When should games be played at reception?

I would do all of the games together before opening up the dance floor. I think that having an open dance floor, then stopping to play games, then expecting guests to dance again makes it less enjoyable. I would just get all of the more formal "events" finished then have an open dance floor through the rest of the reception.

What is the shoe game? I’ve never heard of it before. But I agree with the PP that you should do the games before the dancing starts.

Hey Lauren! Your timeline sounds great but I also think that perhaps keeping the games together would be a good idea. It meant that your guests can get into the spirit of playing the games and then can turn all of their attention to dancing once they are over for the rest of the reception.

As you are only playing two games though, you can totally have them separated if this is something that you would prefer. Especially with an afternoon wedding such as yours, having a game towards the end would not be a bad thing if it’s what you really want.

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Hey Jeanie!

The shoe game is where the couple holds one of their own shoes and one shoe belonging to their partner. They are then asked questions by the guests where the answer is one of them. They then hold up the shoe belonging to the person that they think is the answer. It's a lot of fun!

View Quoted Comment YouTube it. it's easier to understand when you see it played.

Basically, we are going to ask all our guests to write a question down on a paper. (Has to be a question like "who is the better cook?" So we can say it's me or the hubs)
Then after everyone enters their questions, the dj will have my hubs and I sit back to back and hold each others shoe. I have one of my shoe and one of his, same for him. DJ asks us the questions, and we hold up the shoe for who we think is the right answer. For the better cook question..I would hold up my hubs shoe.

I think plays for the beggining, than dancing

Considering your timeline, I think it would be great to have the back-to-back games after the father/daughter and mother/son dances. It will keep the energy high and allow everyone to participate and enjoy the games while they're still in a festive mood. Plus, it's a nice transition before the open dancing begins. Also, here's a helpful idea from my wedding; to decide which participants are going first, you can use roll dice or flip coin online. That way, every guest will see that everything is fair on the big screen.