2Hrs enough for open dancing?

When I asked my DJ this question he said one and a half to 2 hours is the norm.

View Quoted Comment Ok that’s good to hear. Thank you.

I think that's a good amount of time for dancing, especially since your ceremony starts later and there's a lot going on before that. I absolutely love dancing (and I do it competitively), but we'll only have about 1.5hrs of dancing. It's also a bit of a "know your crowd" thing. A good part of the reason our open dancing time is that short is because I think only about 1/3 of our guests would dance anyway. Most of them are more excited about hanging out and having drinks and food and talking. We wanted to give ample time for that during the reception. Also, since I love dancing so much and definitely want to actually be able to do so at my wedding, that gives us time to make our rounds to our guests during the reception before dancing and then I'll actually be able to dance.

I think 2 hours of dancing is ok, especially with a later timeline. I think 2 hours before that of speeches, dinner, and spotlight dances is way too much though. I would cut your cake as soon as you walk in before your first dance, and honestly would cut the shoe game, bouquet and garter tosses completely. That would let you start the open dancing and mingling by 9pm.

With your ceremony starting so late, and with such a tight timeline, I don’t see any way to squeeze in additional dance time unless you could extend the length of your reception. The ideal amount of open dance time really depends on your crowd. If there will be a lot of older guests who will leave early, or a lot of parents who will have to leave because of children, or if your crowd just isn’t the “get down on the dance floor” type of people, then I think two hours will be more than enough. If you have a predominantly younger crowd or your guests are the dance/party type, then additional dance time may be appreciated. But, if I had to choose between one or the other, I would much rather cut a great party short than to be stuck with hours of an empty dance floor. Plus, if the party vibe is still going strong at 11:30, you could always move it to a local bar or dance club, or have an after party at a hotel room.

View Quoted Comment Thanks for your response. I was thinking the same thing, I don’t see anything to change around to give more time to dancing besides, cutting out the tosses. And you are soo right, I rather cut a great party short than hours with no one on a dance floor.

I think 2 hours is plenty for dancing but you can condense some of the earlier things because 2 hours is a long time to have your guests sitting at their tables. For example, unless you're having a plated 3 course meal you may not need a whole hour for dinner. I've also been to weddings where the dance floor opens then after a period of open dancing (30 minutes or so) the DJ briefly clears the floor for bouquet & garter toss. The cake cutting doesn't always have to be it's own thing (and it definitely won't take 10 minutes... maybe 2 tops), often the DJ will announce in the middle of dancing "the couple will be cutting their cake now!" But of course this is personal preference!

So if I was you, I'd probably cut the shoe game, make sure you sit down to eat right at 8, have toasts/ speeches around 8:40ish (many people will be finishing eating by then), immediately followed by cake cutting. You should be done all that by 9 then you can either do tosses then, or open the dance floor and do the tosses around 9:30. Or skip them entirely!

When we did our timeline I was worried there wasn't enough dancing either, about 2 hours, but honestly I think that will be plenty. It's a full night and I know it will probably feel like it is over in the blink of an eye, but from guest perspective my guess is that it will be perfect.

View Quoted Comment That’s good to hear. I don’t feel so worried anymore. Thank you.

Considering what most did charge, 2hrs may be the ‘norm’ but it really isn’t a long time when you think about it.


That said, weddings I have attended with a dj they made sure the dancing lasted 3 hours minimum, topping off at 5 hours and felt that was perfect, even if there were only 10 people at any given time. But every crowd is different.

View Quoted Comment I didn’t realize I would have them seated for two hours. But for the tosses, I’ve heard on this app that if you stop people from dancing to do the tosses, it’ll be harder to get them back on the dancefloor later. That’s why I chose to do all the main things first then leave dancing to the end so, it’ll be uninterrupted.

View Quoted Comment I didn’t realize having them sit for that long was a bad thing. I’ve included about what every other wedding has besides the shoe game (which would be done during dinner so it wouldn’t take any extra time) so I thought the timing was normal to have them sit for that long.

How committed are you to the tosses? Many couples skip those. They also have first dance as soon as cocktail hour is over before dinner so guests can start dancing as soon as they’re done eating

View Quoted Comment

Unless you're having lots of plated courses, people dont' need more than 30 minutes max to eat. It can be super boring for guests to be essentially trapped in their seats for 2 full hours watching dances, tosses, toasts, a game, and then also eating. I actually rarely see bouquet and garter tosses anymore and no one ever misses them, but the ones I have seen in the last couple years have done it in the middle of dancing.

View Quoted Comment I think I’m kinda committed to tosses but I’m still open to skipping it. The shoe game is a absolute. And yes, our first dance is after our entrance, then parent dances then dinner. I’m also open to cutting out the parent dances.

View Quoted Comment I understand your point. It kinda does seem trapped lol. In the dinner timing, I was including tables being called up to the buffet line then walking back and starting to eat. But I guess it might not still take a hour, I’ll be having about 100 guests. I think I could also move the tosses to later in the night as well.