Possibly skipping the dancing...

I think you're making a good decision then. Play some nice background music, and catch up and talk and stuff.

Wait so you don't want to dance and you plan on leaving after the cake before the guests? Serious question, why are you planning a dinner reception with so many people? I can see this as a smaller afternoon affair instead of evening.

To me, that's the mos fun part of the reception, even if you choose not to dance, taking it away from your guests may dumb down their experience. Plus, they make some of the best photos.

We are in a similar boat. My family will dance, FH's will not. We are having music but there will be no traditional dances (father daughter dance etc). A majority of the guests will probably just socialize and catch up, but there will be space to dance if guests want. Since a large majority of my family is out of state, there is no telling how many will be in attendance, so I didn't want to dedicate a giant dance floor that would be empty if they couldn't make the trip.

FSIL and FBIL just had light music playing and no dancing at their wedding last summer. Just lawn games and drinks. It was a little different but still fun.

Is your wedding Footloose themed?

@MissWtoMrsH We're not planning to split right after the cake. But, we're definitely not planning on staying till like midnight either. We originally wanted something more casual in the afternoon but none of the venues we looked at wanted to work with that. They all said "we could" but then essentially tried to talk us out of it. Really, we fell in love with our venue (it's gorgeous) and decided it would be worth it to be flexible so we could get married there.

@Vanessa Most definitely not. We are not prudishly opposed to dancing.

Only you know your guests. What do you normally do at parties? Just drink and mingle with music in background? Or play games? etc.

I've never been to a wedding without dancing. Just because you have a DJ and music doesn't mean your FH has to dance all night, but it does give the guests something to do besides sit and talk.

And years ago, back in the olden days (lol), the bride and groom would leave before the guests, but maybe only about a quarter hour or so before. It involved the groom picking up the bride and carrying her out of the reception to the cheers of the guests, then the guests would have another drink and the wedding would wind down. But it was never right after the cake, it was usually late in the evening, after several hours of dancing.

Seriously this a "know your crowd" kind of scenario. Both of our extended family are big dancers. Seriously some venues were struck down simply because the dance floor was too small, so my family would still love to be at my wedding but they would leave early if there was no "dancing" going on. We've been to a wedding were there was no real dancing and I was a friend of the bride. I hadn't seen ton of. People in ages so it was nice to catch up with old friends! Didn't miss the dancing one bit ! But then any other wedding(family) I'm on the dance floor all night.

I agree. Neither FH and I like to be in the spotlight so I'm not sure a DJ is worth the investment.

Also.. We'll probably still have music and such but maybe just by an iPod and a speaker set up. I don't see a DJ investment if we can make our one playlist, etc. this may be a faux paus but it's not worth it for us.

We will be doing something like this, BUT we have a tiny guest list (which is why we chose to forgo the dancing), and we are having a lunchtime reception, so I don't expect it to be awkward. Our reception will be about 3 hours including the cocktail hour, have a full meal and probably music via iPod, and we will do a first dance largely for photo ops. Other than that, if people want to get up and dance to the iPod, they're welcome to, but we don't expect a party atmosphere. It just isn't is, though, either. We just aren't party people.

ETA: we are still hosting a full open bar though!!

We're not having dancing. We are having a 4 course dinner with a piano bar setting. (FH is a Broadway performer, as well as about a quarter of our guests)

We're not dancing but we're having a small noon wedding and most of our guests are non dancing people.

I felt similarly to you about dancing at my wedding. I used to go out clubbing and dancing in my early 20s and had fun dancing at my cousin's wedding 6 years ago, but in the past 5 years I have not been out dancing and I have just spent the last few weddings I've attended chatting, which is fine with me. Like I REALLY was not interested in dancing. FH and I have never once been dancing out or danced together. For our wedding we knew we wanted to skip all the traditional dances like bride and groom, mom and son (he doesn't even have a mom), etc. I just always found those awkward anyway. And we are still not into dancing, but we both like going to karaoke bars with friends so we're having a DJ and hosting karaoke for our guests. That way dancers can dance, if people want to sing they can sing, and the rest can do what I have done lately at weddings which is chatter and people watch. Honestly though, the closer the wedding gets, the more I can see myself getting into it and dancing as well. I'm just usually not really in the mood. Maybe with the excitement and enough booze though I'll have all my old moves back .

I have only been to 1 or 2 weddings that have dancing. I think we are getting a DJ but I am like you I really don't know if anyone at my wedding will dance. I have never really seen any of them dance. Also I really do not enjoy dancing unless I Have had a good amount to drink. I don't plan on having more than the toast champagne at my wedding.

No dancing!? What? We are definitely dancing at ours, after all, that is how we met!

But, if it's not a priority then you can definitely do a wedding with no dancing. If you have music playing, those who want to dance may do so anyways. By no means do you and your FH have to dance.