First Dance Before or After Dinner

We did right after we ate

After dinner due to how our venue is set up

Right after you are introduced into the reception. do not wait until after dinner, some people may be leaving soon after that, plus thats when you want to start the "fun" part with the dancing music

We did ours right after we were introduced.

I would prefer to do it after dinner, to open the dance floor. Unfortunately our DOC says we have to do it before dinner. Our ceremony and reception are in the same place and they are doing a room flip. When guests go to the cocktail hour the room is flipped for the reception. When everyone comes in from the cocktail hour, that area has to be reset for the buffet. So we have to "kill" 30 minutes before people can eat and she said first dance and toasts need to be done then (I haven't broken it to her yet that we aren't doing toasts). -sad face emoji-

I find it strange when its before dinner.. I agree with a pp eat, 1st dance then open floor to everyone.

We're doing ours right after our grand entrance (before dinner).

Kind of related: our DJ had a phenomenal idea of a "secret last dance" while the dj gets our guests set up for our send off. I'm really excited because it'll be a sweet intimate moment for us.

I would highly recommend planning first dance after dinner. My ceremony had to start 20 minutes late yesterday. If we had planned to do one right after our entrance, dinner would have been served later than it already was, and that would not have been acceptable.

Plan dinner as soon as possible, because ceremonies definitely do run late. Even if guests have appetizers, it's not fair to serve them dinner late, and you don't want people that may have to leave to not get to eat.

And as a guest, I really hate having to wait to eat.

After dinner. I think the evening would flow better.

We did it right after getting introduced before dinner and loved it this way.

I have never been to a wedding where it was done before dinner so I was surprised to hear that it was so common! I will be doing it after dinner.

We are getting introduced and going right into our first dance. Then we are having the toasts followed by dinner.

We did our first dance after we got introduced. Towards the end of dinner we did toast, then father/daughter, mother/son, generation dances and led that into opening the dance floor

We also had a cocktail hour with appetizers so guest weren't waiting forever to eat

I have time to think about it, but I have never been to a wedding that has had it after dinner. I believe we are doing right after our intro, and then the dance floor can be open!

We are doing ours after dinner as kind of an introduction to the dance floor for the guests.

Ours will be immediately after we are introduced. Then my father will do a welcome and say the blessing then buffet will be opened. After dinner, we are doing the father/daughter dance and mother/son dance and that is what will open the dance floor. That is what I have planned out but I have not spoken to our DJ about it yet.

After dinner in case some of the tables need to be moved!

@Karen- I assume people will either bring their drink from the cocktail hour to the reception or grab a drink from the bar in the reception before finding their table. I never want my guests without a drink in their hand. HaHa!

Our venue told its usually always done right after food service to get the dance floor going. Personally I wouldn't want to sit there waiting for food while watching someone dance.

We did our introductions, sat to eat, and then did our dance!