Traditional Reception for Small Guest List

We're planning the same, on the more intimate scale of 25 guests. The cocktail hour & reception will be 4 hours. We are planning a first dance and cake cutting, but nothing more. If people would like to speak it is up to them. I'm not imposing on anyone to give a formal toast or speech. We really want it to be a relaxed dinner party.

I had planned a traditional wedding however due to finances and the advice from FH we choose to fly home (chicago) to get married at city hall and have something small but that's it the total of weddings can become outrageous and he wants no parts lol

We’re having around 40 guests with a traditional reception. We will be doing a short cocktail “hour” that will be followed by our reception. We skipped on the DJ because our families and friends are the type of people that literally will throw anything on the speaker and dance. We skipped on a coordinator/planner... we’re hoping that when half our room is being transformed from ceremony to reception during cocktail hour, people will be looking to get a seat. I’m also going to talk to my guests, so if I see people standing around, I’ll just ask them to sit so we can eat. (I volunteered for summer camps and can get 20-30 kids quiet for lunch... so I think I can do it with adults.)
At this time, we’ll do a first dance followed by dinner and a brief thanks. Speeches, Garter Toss, Bouquet Toss, and Cake Cutting, are not important to us... After dinner, we’ll cut our cake and let our guests know they are free to have cupcakes. Hoping to just play music and dance I get kicked out.