Common format of a wedding reception:

Arrival of guests at hall · Introduction of wedding party · Introduction of bride and groom · Blessing · Meal · Toasts · Cake Cutting · Bride & Groom’s First Dance · Father & Daughter’s Dance · Mother & Groom’s Dance · Special Dances · Bouquet and Garter Toss · Dancing and Fun

 

Arrival of guests at reception site. Typically, a wedding lasts about 15 minutes. However, some guests do arrive early to the reception. Therefore, be sure all reception to-dos are complete by the start time of the wedding. Also, all wedding vendors should be wearing proper attire for early arriving and late staying guests. All tables should be set-up including cake table, entertainment’s table, sign-in table, food tables, and tables with chairs for all guests. If you have a seating arrangement, all seating lists should be at the reception with everyone’s name with where they are sitting.

Introduction of wedding party This step is not mandatory, but it is nice for everyone to know who the wedding party is as many have not met before your wedding. Create a “Reception Planning Guide” and give this to your master of ceremonies (most of the time is the DJ) prior to your wedding. This details, among other things, the order of entrance into the reception site with their names and titles. The order of entrance is as follows: parents of the bride, parents of the groom, ushers with bridesmaids, flower girl and ring bearer, special guests, best man, maid/matron of honor, bride and groom. In addition, review the pronunciations of the wedding party’s names with the master of ceremonies.

Introduction of bride and groom This is always the last of the introductions. Everyone should stand before the bride and groom enter. In addition, a

special song can be arranged with the music entertainment and a special announcement made to punctuate a true grand entrance. Also, inform the master of ceremonies how you would like to be introduced: Mr. and Mrs. Smith or John and Jane Doe.

Blessing This is another step that is not mandatory, but for the religious couples makes a nice setting. If you invite the person who performed the marriage ceremony to the reception, I would recommend having them conduct the blessing. If they are not able to attend, a parent or family friend is a good idea. Be sure to communicate with whomever is giving the blessing in advance so they are prepared to give a personal touch.

Meal It’s time to eat! Bride and Groom. It is customary for the bride and groom to start the food line (unless the tables are being served). Most guests know to wait until the bride and groom start the food line.

Toasts. The toast is when the bride and groom toast each other then interlock arms and drink. Immediately following, the best man and maid/matron of honor make toasts to the bridal couple. Be prepared for other family and friends to follow with their toasts too.

Cake Cutting This is the traditional bride and groom making the first cut on their wedding cake. Then, the bride feeds half of the piece of cake to the groom and the groom feeds the remaining half to the bride. The cutting of the cake is a ceremony intended to symbolize the caring and sharing for one another.

The Bride & Groom’s First Dance is the first dance between a bride and groom as a married couple. The dance is also commonly known as the “First Dance”. The timing of the bride groom dance can vary in the evening based on your preferences. The first dance can also be done immediately following the grand entrance with the wedding party circling the dance.

Father & Daughter Dance or the Father Bride Dance is the dance between the father(s) of the bride and the bride. Brides, if you have more than one father in your life, one can tap the other on the shoulder in the middle of the dance so you can dance with both of them. If you do not have a father, a common substitute is a father figure or even your brother would make a very nice gesture.

The Mother & Son dance is the dance between the mother(s) of the groom and the groom. Groom, if you have more than one mother in your life, one can tap the other on the shoulder in the middle of the dance so you can dance with both of them. If you do not have a mother, a common substitute is a mother figure or even your sister would make a very nice gesture.

Special Dances There may be songs in your life that mean dear to your heart. You can ask the music entertainment to play these songs during the night or immediately following the formal dances.

Bouquet and Garter Toss The traditional tossing of the bouquet is when the bride tosses the bridal bouquet to all single women in attendance. Immediately
The Dollar Dance is optional and normally only done with larger reception partys. 2 lines are formed normally with the Brides Maid and Best Man at the front directing them. The 1^st line of woman must pay a dollar to the Best Man for a 1 minute dance with the Groom and the 2^nd lineof men must pay a dollar to the Brides Maid for a 1 minute dance with the Bride. (amounts can be more if desired) The money collect during these dances are given to the Bride and Groom to help pay for wedding cost, honeymoon etc. following the bouquet tossing, a chair is set in the middle of the dance floor. The chair is for the bride to sit and the groom to remove the bride’s garter from her leg. The traditional tossing of the garter is when the groom tosses the bride’s garter to all the single men in attendance. The people whom catch the garter and bouquet are said to be the next one to marry. An optional dance can between these 2 can be done also. The Snowball Dance is optional and starts off with just the Bride and Groom on the dance floor, then the DJ will announce SNOWBALL TIME at which time the bride and groom stop dancing and go out and grabs a new person from the guests to dance with and now there are 2 couples on the dance floor. After a minute SNOWBALL TIME will be announced again and the 2 couples stop dancing and have to all go out and select new person from the guests to dance with and now there are 4 couples dancing. This will proceed til the dance floor is full, the current song will be played out and the Snowball Dance is done.Dancing and Fun This is what you pay the music entertainment to do…get people to dance and have a good time.