Order of dances

Hi there. If you're dancing with your FH, then your father, then your mother, and then your step father, and then FH with his mother, then that does sound like a lot of waiting for your guests. I think it's fairly common to have up to 3 dances (the couple, father/daughter, mother/son) at the start of the reception but more than that could feel long. Could you do some of the dances at the beginning of the reception which everyone watches, but save some of them for later and get your DJ to make an announcement to dedicate a song to someone who you dance with then? I don't know if that would offend anyone that their dance wasn't featured but you'd still get to share a special dance with them while your guests get to dance too.

We're doing our first dance right after we're introduced, then waiting until after dinner to do the parent dances, then open dancing.

Thank you! I think I might do our first dance followed by bride/father, groom/mother. After dinner do a dance with my mom and half way call my step-father in. I think it will be a fair way to get to dance with them but not make it a super long thing

You sound like you have a plan in place, but another suggestion would be to combine dances. Do one song with father/ daughter and mother/ son and one with mom/ step-dad. That would still keep you at 3 and you could do them all at once.

We did 1st dance after our grand entrance. Then about an hour after dinner started we did mother/son and father/daughter dances. We wanted to break them up and I really liked how the evening flowed.

Your DJ and venue coordinator may be able to help you as well

I'm doing exactly what @Mary F. is doing ^^

Yikes, that's a lot of dances. We did what a lot of people suggested- were announced, then had our first dance, then had toasts/dinner, then had the parent dances before we opened the floor up. In hindsight, I wish we had gotten all of the dances out of the way before dinner. In your situation, that is WAY too many dances for before dinner. You could do the father/daughter and mother/son dances before dinner and step-parent dances after; you could also do split dances.

I have some time to figure it out but I am worrying about the little details already. We will meet with our DJ about 2 months or so before the day to give our songs and information and I will ask him then. I want everyone to have a good time which is why I worry.

I thought maybe I could do mother dances at the same time with the bride and groom but I don't want to take away from his mom (even though I don't think she even cares to dance at all).

The most recent wedding I was at did the bride/groom first dance right after they entered. Then we had dinner and the parent dances were after dinner. Later in the evening the DJ announced a song dedicated to the bride and her mother and they danced while others were on the dance floor as well and as the song ended the DJ announced the bride and her mother again It flowed nicely and as a guest I was relieved to not have to sit through too many special dances in a row.