background music whether it be a dj or Ipod.

Cseca ~ our wedding was at 5p.m. with dinner served at 7. We ran a little late (about 20 minutes) to our dp, but illuminations started at 9:30 that night. It didn't seem like it was too little time at all.

Thanks PrincessBride!
hmm... I was getting anxious about the time recently. Your post helps a lot.
May I ask how you did your pictures?
Did you do before or after the ceremony?

[PrincessBride07]

Thanks PrincessBride!
hmm... I was getting anxious about the time recently. Your post helps a lot.
May I ask how you did your pictures?
Did you do before or after the ceremony?

DH flat out refused to do a reveal. I was concerned that we wouldn't have much time for the just us pictures. We did the individual pictures preceremony, and the rest afterwards. Though half the time was group pictures, we did have plenty of time for the just us pictures. We did have Randy take an extra hour of pictures for us at the Boardwalk after the dessert party. We ended up with a ton of pictures, especially considering we did the MK photoshoot too.

[cseca]

Thank you so much!
That was our plan too... no reveal.
The added time afterwards was a good idea.
I should ask my photographer if he is willing to do that if necessary.
You are a sanity saver... thank you so much!!! :hug:

[PrincessBride07]

Thank you so much!
That was our plan too... no reveal.
The added time afterwards was a good idea.
I should ask my photographer if he is willing to do that if necessary.
You are a sanity saver... thank you so much!!! :hug:

your welcome. If you have any other questions feel free to pm me anytime.

*sorry for the slight hijacking of this thread* :flower3: