Below is a very smooth and easy flowing four to six hour wedding reception. Of course, you may have a different agenda and we can flow just as smoothly with whatever your preferences are. We included some secret industry tips to help you look better and make your reception run even smoother.

Cocktail Hour: While the guests arrive, we'll play music that's mellow but not sleep inducing. Your guests are arriving and becoming accustomed to the room. They're catching up with old friends or distant relatives, so you don't want us to play anything other than background music. Good choices include smooth jazz, new age, soft rock, big band, ethnic or even classical music.

Traditionally, the bride and groom are not in the room during this hour. They don't come in until after their grand introductions. The photographer often uses this time to finish up bridal portraits. To ensure that things don't get out of control and in a rush later, there needs to be an absolute time set for the cocktail hour that has been discussed with the maitre'd ahead of time.

Introductions: About 10-15 minutes before the end of the Cocktail Hour, we'll need the bridal party to get together somewhere close to us like outside the main room to go over their names one more time and make sure everything's right to avoid any embarrassing mistakes, as we ready them for their grand introductions.

Using the wedding information form we had you complete earlier, we'll line the ushers and bridesmaids up according to the order of the list on the information form. With the music turned off, or extremely low, tradition has us usually announce the parents and grandparents first. We'll remind everyone before hand about why they should smile and how they should hold their partner's hand, if applicable, so they look their best in the tons of pictures that will be taken. If the grandparents have already come in and are at their tables our MC will simply say "Ladies and Gentleman, seated at his or hers table ...  Otherwise someone will have been assigned to escort the parents or grandparents directly to their seats when they enter the hall. As they enter we'll say something like "Ladies and Gentleman, let's have a warm round of applause for the parents-grandparents of the groom (or bride) Mr. and Mrs. Billy Right!

Next will be the Ushers and Bridesmaids. Our MC will say something like "Ladies and Gentlemen, it's my privilege to introduce the Bridal Party, beginning with Bridesmaid Jessica Simpson escorted by usher Will Smith" We can either have these people report directly to their table, or have them line up along the dance floor, males on one side, females on the other. This can set up some nice videos or pictures when the bride and groom do their first dance.

The Flower Girls and/or Ring Bearer will come in next, if they've been kept with the bridal party. It's up to you as to whether they'll then go to their assigned tables or line up with everyone else. 

Because the Maid of Honor and Best Man are usually two people very close and special to the bride and groom, we introduce them specially "And now I would like to introduce two very special people chosen by the bride and groom to represent them today. Please welcome the Maid ('Matron' if she is married) of Honor, Ms. Jill Berry escorted by the Best Man, Mr. Garth Brooks!"

The Grand Entrance; Now comes the big entrance everyone’s been waiting for!! If the music was on it stops now. Our MC will have the entire room stand up for this honor saying something like "Ladies and Gentlemen, family and friends, it is my honor and privilege to introduce to you the brand new Mr. and Mrs. .... " Everyone claps and cheer wildly, videos rolling, cameras snap, and 10 seconds later the entrance music comes on.

The Human Archway: Tradition has it that the Human Archway brings the lucky bride and groom good luck. The bridal party lines up on either side of the dance floor facing each other, males on one side, females on the other, leaving a wide gap between themselves. If the flower girls and ring bearer are to line up with everyone else, these will need to be told beforehand to just raise one of their hands and not to try to touch each others'. Most think it’s pretty cute to watch them raise their hands even though they can't touch to form the archway. This can help make for some good photo shoots.

As the bride and groom come forward, the ushers and bridesmaids all lift one of their arms to form an archway. The maid of honor and best man are pre-chosen to be either the first couple or the last to form the archway. The bride and groom then duck and scurry under the archway ducking and weaving on their way to the center of the dance floor. The Human Archway helps to make for some really fun memories.

Another Method of The Human Archway: As the bride and groom just start to enter the room and has everyone's attention, the bridal party will be busy, out of notice, finishing their set up for the bride and groom's entrance to the archway. The ushers and bridesmaids furthest from the newly approaching couple now each two-by-two move forward from the rear-most positions to the front-most positions and form the Human Archway that now leads as an extension of the walkway from the doorway to the dance floor. This method of forming the Human Archway is very easily done and makes for some extremely nice video and gives a grand theatrical appearance.

The Bride and Groom’s First Dance: The dance floor is off-limits to everyone else until the bride and groom have danced their first dance. When the bride and groom reach the center of the dance floor, and take their position with each other, we will introduce the dance with verbiage like “Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. …. will now dance their traditional first dance. They have selected ‘Always and Forever’ by Heatwave.” The special song previously selected song comes on and the lights in the room are dimmed (or other lighting as selected to highlight this moment). Typically this is where we would use our Starball II Showroom “Disco Ball” lights (see these on our “dance lights” web page). These lights are really classy and pretty awesome to show off the couple with. 

This moment can sometimes be the best photo-op of the evening, with the lights glimmering on them, the bride and groom alone, staring into each other’s eyes, fixed on that moment of forever …

If DC was chosen to sing your song he will stand off to one side or in the back of the dance floor where he won’t interrupt the view of the bride and groom from any angle. At the end of the dance our MC will say “Ladies and Gentlemen, please give our new bride and groom, Mr. and Mrs. … a warm round of applause!” 

One other thing – sometimes the song chosen for the first dance can be uncomfortably long, and some couples just don’t feel comfortable staying on the dance floor all by themselves for all that time. Know in advance how long your song is, if you, the bride and groom, would like for us to cut if off early on a pre-designed nod or other signal from you. You might also use a different signal to tell us if you’d like to have us invite just the full bridal party or everyone to join in on the dance floor “Ladies and Gentlemen, our new couple has asked for you to join them for the conclusion of their first dance” 

The Blessing: Everyone now goes to their tables and we'll introduce the pre-selected guest (priest, reverend, rabbi, parent, friend ...) to say the blessing. We use Shure cordless microphones, the finest in the industry “Will everyone please be seated (or stand, whichever is desired) and join us as Rabbi … says the blessing for us” After the blessing is complete our MC will turn over the microphone to the best man or whoever is proposing the toast. "Ladies and Gentlemen, pray silence for the best man"

The Toast: Usually done by the best man. Our MC will let the banquet people know the toast is coming several minutes before it happens to insure that all of the guests have a full glass of champagne. The toast is traditionally done before dinner but some brides and grooms prefer this during or after dinner. The best toasts generally recall sentimental moments of the relationship of the groom and the best man, mention humorous (but not too embarrassing) things about the bride and the groom, and offer best wishes for the future ... "Jeffrey told me the night he met that girl he was gonna marry her, God Bless you and yours in your new future Jeffrey!" 

In addition to the best man, many families offer toasts from other family members and friends, including a toast by the maid of honor. When there are multiple toasts it's important to eventually fade these out after a respectable chosen time. If you would like, our MC can watch and feel this out for you. When it appears like the right time has passed she will courteously say something like "Ladies and Gentlemen, dinner is served".

During dinner time, we'll probably be playing mellow jazz, soft ballads, and any other music requested by the bride and groom. Usually 45 minutes or so into the dinner you may want us to start bringing people on the dance floor doing the Macarena or something similar between soup and salad. DC will usually just say something into his mic like "Macarena!" and people will instinctively follow up on the dance floor.

Parent Dances: After about an hour and fifteen minutes we'll start to break up the dinner hour with the parent dance(s). Traditionally, the bride will first dance with her father. The groom will then follow dancing with his mother. Our MC will say something like "And now for her special moment with her father, Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome our lovely new bride Mrs. .... and her father Mr. ... to the dance floor".

The groom will then follow behind dancing with his mother. "And ladies and gentlemen, Mr. ... will now share this moment with his  mother the lovely Mrs. ..." 

If one of the parents is not available, someone else may dance in the place of either parent. We'll definitely want to clear this up well before the wedding reception to avoid the painful mistake of announcing a parent dance with a parent who may not be present for whatever reason, or one who is a family's black sheep.

These can be two separate dances or, for a twist, both can share the dance floor with their parents at the same time ... Or … after a separate dance with each, both could then share one last at the same time.

Wedding Party Dance: After the parents dances are completed, you may want the entire wedding party to join you on the dance floor for the wedding party dance “Would the wedding party please come up and join the bride and groom for our special Wedding Party dance”. This dance can also take place during your first dance, where the bride and groom’s first dance will be split 50/50, and the wedding party would be asked to join the bride and groom on the dance floor.

Party Time: After the formal dances have been completed, we’ll invite everyone to join in on the dance floor. In the beginning we’ll play a lot of popular music to get everyone involved in dancing. We might go in and out of a lot of slow songs (these are really popular at weddings) and mix in some oldies, swing and new age, current (hip-hop, reggae) and classic dance songs (disco, dance rock, and contemporary Top-40 music). We are also open to requests and suggestions, and we'll play these based on what you told us on the wedding information form as to what you, the bride and groom are musically into, and what you totally hate.

Additional Dances: Some couples like to include special spotlight dances for family or friends who are celebrating a birthday or anniversary within a week or two. These would be thrown in wherever they are fit and will be preceded by a brief announcement on behalf of the bride and groom.

Dollar Dance: This is a really fun and popular dance. We will invite people to dance with the new bride for a small fee, usually a dollar. For kicks we can establish the initial fee with an auction; the highest bidder wins the honor of the first dance. In the thrill of the moment, the bride will sometimes become totally surprised and embarrassingly honored at everyone’s excitement, as if she never knew anything about this at all. If there is alcohol served we will try to wait until the blood alcohol level is a little higher, this brings the excitement level up too.

Bouquet Toss: Preparation for this event includes letting the bride know in advance, because she’ll be busy visiting tables and doing the bride thing. We’ll want to make sure the bride’s throw-away bouquet is available.

We’ll first invite all the single women to the dance floor. Then we’ll call the bride to the dance floor. We’ll announce that we’re going to count backwards from three, and then the bride will toss her bouquet over her shoulder to the single women. While preparing everyone for the event we’ll explain the tradition of it by saying that “The old story goes something like this: the single woman who catches the bouquet will be the next person to get married or have a romantic interlude”.

While the girls are waiting on the dance floor, we will play a fun “girl” song like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, “It’s Raining Men”, Ladies Night, or “All I wanna Do Is Have Some Fun” or anything else the bride chooses for this. But, as the bride begins to toss the bouquet and everyone scrambles for it, we'll tone down or completely cut-off the sound for everyone to hear the excitement.

If a young girl catches the bouquet, the bride will usually choose a substitute for the last act of this tradition.

As an alternative to the bouquet toss, many brides now will personally give the bouquet to a close friend or relative as a gesture of thanks. Just let us know either way.

Removal of the Garter: After the single woman has caught the bouquet we’ll ask the bride to have a seat on a chair that we’ve placed on the dance floor. We’ll then ask the groom to come to the dance floor and we’ll instruct him to remove the garter from the bride’s leg. We’ll play something funny like “The Stripper” theme to accentuate this event.

Garter Toss: This is where all the guys get rowdy. After the garter has been removed, we’ll ask all the single gentlemen to come to the dance floor. Then we’ll ask the groom, on the count of three, to toss the garter over his shoulder. During this fiasco we’ll play a fun “boy” song like “Macho Man” or “Oh Yeah”.

Putting the Garter Back On: Some like to include this and some don't ... your choice. If you do then immediately after the “Macho Man” catches the garter we’ll ask the woman who caught the bouquet and the gentleman who caught the garter to both come up here together on the dance floor. We’ll have the woman sit down in the chair. The object of the last part of this activity is for the gentleman who caught the garter to place that garter on the leg of the woman who caught the bouquet. We’ll play something along the lines of “The Theme to the Pink Panther” to enhance the excitement. We’ll announce that the higher the gentleman places the garter on the woman’s leg (all young eyes closed!), the more luck the bride and groom will have. We’ll further announce that if he can get the garter up one leg and down the other, the bride and groom will be set for life! A really fun twist to this is to reverse the roles and have the woman place the garter on the man’s leg. Big chuckles here.

Cake Cutting: After the bouquet and garter ceremony, we will host the traditional cake cutting ceremony. The timing of this event can vary depending if the cake is to be served as dessert, in which case this will go on much earlier in the reception.

We’ll call the bride and groom to the cake, and instruct them to cut the cake. We’ll play a fun song like “Love and Marriage” or “The Bride Cuts the Cake” to get this thing going. We’ll have this up on 8’ video showing the bride feeding the groom and vice versa. Everyone has a lot of fun watching this.

Last Dance: At the end of the reception we’ll play a set of slow songs. For the last song, we’ll dedicate it to the guests on behalf of the bride and groom. We’ll mention that the bride and groom appreciate everyone sharing their special day with them and wish our lucky couple many years of health, prosperity and happiness.