Dancing and Alternative Entertainment

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You really should of said this first. Your post makes it sound like DJ/Dancing ~OR~ Board Games. If you plan to have both, even if it's a play list vs DJ, then that will be okay I think.

View Quoted Comment I think you'll be surprised how many people will go to the dance floor with a good DJ and the right mood. FH and I are not dancers at all, but we'll get up with everyone at a wedding. We never go out and dance on our own. So I wouldn't be so quick to say your friends and family wont dance. A good DJ k ows how to get people to the dance floor too. I agree with you that if you give the option of card games you'll likely have a group alienated from the rest of the reception, I dont recommend that of FH is likely to join that group. You can have more of the fun dances like YMCA, macarena, etc... those are fun and easy and everyone knows them.
Also think about playing the shoe game, that's another entertainment option for the reception.

Six hour reception? If there is not music/dancing or another form of entertainment, I would be prepared for people to leave not long after dinner. I agree, small group card games would alienate many of the guests and keep your new hubby too preoccupied it sounds like! Is there an outdoor area you could set up lawn games? They are more interactive than cards.

Yes i think board games are bad idea the points you already made are a good reason why. There are married games you can play like writing a list of questions like whos the better driver etc you sit chairs back to back and have one of his shoes and he has one of yours and his own etc same with you when someone you appoint to read the questions asks you both answer with the shoe that is to the person who you feel it better suits like better driver i would say me so i would raise my shoe and he would prob say him so everyone would laugh ...there are good ideas on Pinterest for stuff like this thats where i got that idea from. But board games i deff would not do they take to long and then other people are excluded and focus is to be on you and your husband as newly weds not board games mingle maybe have karaoke or something to get people doing other things short games like cornhole etc would prob be good but not long ones like actual board games . I hope this helps give you ideas at least . Good luck

View Quoted Comment No there's not an outdoor space. I don't know how to word on the original post that they're will be music. I just didn't plan on a DJ, only a playlist for dancing and background on a sound system. We're also having dueling swords hibachi for dinner service so this is mainly for the between dinner and late snack time (maybe two and a half hours)

View Quoted Comment I'll look into similar games but I don't like the shoe game myself. I think it tends to poke fun at people's insecurities. There's no space for lawn games. I don't know about karaoke my machine is broken for the teleprompter but could still play the karaoke tracks if we found some.

If you want to get people to mingle, I have seen kind of a scavenger hunt on printed cards that you can place on the tables for your guests. They ask guests to find other guests and would have to talk to them to find the answers. But I think "outdoor" games like cornhole or even a giant jenga set might be fun for your guests. Table top games do tend to create those small pockets of people that you want to avoid, but who doesn't get involved when a giant tower of wood or foam blocks is being erected? I also remember a game from when I was a kid with bean bags to toss onto a tic tac toe board. I'm sure they still make something similar. Good luck.

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We don't have any access to an outdoor space besides a small porch and a smoking area. The only space we could do big games in would be the dance floor. Wedding wire isn't letting me edit my original post to clarify. We are having a dance floor I was just planning to use a sound system we already own to play a playlist for dancing/ background music but I'm worried my non dancing guests will get bored and leave if there is nothing for them to do after dinner. And most of the guest list falls in that category.

You could play some games as the bride and groom. The shoe game is very popular!

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I see. I'm not sure how many guests you plan to have but some friends had a very small reception and we played a game where we tried to guess which bride we thought said or did a particular thing. It didn't have to be embarrassing things, and it was fun holding up a sign to see how well we knew the couple. You could also go to the dollar store and get a bunch of plastic rings. Then print out a couple of rules for the game like "Can't say bride" and if someone catches you they take your ring. The person with the most rings gets a small prize like a gift card or maybe one of your centerpieces. Or there's always the snap it game where you list things to be seen at a wedding and guests find them and take pics, then upload them with a hashtag. If you don't want to spend money on a photo booth you can set up a selfie station and get props from thrift stores, dollar stores, or party stores. Guests will enjoy being goofy and again you can use a specific hashtag to find all the pics later.

As for the music, we skipped a DJ and spent a couple of weeks putting a reception playlist together. I did a lot of research online and we handpicked each song. If you have a couple of speakers that can be synced, just push play. This would work best if you don't need a lot of breaks for things like parent/couple dances, bouquet toss, or cake cutting. If you have all of that it might not be the worst idea to let mom get a dj more for mc purposes than anything else. I hope it works out for you.