What's the order of your reception 'events'?

We are doing a grand entrance, blessing, dinner, Father/daughter dance then 1st dance together, cake cutting.

I don't think its weird to do a garter but no bouquet toss.

I did grand entrance - first dance - dinner - bouquet and garter toss - speeches - cake cutting - dance floor opens

We're doing our first dance as soon as we're introduced at the reception. So, our timeline looks something like this:

Intro

First Dance

Mother/son dance

dinner

cake cutting

money dance

shoe game

garter toss/bouquet toss

Of course, the dance floor will be open right after the first two dances, so everyone can join at that point on. The other stuff, like cake cutting, will be done in between.

I don't think it's weird to not have a bouquet toss. I'm still on the fence about it. I want to do it, but I'm getting all kinds of opinions on all sides about how it's a horrible tradition and I should ditch it. So, I'm still thinking about it. But this is the rough order of things.

We're doing...

Intro into reception

First dance

Dinner

Speeches

Spotlight dances

Cake cutting

We aren't doing tosses or the shoe game, but I would insert those in the speeches and spotlight dances portion if you aren't planning to do those. Both of the tosses are optional so I wouldn't think twice about you skipping either/both.

I don't think it's weird to do one and not the other! We are doing our 1st dance immediately upon walking in, guests will be seated to a plated salad. Then parent dances are at the end and open the dance floor after the cake cutting. I think your order is fine! Have you asked your venue what the typical order is for the best flow?

We are doing our first dance as soon as we enter the reception and are announced. Then speeches as dinner is being assessed and served.

It's not weird - don't feel forced to do anything you don't want to do. We aren't doing much traditional besides the first dance and the speeches.

Our timeline, which I have not completed yet, is basically: dance and have fun from 6:30 to 9pm without any interruptions.

We were granted some wisdom to get the activities out of the way early or, if you are having a a sit down dinner, do a few activities while people are eating. (Dinner and a show. ) What I don't recommend is interrupting the dance floor to stop and do an activity. It may be hard to get people back up quickly. So with your events, I'd recommend:

-start with first dance

-dinner (& shoe game followed by garter toss if you're doing them) so people can watch during dinner

-cake cutting at dessert time

View Quoted Comment Thank you. About how far apart are you spacing the things?

View Quoted Comment Our venue is his parents home, so they arent much help in this area lol! But i have talked with our DJ about it, and she has offered some suggestions but said it really depends on what we want. But were just not sure if the order matters or not.

View Quoted Comment This is perfect! Thank you so much! I totally agree with the dancing or interrupting the dancing possibly having a hard time getting everyone out on the floor again.

I like the idea of "dinner and a show".

Any suggestions of what/how to tell people to do while we are doing pictures after the ceremony (for about 30 minutes) other than eating? I figured if everyone started eating thru would be mostly done by the time we finish pictures, which would mean no 'dinner and show'. Could we just have the DJ direct them to cocktails and mingle? Fill out advice cards? Other ideas?

I am planning to make an 'Oder of Events' sign or possibly even a program so guests know what to do/what to expect at certain times. But im struggling with the wording and also the order.

View Quoted Comment I am SO glad you mentioned the blessing because that should have totally slipped my mind until the very moment of!

View Quoted Comment What will guests do while you do pictures after the ceremony? And how will the guests know what to do?

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All my things are pretty close together because we don't have the venue for that long. I'll have to check my rough timeline when I get home from work but I think it's this:

Ceremony 6pm to 630 pm

Cocktails/finishing up pictures from 630 to 7pm

Entrance/Introduction at 7:05pm

Blessing at 7:10pm

Dinner at 7:15PM

Father/daughter dance transition to 1st dance at 7:45 PM

Cake cutting at 8:30 PM

Ends at 10 PM

View Quoted Comment What did guests do while you did pictures after the ceremony? And how did the guests know what to do?

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The bar will be open and I have a coordinator who will tell everyone where to go. If we need to, I can have my dad make an announcement for everyone to go enjoy drinks. We are only planning on 30 minutes though. Hoping to get most of the pictures before the ceremony.

View Quoted Comment Great! I was wondering if we should leave a space in between at all, but honestly couldn't remember what had been done at other weddings ive attended.

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The cake cutting might even happen earlier because its important to me and I don't want it forgotten!

I prefer the dances and toasts up front before dinner, then the garter toss and shoe game later on to cut up the dancing, same with the cake cutting. What is your reasoning for not doing a bouquet toss? I'd say it's more common for people to do just the bouquet and not the garter toss.

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This is generally when people do a cocktail hour. If you put "cocktail hour" on your order of events sign, people will know that this is time to have some drinks and mingle. I think dinner might be tough to serve during this time because you'll probably have family and friends coming in and out for pictures. Put out a few appetizers, get the alcohol going, and play some casual music while you take pictures with those you need. Then you can join back with the party.

View Quoted Comment Many of our guests are young single men, as they are firefighters, former coworkers of my FH. When we counted it up, i think there was going to be less than 8 single women (including a teenager) but 25 or more single men. We just didn't want to make the single women feel uncomfortable, being there were so few.