Blog - Fun Wedding Reception Events

Fun ideas for the wedding reception can be traditional or completely unique. Most cultures have unique traditions such as carrying the bride and groom around the room on chairs, pinning money on the brides dress, or playing trust games with the bride and groom. Whichever events you choose to incorporate, adding events to the wedding reception can be a great way to have fun and get you guests involved with you. Below are a few of the top events that you can include in your reception, and a few of the more unique events that I have seen.

One of the most used event that is not a "must do" (first dance, cake cutting, etc...) is the Anniversary dance. The anniversary dance is a dance for all the couples at the reception, where they are all invited to come out to the dance floor for a slow dance. 30 seconds into the song the couples are dancing to, the wedding MC will start calling out increments of time. With each increment, the couples that have been together for the time called or less will be asked to leave the dance floor; the event ends when there is just one couple remaining. This is a great way to get the wedding guests out of there seats and onto the dance floor, and honor the couples there that have been together the longest.

Another great event is the money or dollar dance. This event gives the guests the chance to dance with the bride and groom. The bride and groom start on the dance floor alone and guests are encouraged to join them on the dance floor to dance with either the bride or groom one at a time. All that the guests need to do is bring a dollar (or more) and give it to the couple when they come to dance with them. I always suggest that the best man and maid of honor act as the bank for the bride and groom, so the couple doesn't have to hold the money--especially the bride who will not have pockets in most cases.

The snowball dance is another fun way to get the dance floor started. This event starts with the bridal party on the dance floor, and after a little bit of dancing they are asked to go out into the crowd and grab one person to join them on the dance floor. After a little bit longer of dancing, the wedding DJ will ask everyone on the dance floor to grab one more person to join them on the dance floor. This continues until the dance floor is full or the participants run out of people to grab from the audience.

There are several other options of course, the three above are the most used however, not considering cultural or religious traditions. a few other fun events are games the couple can play, like where they stand back to back and answer questions about who will be doing what in the relationship (taking out the trash, making dinner decisions, etc...) by raising a shoe or some other symbol of the bride or groom. Another fun game involves the groom being blindfolded and then asked to pick out the bride by feeling the feet of the bridal party. I have even seen an event where the bride and groom cut out a heart from a bed sheet, and then the groom carries the bride through the heart that they cut.

All of these events can add your own personality to your wedding reception and keep the reception from becoming bland or predictable; it's always fun to surprise the guests with something they didn't expect or haven't seen before. However, you can have event overkill, so try to pick a few of your favorite events and space them out so there is a good flow to the night. Also coordinate with your band or wedding DJ to pick the best time to start these events.

DJ Matt "The Wedding Specialist"