DJ at a small wedding - critical mass concerns

It really just depends on whether or not having a lot of dancing at your wedding is important to you. I think it will be weird if you put a lot of focus on dancing and feel like you need to drag people onto the dance floor, because it will draw attention to the fact that there aren't a lot of people dancing.

But at the end of the day, your wedding doesn't have to have a lot of dancing. You can have the DJ play music that is more suited to be played in the background rather than dance hits. I'm not sure if I'm saying this right, but it will only be awkward if your reception is set up to include a lot of dancing and no dancing is happening. Does that make sense?

You know your crowd and your expectations.

We do not expect a lot of dancers because many my age have kids/babies and older generation just doesn't dance much.

We are basically ensuring we stay on the dance floor, our wedding party enjoys themselves on teh dance floor and giving out DJ free range to play whatever it takes to keep guests dancing.

But in the end, it's the expectations.

I have this worry as well. Is the dance party reception important to you? If not, you can consider setting it up to not be so dance focused that it feels awkward if people aren't dancing. Maybe have some high cocktail tables around a small dance floor, rather than a huge dance floor? Maybe have periods of dance music with the wedding classics (Shout, Electric Slide, etc), but mostly background music for mingling/talking?

I had about 70 guests at my afternoon reception and I was also worried people wouldn't dance, but the floor was full the whole time. I'd think your DJ could try out a variety of music styles - the wedding classics, top 40, the country genre that you like... and see what gets people up and moving. If a song isn't working, fade it out early and try the next thing. But, if you aren't big dancers and your guests aren't either, just play the music you and your guests like and don't worry about dancing, they'll be enjoying themselves in their own non-dancing way.

Hah helpful, guys. This makes me feel better. I honestly am more focused on our families getting to know one another than the dancing itself, so I suppose we're looking more at background music with a few fun classics thrown in there for those that want to dance.

@VC similar to you in our attendee make-up - we're in our mid-thirties so all of our friends have babies/young kids and the family members attending are generally on the older side and may dance a few songs but aren't likely to stay out there for long stretches.

We are having a small wedding as well and opted out of the DJ. The reception will be inside so we decided to get an amp and hook up Bluetooth and just play background music for ppl to hear(mostly classic rock Bc that's our style).

I am having around 30 people and we are not having a DJ. I hired a guitar player for the ceremony and will do a spotify playlist for dinner. Our venue really doesn't have place to dance, and FH and I are definitely not dancy, so we didn't see the point of spending all that money for a DJ when he really wouldn't be doing anything. My DOC will be mc'ing during dinner.

@Lisa and @Heather, I love what you are doing and this is what my FH wanted (what we were originally planning) but our wedding is outside and not set up for us to do our own music, plus it's in a location that has a bit more "ambient" noise than I would have liked (close to a highway - shouldn't be too bad on a Saturday evening, but still) so we're getting a DJ mostly to help mask that sound a bit.

You don't need 'critical mass' dancing all night. If even half (20-25) are dancing for most of the night, that is a good amount. Dancefloors with no space to move are annoying.

I mean, do you need critical mass? Will you feel like the event wasn't a success if people don't dance and instead enjoy the company of your other guests?

We had about 50 people at our wedding too and people were dancing the whole time! I am a big dancer at parties, so I got out there as soon as we were done cutting the cake. We had a late reception so we were going for a party vibe and the DJ played only upbeat dance music during the open dancing part.

What kills the party vibe for me is having a random slow song here and there interspersed with fast music. Also I dislike the line dances/classic wedding songs since many people including myself will sit those out, so I had a decent do not play list. We kept it upbeat the whole night and closed down the dance floor at midnight with everyone still there

I just wanted to add that the last I went to the dance floor was packed with seniors showing off their moves. It was a blast!

We had a small wedding, 55 people, and everyone danced all night! If you hire the right DJ, you will have no problems!! Where are you getting married?