Dinner
While you were smiling till your cheeks hurt, taking photograph after photograph, the caterers were preparing the wedding dinner (if that is part of your reception), either by setting up and stocking the buffet, or preparing meals to be plated and served. By the time you are formally announced into the room, you should be able to go straight to dinner. Traditionally, the bride and groom start the buffet. This is so you can have time after getting a bite to mingle and talk with people, before the next events take place. It is vitally important during this time that you actually sit down and eat. There may be people there you haven't seen in years. Resist the urge to go talk to them until you've eaten some food. If you skip dinner, you may find yourself at the end of the night wondering why you're light headed or have a headache and want to pass out! Also, if you plan to consume alcohol during your wedding celebration, it will affect you more quickly and with more strength if you have an empty stomach. So, please take the advice of grandmothers around the world, and get yourself something to eat!
After you've eaten, some people may still need to get dinner, especially if there is a buffet line. Or perhaps everyone got fed very quickly, but you still want some time to mix with all the people who love you. In either case it is very common to have some time between dinner and the events that follow. This is a time when your wedding disc jockey can help to alleviate the feeling of "dead" time by picking up, just slightly, the pace of the music. It's not yet time to start the dancing, but a shift in style will help build anticipation for the coming events and can be just what's needed at a time when the energy of the room could easily drop, or people become restless. If you're having a champagne toast, this is the time the catering staff should be popping those corks and handing out glasses.
After you've eaten, some people may still need to get dinner, especially if there is a buffet line. Or perhaps everyone got fed very quickly, but you still want some time to mix with all the people who love you. In either case it is very common to have some time between dinner and the events that follow. This is a time when your wedding disc jockey can help to alleviate the feeling of "dead" time by picking up, just slightly, the pace of the music. It's not yet time to start the dancing, but a shift in style will help build anticipation for the coming events and can be just what's needed at a time when the energy of the room could easily drop, or people become restless. If you're having a champagne toast, this is the time the catering staff should be popping those corks and handing out glasses.
After Dinner
Wedding caterers like to group the toasts and cake cutting together so they can pass champagne beforehand, then cut and distribute cake afterward. This way the flow of the event is not interrupted due to logistics. Then, if you go straight into the formal dances, you've gotten everyone's attention once, and kept it through the majority of special events. This sets up a very nice flow and prevents your reception from having a "choppy" feel. Some catering captains prefer to get things rolling with the toasts, while others like the cake cutting to begin this process. Unless you have a different format altogether, it's usually best to defer to what works best for the caterers. After all, they're the ones doing most of the heavy lifting to make all of this possible. A good wedding DJ knows this dynamic and will execute the plan to perfection.
