Do parent dances have to immediately follow first dance?

I see nothing wrong with that, everyone's situation is different. I see no reason to put yourself through any emotional strain for the sake of being a conformist. As long as the DJ knows so the crowd can stay focused on what you want them to do next. This is something you will think about far more than your guests, and your family knows your reasons for this, I would go with it. It's your day, the guests will understand, and I'm sure most will be grateful to have less parent dances to stand through. You'll be fine

With that said, many people are skipping the bouquet and garter toss, which I for one do not miss lol.

Thanks Jay. I'm sure I am overthinking it and most guests won't think anything of it. I've only been to a handful of weddings in my life, so I don't know if people ever have parent dances later in the reception as opposed to directly after the first dance. Not sure if that would be weird or not. Also, we are definitely skipping the garter toss, I'm with you in that one lol.

I'm not dancing with my Father either because I've never met the man. We will do out first dance right after our introduction and they will do the Mother/Son dance as the 1st dance after dinner. Do whatever makes the most sense to you.

I recently went to a wedding where there was a bride/father of the bride dance, but no groom/mother of the groom dance, and I didn't even notice it until later when someone else pointed it out. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. The couple did their first dance, then the bride danced with her dad right after dinner was done, and that was a nice transition into everyone dancing.

No, I actually like it when they're later so they have their own spotlight moment.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I actually like the thought of having their dance right after dinner, instead of right after our first dance. Thanks for the idea!

I am doing the first dance before dinner when we make our grand entrance, but I am waiting to do the parents dances until after dinner. I don't want people sitting at their table thinking "When is this over, I am hungry" haha Hope this helps!

No. We did our later in the day. I think it was right 15 minutes after everyone has been served.

I have always done any parents dance either right before or after the first dance. No one really pays attention anyway

We're not even doing an official mother/son dance. It's just not my thing. All the special spotlight dances.

How we're going to do it is that FH and I will start our first dance, and part way through invite parents and bridal party to join us (I do not need everyone watching us for the full length of the dance!) and then the next song with be the one FH has picked to dance with his Mum, and he will just dance with her (no announcement or anything) and I'll either dance with someone else, or hit the bar!

Even if my Dad was still alive I wouldn't be doing a specific father/daughter dance. I'm sure he would have cut in after the first dance to dance with me - but unfortunately, I'll never know.

My basic point is that do what feels right for you. This kind of thing isn't set in stone.

I don't know what you are doing for a meal but we used the time between courses to do all the "special" moments. We went immediately from the reception entrance into the first dance (with the wedding party members joining us half way through the song) and the toasts (just my MOH/sister, BM and my husband gave toasts and all 3 were under 2 minutes each). We then had our first course (a fruit cup). Between the first course and the salad we did the cake cutting/feeding. Between the salad and the main course DH danced with his mom while I danced with my uncles (I "switched" uncles half way through the song. My dad has a bad back and knee so he didn't want to do a father/daughter dance). Between the entree and dessert we did the anniversary dance. I didn't do a bouquet and garter toss. After dessert (cake and ice cream) we opened the dance floor and just let everyone dance until the final dance of the evening.