Starting first dance early

We're pretty close to that timing (we assume our dinner will be close to done by 7:15/7:30). We're doing our first dance right after our entrance/introduction, then dinner, then Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances then open dancing.

I did all our traditional wedding stuff right away.. first dance, parent dances, cake cutting. That way people could eat, drink, dance, mingle, and leave at their leisure. I didn't want it to feel scheduled out.

All the weddings I've been to had the first dance and parent dances done right after they were introduced for the reception. I've never seen or heard of this stuff being done after eating, so I'd suggest doing it all before.

We have our venue until 10:30pm. Our first dance is right after the grand entrance. Then we will give a welcome speech, have dinner, more speeches, & all the other dances & special moments (father/daughter, cake cutting etc). Our dance floor won't be open for group dancing until 8:40pm but we feel that is plenty of time to get our groove on with everyone & just enjoy the night after getting everything else out of the way.

IF we do a reception our timeline had us doing our grand entrance into the reception hall, and then going straight into our first dance. Half way through the first dance we invite people join us, and then we would move into dinner, cake cutting, then dancing for the rest of the night!

You're welcome!

Our first dance was right at the beginning of the reception. The guests moved from the cocktail hour area to the reception area and then my husband and I were announced and went straight to the dance floor for the first dance then father-daughter dance. After that was when the guests made their way to their tables. It worked out perfectly!