Reception - Change Over from Dinner to Dance

Ask the venue what they've done in the past.

Where are guests going while they flip it between ceremony and dinner? If you're having a cocktail hour in another room, could you do your cake cutting in the same space while the venue flips the room for dancing?

Not everyone dances so you can't take their seats. I'm not a fan of two room flips. How long is your reception after dinner?

What does the venue normally do? You can't flip the room twice, it will take too long.

We are doing something somewhat similar only we are just changing the room once and only part way. Our ceremony is outside in the garden and then we stay outside for pictures while our guests come in for cocktail hour. Then we have dinner and after that we are having everyone go back outside for the first dances while most of the tables are taken down to make room for dancing. There will still be 2 tables if people want to sit down as well as a few seats outside in the garden.

Are you sure the tables take up the entire room? My reception is in an atrium that will hold the tables, a dance floor, a bar, and cake table. When we first toured, the room was empty and I had a hard time imagining it would comfortably fit our 75 guests. When we visited for our tasting, they had it set up for a wedding of 125 guests and I was really impressed with how everything fit. Definitely talk to your venue to see how they usually do things, or maybe even ask to see it set up for an upcoming wedding (if that's not too bold)? They may surprise you.

We went to a wedding recently where they moved only a couple of the tables after dinner to create a small dance floor. The bridal party had been sitting there, so it wasn't an inconvenience to any of the regular guests. After that, those individuals pulled up chairs at other tables (so, where there had been 8 at dinner, there were 9 or even 10 after).

It worked fine, but it was a very intimate wedding (maybe 50-60 people) where everyone more or less knew one another, and the dance floor was quite small. There wasn't a dj and the bride and groom were pretty much the only couple that danced.

Ask your venue. We do this all the time in three different museums. Usually, they serve drinks elsewhere in the museum. (Be prepared to NOT have any colored alcohol...) Then people go back into the space.

We are stuck with this same dilemma! One of our thoughts was to configure the room with a small dance floor, then slowly and strategically cluster tables once we transition to dancing -- that would allow more room for the dance floor....yet still preserve some chairs/seating for those who would rather not dance.

DREAM WORLD: I'd love to figure out a way to get some alternative seating (ie. couch + lounge chairs) setup but right now it's looking like a lot to coordinate