Open the dance room

Will you be doing a first dance or any other spotlight dances?

If you have a dj or something, it could be a nice time to also just have them announce that the dancing room is open and that that's where the bride and groom will be. cause the bride and groom are the center of attention so when people see them, they'll gravitate to them

To kick off our reception we are doing the mother/son, father/daughter and first dance. Then toasts while dinner is served. I dance but my FH will certainly be as far from the floor as he can get. Which is why the rooms work for us and our older guests not having to be with the louder music from the dance room.

We had dancing in a different space than dinner. We did first dance and parent dances before opening up the dance floor.

If you have a DJ he/she could make the announcement. If you have a bridal party, ask them to hype the crowd up by being the first ones to start dancing so other people feel encouraged to dance as well.


At one of my friend’s reception, the DJ asked everyone from the groom’s family (he has a huge family) to come to the dance floor for a photo. They used this as a way to immediately start the dance floor since people were already up there. Just make sure those initial songs are crowd favorites so the energy gets going immediately.

We did something kinda fun to help get people on the floor. I did my father/daughter dance a little after dinner. Then my husband followed with his mother/son dance to “What a Wonder World”. Then it transitioned to love shack, and he had his dad and sister join them on the floor, then our DJ announced my family to join in, them eventually the rest of the guests.

Absolutely work with your DJ on this. Do you want to do a choreographed dance? That would be a great way to get people into the dance area.