No Dancing?

[PrincessSamtastic]

DF and I arent big dancers and considering our wedding probably won't be that big maybe 20-30 people IF that who also aren't big dancers I'm wondering if I should waste the money on a DJ and a dance floor, the plan is to have a small wedding early in the morning a breakfast/lunch kind of thing. I'm afraid if we have a dance floor everyone is going to sit and stare at each other and it'll be a waste of time and money, but I honestly don't know what to do to keep people entertained? What would ya'll do?

 

[geek+nerd]

We didn't do any dancing at our wedding, either; no first dance or father/daughter, mother/son dances. Granted, we were an Escape wedding and had our lunch off property, but even if we had done a meal on property, I don't think we would have sprung for dancing.

How about taking the DJ/dance floor money and getting a character or two instead?

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Why not have a break after lunch and have a DP in the evening?

 

[geek+nerd]

Why not have a break after lunch and have a DP in the evening?

That is kind of what we did. I'll give you a timeline of our day.

10 am: Ceremony at Wedding Pavilion

11 am: Cake cutting at Grand Floridian

1 pm: Lunch at Cantina Laredo (about 15 minutes off property on Sand Lake Road)

3:00 pm-7:30 pm: guests did whatever they wanted. We went back to my family's condo and hung out for a little bit, then my sister, BIL, niece, nephew, mom, DH and I went to DTD where DH and I did characters in flight.

7:30 pm: everyone met at POR lobby to get bus to DP

8:00 pm-9:30 pm: DP at Morocco

I will say this; everyone loved the dessert party. It was an experience unique to Disney. DH was initially a little apprehensive about doing one, but afterwards, he commented that he was so glad we did. It is such a special experience. Our guests loved it. DH's mom said she felt like a celebrity with our escort and private area.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Where are you having your reception? We're having ours at The Attic, which isn't really conducive to a DJ and dancing in the first place, and we're also having a morning/brunch wedding--- and, honestly, I don't think dancing makes too much SENSE for a morning wedding!

We are going to have at least one character (but hopefully two!) to keep people entertained. You could also do a caricature artist, which would also be a lot of fun for guests too. I think I'm planning on having those disposable cameras on all the tables too--- if they get bored, they can take pictures!

HTH

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

we're going to have a violinist for background noise, as well as characters... we may dance around with the characters for a minute... but we don't have a dance group either. I would add the characters or an uninvited guest, etc.

 

[BethieTink]

If you don't think that your group would be into it then don't waste the money on it. Use it on something that you think would be more fun. You know your group better than anyone.

DH and I are not big dancers at all, but we danced the entire time at our first wedding and at a friends wedding recently, so you might be surprised. We enjoyed being able to pick out all the music that we liked and would have wanted to dance to. We greatly limited our DJ to a specific group of artists he could choose from and at least 50% of the music had to be Springsteen. Our friends wedding was very similar.

Based on the comments so far, I think I am in the minority on the dancing for a morning wedding. We had to have it for our 10-2 reception. We actually switched from The Attic to the American Adventure Parlor so we could dance. More specifically, so we could even play music. I was told that we couldn't even get an ipod setup. Space works better for us anyway. Can't have a Rockin' All Over the World theme without music.

Sorry if ithis doesn't really help, but thought I would give the other side.

 

[PrincessSamtastic]

Thanks Everyone for your advice! I hadn't really considered doing a DP so That's something to look into! I'm just glad I'm not the only one whose considered not having dancing.

Where are you having your reception? We're having ours at The Attic, which isn't really conducive to a DJ and dancing in the first place, and we're also having a morning/brunch wedding--- and, honestly, I don't think dancing makes too much SENSE for a morning wedding!

We are going to have at least one character (but hopefully two!) to keep people entertained. You could also do a caricature artist, which would also be a lot of fun for guests too. I think I'm planning on having those disposable cameras on all the tables too--- if they get bored, they can take pictures!HTH

We havent really decided yet where to have a reception, I wanted the whole themed reception but considering we'll probably end up with an escape, (DF and I have changed our minds so many times!) I doubt a themed reception will be happening. I agree! I don't really invision Morning Wedding with Dancing, though I wouldn't mind having the first dance and the parents dance.

I was planning on Having AT LEAST Mickey, So hopefully that will help keep people entertained. A Caricature artist is ana amazing idea though! I should really look into that! Thanks!

If you don't think that your group would be into it then don't waste the money on it. Use it on something that you think would be more fun. You know your group better than anyone.

DH and I are not big dancers at all, but we danced the entire time at our first wedding and at a friends wedding recently, so you might be surprised. We enjoyed being able to pick out all the music that we liked and would have wanted to dance to. We greatly limited our DJ to a specific group of artists he could choose from and at least 50% of the music had to be Springsteen. Our friends wedding was very similar.

Based on the comments so far, I think I am in the minority on the dancing for a morning wedding. We had to have it for our 10-2 reception. We actually switched from The Attic to the American Adventure Parlor so we could dance. More specifically, so we could even play music. I was told that we couldn't even get an ipod setup. Space works better for us anyway. Can't have a Rockin' All Over the World theme without music.

Sorry if ithis doesn't really help, but thought I would give the other side.

A Rockin' All Over the world theme sounds awesome! Thanks for the imput, It helps to hear whats worked for people.

 

[Jilian]

We didn't want to do all of the dances too so we're having our reception @ a restaurant in a private room. We're using Il Mulino in the swan. You could always go the restaurant option if you're worried it will be awkward without dancing. I think that you can book most restaurants yourself if you have 24 or less people, once you get over 24 you get into having to rent a private room. Or you can just hire a few musicians to do some background music or use an Ipod with speakers. I think no dancing at a morning reception is common.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I haven't read what everyone else responded, so this may be a bit of a repeat. We had a brunch reception, with just the iPod hookup (I originally wanted a pianist but when we changed locations we couldn't have one). The only dancing that we had was my and DH's first dance, and the father/daughter, mother/son dances. Our reception was quite short, but I don't think that anyone felt bored or anything without dancing - this is especially true if your guests aren't dancers! So I would say not to spend the money on the DJ and dance floor if you are going to have an early reception and not use it. There are tons of other things that you could spend money on, or you could just save it!

 

[sambycat]

We had a brunch reception and had Alice and the mad hatter. Our reception was in the Whitehall room and we followed our meal with entertainment from Yehaa Bob Jackson who plays piano usually at POR. He is great!!! It was a nice day time event.

 

[SuperRob]

DF and I arent big dancers and considering our wedding probably won't be that big maybe 20-30 people IF that who also aren't big dancers I'm wondering if I should waste the money on a DJ and a dance floor, the plan is to have a small wedding early in the morning a breakfast/lunch kind of thing. I'm afraid if we have a dance floor everyone is going to sit and stare at each other and it'll be a waste of time and money, but I honestly don't know what to do to keep people entertained? What would ya'll do?

Save the money, and just play your favorite CD as background music.

Neither my FW nor I particularly enjoy dancing. Since it's the second wedding for both of us, and a small venue, we're having an afternoon high tea, and skipping most of the "traditional" wedding stuff.

Suffice it to say, it's YOUR wedding. Do what YOU want to do. Who cares what anyone else thinks?

 

[lurkyloo]

Throwing in my two cents... Like a lot of previous posters, we had a morning brunch at the Attic and skipped all but the first dances.

I'm not sure where this idea comes from that guests need to be actively entertained and everyone will be dreadfully bored if there isn't a DJ. OK, maybe at a traditional Saturday-evening reception guests would be puzzled if there wasn't dancing, but at a casual brunch, most people are just interested in eating, catching up with old friends and relatives, and meeting the other side of the family.

You also don't necessarily have to have a full 4-hour reception with 1-hour pre-reception at brunch, and cutting down the time means you have even less of a reason to pay for entertainment.

 

[Mindyjoy]

I agree with the ipod idea. Background music is always nice and an ipod is most likely cheaper than a live musician. If you are worried about guests being bored, I read about a wedding recently where the bride and groom put games in the center of the tables as centerpieces - desk of cards, Connect 4, Uno, Mad Libs. It sounds like the guests really got a kick out of it. I bet you could find some Disney themed card games.

 

[disfan melissa]

This was one of my biggest concerns before our wedding since we weren't having a dance floor and I had never been to a wedding without dancing.

We had the jazz trio for background music and we did a first dance but there was no other dancing. Our guests had a great time and the time really flew...I think most of them were relieved that they could actually catch up, chat and enjoy the food. Plus the locations are so different from a typical wedding that there really is a lot of novelty for most guests.

Since I was really stressed about having a "no dancing wedding" beforehand my planner kept reminding me before the wedding -- this is a Disney wedding, your guests will not be bored. In the end, no one missed not having dancing at the wedding.

I agree with the ipod suggestions as long as you can create a playlist beforehand and have someone willing to set it up. I was too lazy but I think it would have worked well.