Every couple hopes that their wedding reception ends on a high note with guests partying and dancing until the very end, not wanting to leave because they are having so much fun! Believe it or not, there are strategies you can employ to almost ensure this situation and mistakes you can avoid to prevent your guests from leaving early:
image courtesy of natalie moser
1. Saturday Evening Receptions are Best: The weekday is over, guests have had all day Saturday to relax and gear up for your wedding, and now they are ready to party! Saturday evening receptions tend to produce the best party crowds and, of course, are the most popular days and times of the week for weddings. For this reason, this is also the most expensive time slot of the week for a wedding. While a Friday wedding is less expensive, guests are often tired from a long week of work and may have had to fight significant traffic to arrive at your wedding (hopefully) on time. This can cause guests to leave early due to exhaustion and frustration. On the same note, you can also save money by holding your wedding on Sunday; however, with guests having to prepare for work early Monday morning, they are not as prone to party as hard or stay as late as they would on Saturday.
2. Provide Alcohol for Your Guests Free of Charge: We all know that alcohol causes guests to let loose and enjoy themselves. Whether you are providing beer and wine only or beer, wine, and liquor, just be sure you are providing the alcohol for your guests and not asking them to pay at a cash bar. While cash bar is sometimes the only option for brides on a tight budget, wedding receptions with cash bars tend to end earlier and have less partying since guests may be resistant to pay for their own drinks. Therefore, if cash bar is your only option due to budget, consider holding your wedding on Friday or Sunday to save yourself even more money since guests are likely to leave a bit earlier regardless.
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3. Consider the Proximity of the Bar and Yourself to Your Dance Floor: Want your guests to dance the night away? Be sure that your bar is in close proximity to the dance floor. A bar that is at the opposite side of the venue, or even in another room all together, will pull people away from the dance floor and encourage them to congregate in that area. However, in plenty of venues, the bar is a built-in structure and cannot be close to the dance floor. In this case, you can consider having your venue or caterer set up a second bar near the dance floor or pass alcohol to your guests. If that is out of your budget, the best strategy is for you, the bride and groom, to stay on or near the dance floor. Your guests are there to see you, and they will gravitate toward the area where you are positioned. So even if you are not into dancing yourselves, stay near the dance floor, and guests will stay near as well!
4. Serve a Full Meal: Very few things will cause guests to leave faster than not being served a meal at your wedding. If they are feeling hungry, they are going to start thinking about dinner plans elsewhere, possibly even with other friends of theirs who are present at the wedding which can result in a mass exodus. However, if serving a full meal is not possible with your budget, just be sure and let your guests know on their invitations that the reception is hors d’ourves only. That way they can be prepared and eat before arriving.
5. Dim the Lights: No matter what, there are going to be guests at your wedding who don’t like to dance and would prefer to sit, chat, and people watch. This can make those who do love to dance feel uncomfortable and watched while on the dance floor. This situation is easily remedied by dimming the lights surrounding the dance floor during dancing. If budget allows, consider turning off the house lights completely and instead having a professional lighting company install intelligent (moving) lights on the dance floor and/or a Gobo (monogram in light) on the dance floor and/or pinspotting on your centerpieces. This will allow the room to be dark but still illuminated enough with touches of light so that guests can see and enjoy each others’ company.
image courtesy of michael ash imagery
6. Give Your DJ Some Leeway: Your DJ is a professional and should be treated as such. One of the main things you pay for when booking a DJ is his ability to read and react to the crowd and the flow of the evening. By trying different genres of music and seeing how the guests react, he can quickly get people on the dance floor and keep them there. While you should definitely sit down with your DJ prior to your wedding and give him ideas about the styles of music you like and the types of guests who will be in attendance, allow him to have a little leeway to read the crowd and perhaps play something outside of your “preferred” music list that his experience has shown him guests react well to. Far too many times, I have seen couples demand that their DJ play only current, pop music. While this is often very fun for your friends and young guests, the older guests in attendance tend to feel left out and uncomfortable when they don’t recognize any of the songs being played. There are so many songs that span and cross generations that everyone loves to dance to, that you should allow your DJ to try some of these songs out. More often than not, Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue get up to dance for Earth Wind & Fire and Aretha Franklin and start having so much fun, that they don’t want to leave the dance floor once Lady Gaga and Usher start playing!
7. Keep That Venue Cool! Nothing will put your guests in their seats faster or get them bolting out of the door earlier than a venue that is not properly air conditioned. Be sure your venue has the ability to keep the room very cool (65 – 70 degrees at the highest) so that guests can dance and not feel uncomfortable. Booking a historic hall with less insulation and an older AC unit? Carefully consider your date and opt for a wedding during a cooler month where the venue is not likely to get overheated. Having the wedding in a tent with walls? Be sure and properly air condition the tent and budget accordingly for this significant investment.
