OTHER RECEPTION EVENTS

1. Anniversary Dance
2. Snowball Dance
3. Dollar/Honeymoon Dance
4. Dances With Special People
5. Honoring the Deceased
6. Recognizing Birthdays and Anniversaries
7. Lighting the Unity Candle
8. Conga Line


1. Anniversary Dance
The Anniversary Dance is a popular event. In essence, it celebrates marriage by honoring the longest married couple at a wedding reception.
Your MC can find out who that couple is in the following way:
First, s/he calls all the married couples out to the dance floor with the Bride and Groom. Next, s/he will let them know that they are going to be involved in an Anniversary Dance, and tells them a little more about it. Then, the DJ will start playing a slow song – usually it is “Through The Years” by Kenny Rogers, but it can be “Endless Love” by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, “You’re Still The One” by Shania Twain, “After All These Years” by Anne Cochran & Jim Brickman, or any other song that denotes longevity. After about 15 – 30 seconds of dancing, your MC calls out the number “one”, and asks any couple married less than one year to stop dancing and step to the side of the dance floor. S/he'll let the remaining couples dance a little longer, and then call out the number “five”, asking any couple married less than five years to stop dancing and step to the side of the dance floor. The MC will continue counting up until all but one couple has been eliminated  – which, of course, turns out to be the longest married couple. At that point, the MC will usually go out to the dance floor and ask the couple for their name, how many years they’ve been married (this often gets a round of applause), and if they have any advice for the bride and groom (a lot of times that advice is pretty amusing). After that, the bridal couple will sometimes give them a “prize” for being the winning couple. If they choose to give the winning couple a prize, it will usually either be the bride’s toss bouquet (this is done in lieu of the Bouquet Toss event), a bottle of champagne, or some flowers. The photographer will often take a few pictures of the winning couple with the new bride and groom. Finally, the crowd is asked to come out to the dance floor and join the winning couple and the new bride and groom in the next slow dance. “Could I Have This Dance” by Anne Murray works well. 
The Anniversary Dance is usually done shortly after opening the dance floor. It is best to do this early, because the older guests tend to be the first to leave.

2. Snowball Dance
The Snowball Dance is a good icebreaker, and is often, although not always, used to get people out on the dance floor. First, your MC calls the bridal couple out to the dance floor, either alone or with their bridal party. The MC then asks all of their guests to form a big circle around them on the dance floor. Once the circle is formed, the crowd is told that they are going to be involved in a Snowball Dance, and they're told a little more about it. Then, the DJ/Band will start playing either a slow or a fast song (depending on what the Bride and Groom want). After about 15 - 30 seconds of dancing, the MC says “snowball”. At that time, the Bride and any Bridesmaids on the dance floor go to the outer circle and bring a guy back out to the dance floor to dance with them. The Groom and any Ushers do the same with the girls. Now there should be twice as many people on the dance floor.
After about 15 - 30 more seconds, your MC again says “snowball”, and again all the girls grab a new guy from the circle, and all the guys grab a new girl. After that, there should be four times as many people on the dancefloor than at the beginning. It continues to “snowball” up in this way until the dancefloor is full, and then your DJ continues the dancing with more fast dance music.
As alluded to earlier in this section, the Snowball Dance can be used as the event which opens up the dancefloor, or it can be used later on in the evening as a stand alone event. Some couples like to keep it open as an option if their guests are not using the dancefloor as much as they would like to see.

3. Dollar/Honeymoon Dance
The “Dollar” or “Honeymoon” Dance was a cultural tradition in many Italian and French weddings. For the Dollar/Honeymoon Dance the Bride and Groom are called out to the dance floor with the Maid/Matron of Honor and Best Man. the MC announces that there will be a Dollar/Honeymoon Dance, and asks all of the male guests to come up and dance with the Bride, and all of the female guests to come up and dance with the Groom. The guests must pay in order to get an opportunity to dance with the Bride & Groom, and and announcement is made that the proceeds will go toward the bridal couple’s honeymoon. Usually, the Maid/Matron of Honor will collect the money for the Bride, and the Best Man will collect the money for the Groom. It is also the Maid/Matron of Honor’s and Best Man’s responsibility to keep things moving along by making sure that each guest dances with the Bride and Groom for only about 15 - 20 seconds. Slow songs are almost always used for the Dollar/Honeymoon Dance, but a fast tune is not out of the question. You may want to use a fast tune if you want a more non-traditional approach to the Dollar/Honeymoon Dance.
A word of caution: When couples decide not to choose this dance, it is usually because they see it as one more chance to get some more money out of guests who have already paid for a wedding gift, and in some cases a bridal shower gift. However, if the Dollar/Honeymoon Dance is a cultural tradition in your family, it may be important to include it. If you’d like, instead of making the money paying part a requirement, you can make it an option. You can also forgo the money paying part of the dance, and ask for a word of advice from your guests instead. In other words, the price for dancing with the Bride or Groom is a valuable piece of advice on how to make their marriage a good one. Another possibility is to have the money go toward a favorite charity. Just have the MC announce the name of the charity before the dance starts, or you can have a jar or box with the name of the charity on it set up at a table near the dancefloor. Guests would have to drop money in the jar/box in order to dance with you. Finally, make sure you have a crowd that will participate in a Dollar/Honeymoon Dance.
The Dollar/Honeymoon Dance can be done just prior to opening up the dancefloor, or it can be used as a stand alone event later in the evening.

4. Dances With Special People
The most traditional dances in a wedding reception are the couple’s First Dance, the Parent Dances, and the Wedding Party Dance. Some couples are also taking the opportunity to dance with other important people in their lives. (e.g. a sibling, a special aunt or uncle, or their same gender parent (Bride & Mom usually). In these cases you can choose songs from those suggested by your DJ/MC, or you can choose a song that has special meaning to both of you.
The Dance with a Special Person is usually done immediately after or, under certain circumstances, in place of the Parent Dances. It can also be used as a stand alone event later in the evening. Keep in mind that especially with the Bride & Mom dance, you can involve the crowd by inviting all the mother-daughter couples in the crowd to join you either half way through or from the beginning of your dance.
Another nice touch is to involve the parents who are often left out of most of the formalities—the Mother of the Bride and Father of the Groom. Sometime during the evening you can have the Bride and her new Father-in-Law lead everyone off in a slow dance. You can do the same with the Groom and his new Mother-in-Law. This activity involves the often “forgotten” parents, and can serve as a nice icebreaker to get the dance floor full again.  

5. Honoring the Deceased at Your Reception
Recognizing deceased loved ones on the wedding day is an option more and more couples are taking. Although there are many different ways to do it, it is advisable that you use discretion, and take into account the feelings of others who are in attendance at your wedding reception. Despite the fact that there are no hard-and-fast rules regarding the honoring of the deceased, we think there are some general guidelines and ideas that make sense.
One of the first things you need to consider is how much time has gone by since the person's death. If it has been only a short time (less than a year or two), there are probably members of the family and/or close friends who are not done with the grieving process. When this is the case, it is possible that any overt mention of the person may evoke some strong emotion. Unless you want this display of emotion at your wedding reception, it may be best to keep your tribute as private as possible. Here are some ideas:

- Carry or wear a memento from the person with you.
- Have the person's favorite passage of scripture or poetry read, perhaps just after the blessing of the meal and the toasts, without mentioning why it was chosen.
- Have the person's favorite song played or sung, again, without mentioning why it has been chosen.
- Have your reception at the person's favorite place.

When it has been at least several years since the person's death, it is safer to assume that most of your guests will be done with the grieving process. If this is the case, mentioning the deceased by name will probably not evoke as strong an emotional response. Here are some ideas on a more overt tribute:

- Almost any of the above private tributes can be made public by mentioning why they are being done. (e.g. making an announcement that "this song is being played in honor of" the deceased person).
- Have your Celebrant/MC dedicate a prayer or a moment of silence to the person before the blessing.
- Say a few words about how you wish the person could be there with you today. This can be done after the toast or after the meal.
- If you will be lighting a Unity Candle at your reception, perhaps a picture of the person can be placed on the Unity Candle table.
- Have a picture of the person placed on the guest book table along with pictures of yourselves. This is more appropriate if you are honoring deceased parents.
- Read a letter the person sent you. If it is a parent, perhaps the letter could be one they sent you when you were a child. Again, this can be done after the toast, just before the meal, or immediately after the meal.
- You may want to have a special song dedicated to the deceased person at your reception. This could be done right after the ceremonial dances are done (i.e. First Dance, Wedding Party Dance, etc.) or early in the reception shortly after the dancing has started. Usually this is a slow song, and often a favorite of the person. If you choose to do this, give your MC a little information about the person som it can be used to introduce the song in an appropriate fashion.

Our final word of advice on this subject is that no matter what you choose to do, don't overdo it, keep it tasteful, and run it past your family first. You don't want to catch them off guard, and/or run the risk of an unexpected reaction.

6. Recognizing Birthdays and Anniversaries
If you know of any birthdays or anniversaries happening on or within a week or so of your wedding, you can have your MC mention it during the course of the event. In general, a good time to make those types of announcements is toward the end of the meal, close to the time when the centerpieces are given away.
For birthdays, you may want to have your DJ/Band play “Happy Birthday To You” and invite the crowd to sing along. Make sure to give your MC the birthday person’s name, birthday, and age. Besides announcing birthdays at the end of the meal, the announcement can also be made after the Cake Cutting. If you choose, you can also have the birthday announced during the dance portion of the reception. If you choose to do it then, your DJ/Band can follow up the announcement with the person’s favorite song to dance to (you’d have to supply them with that information), or with the Beatles’ “Birthday”.

For anniversaries, you may want to have your DJ/Band play “Happy Anniversary To You” (sung to the same tune as “Happy Birthday To You”) and have the crowd sing along. Make sure that your MC has the names of the anniversary couple, the anniversary date, and the number of years they’ve been married. Besides announcing anniversaries at the end of the meal, they can also be announced after the Anniversary Dance. If you choose, you can also have the anniversary announced during the dance portion of the reception. If you want to do it then, perhaps your DJ/Band can follow up the announcement with the couple’s first dance song (again, you’d have to supply them with that information), or a song can be dedicated to them that denotes longevity, such as Kenny Rogers’ “Through The Years”, Johnny Mathis’ “As Time Goes By”, Diana Ross & Lionel Richie’s “Endless Love”, or Shania Twain’s “You’re Still The One.”
Finally, you can have guests celebrating weddings and anniversaries join in the Wedding Party Dance. Your MC can announce the Wedding Party Dance, and mention that the wedding party will be joined by these guests.

7. Lighting the Unity Candle
The vast majority of couples will light their unity candle at the ceremony, but it can be done at the reception. If you choose to do it at your reception, probably the best times will be right after you get announced into the reception area, just before your first dance, or just before the cake cutting. Because it is generally a ceremony event, we will not go into the unity candle event in depth here. You can check here for the appropriate Unity Candle music, and here for a primer on and words for different procedures for lighting the unity candle. 

8. Conga Line
This event is pretty self explanatory. At some point in the reception your DJ/Band could play either “Hot, Hot, Hot” or the Miami Sound Machine’s “Conga”, and invite the crowd to conga by saying something like “OK everybody, let’s conga!” When deciding on a Conga Line, make sure you have the type of crowd that will conga. If the Conga Line takes off you may want it to go into a limbo, where everyone tries to shimmy under a slowly lowering limbo bar. Again, think of your crowd, and whether they are the limbo type or not.