Order of Dances

We actually cut the parents dances and cake cutting. while everyone is eating were just gonna do a couple pictures with the cake cutting and us! but keep your speeches short and same with the toasts and if you want you can cut out some dances.

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We are planning to do the same! bouquet toss after cake cutting, so the dancing will only be broken up once

Hello,

We are doing our bridal party entrances, flower girl and bring boy, parents & then our main entrance which would then lead straight into our first dance.
Afterwards, i would do my father daughter dance, followed by Mother Son dance.

Then all the dancing is done! & Now I just have to worry about the party lol

We have the same issue trying to plan out dances.
We only have our photographer an hour after dinner starts so we don’t want to cram everything, but also don’t want to rush the photographer.
We are doing our bridal party entrance and first dance right away. I am thinking of doing the mother son and father daughter dance right away while dinner is being served or right after it is served while everyone has been seating.
This is the most difficult part for us!

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Hi Tori - no supper, the reception is cocktails and appetizers and party - dinner for the smaller group before this; so we'll be doing most of the speeches during the dinner earlier in the evening with the smaller group, just ours for the big crowd. But otherwise I like that timing. We can get the dancing started at 8:30 this way since no dinner

Hmmm so basically we have 2 hours to fit in the photo ops?

In this case I would say that you could have the following:

8:00PM - Entrance followed immediately by the first dance

8:10PM - Supper starts

8:30PM - Speeches get going during supper

9:00PM - Father/Mother & Daughter/Son dances (since you will be fed first guests will either still be eating or just finishing up)

9:45PM - After over 30 minutes of dancing now you can cut the cake!

How does this sound? I know you don't want people sitting for a long time but considering the fact that you only have 2 hours to work with and most people when they go out for supper take over an hour to eat so it's not that long of a sitting period IMO.

The last wedding we went to they did the bridal party entrance then right into the first dance, right after that was the father/bride dance and then right after that the mother/groom dance before dinner was served. The speeches then were spaced out and done throughout dinner, there was no cake cutting.

i personally prefer the dances to be more spaced apart instead of clumped together. I personally would go with bridal party entrance and then when you are introduced go into your first dance. You mentioned a bride/groom speech, but if you are having parents also give speeches I personally like the idea of that dance occuring after that parent's speech (ie: bride's parents say speech, then the father/bride dance) for me I like that so then my dad and I can be emotional wrecks all in one moment instead of splitting it up and having two bouts of crying . If you aren't having parent speeches I would put the parent dances spaced out during dinner.

For cake, if your dinner includes another plated dessert than I may wait an hour or two and have some dancing to let guests digest as they may not be too keen on cake if they just had a dessert. If you don't have a dessert then perhaps cut the cake at the end of dinner to be their dessert. Keep in mind that etiquette wise the cutting of the cake symbolizes the time when guests can politely start to leave. If you do it too early you may have guests leaving right after it but at the same time you don't want to hold your guests hostage waiting too long. That's why I think maybe cutting the cake by 2 hours after the end of dinner is a good balance.

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Dinner is at a different venue so that won't work

For most weddings I’ve been to, the cake cutting has happened after a few songs. I can’t say I’m a fan of that, because it breaks up the dancing. But, the couple will cut it and it is served right away. And most people don’t want the cake right after the dinner. On the other hand, if you cut it right after dinner, people are still sitting and will actually watch. And, then the dance isn’t broken up.
For the father/daughter, mother/son dance, I think you can do that between courses (if it’s a plated meal) or even right after dinner to open the dance floor.
I have also seen it happen after a few songs, but again, it breaks up the dance. I feel like once the dance starts, people only want to be interrupted for the midnight snack!

You seem to have many dances in order and timing wise seems 15 minutes along with cake cutting and entrances about 45 minutes in whole.

The best suggestion to break the times down and simplify matters to go in order of:

Wedding party entrance then yourselves

First dance

Cake cutting (to have the cake on dessert table for guests to self serve if dessert table served)

Speeches keeping to 2 minutes max for wedding party, 5 minutes for parents, siblings and yourself at the end to get through the evening.

Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances keeping it short due to time frame or 2 songs mixed to have both done at the same time over 2 dances separately.

Party started.

We did about the same though the Mother/Sons dance replaced the First dance for us and my parents went to bed early in the evening. The first dance was pushed and never taped at 11pm. The DJ wasn't keeping to the timing of the dance and 1 speech according to the sheet provided. Some flaws will occur and accept them as they come.