It’s no secret that everyone wants their wedding to be the most memorable, fun, and flawless night that ever was. And while there is a rather proven adage that at least one thing will go wrong (best to laugh it off and capitalize on the joke where you can), we here at Around Town have no intention of letting your music be the thing that goes wrong!
We get a lot of questions about what timeline we recommend, or how long each special moment song should be, so we thought it would be fun to walk you through some of our suggestions for keeping the whole evening smooth, lively, and engaging!
First and foremost, we want to emphasize that we will always coordinate with and follow your venue’s suggested timeline – they’re facilitating food service, know their venue like the back of their hands, and we trust their know-how! Where we can really provide our insight is some suggestions for where in the evening to place some special moment dances, and how long to make each of them. Our award-winning live bands are absolute pros at reading the crowd and guaranteeing that your guests are on the dance floor all night long for each of your dance sets, but the order and length of your special moment dances can seriously impact the momentum of the night.
Without further ado, let’s get to it! Again, please keep in mind that we will always defer to your venue on this; or if you have a different vision, we’ll always do your best to bring your vision to life for your big day!
Once your reception opens and your guests enter, the first order of business is bringing in and introducing everyone’s favorite folks! Now, this can vary from wedding to wedding, so it really comes down to your vision for the day and who you’d like to be a part of this moment – some couples eschew the introductions, and some really ham it up. We’re here to support your vision and what makes you feel most comfortable! That said, a refrain you’re going to be sick of hearing from us by the end of this article is: short and sweet. Keep it catchy, keep it energized, and let’s try to keep it under 2 minutes. Our “standard” for your bridal party entrance is to play the “hook” of your chosen song, and then a verse and/or chorus (if it even needs to go that long)! For your entrance as a couple, again, we’ll stick to the catchiest part of the song, generally a quick intro into the refrain, so that the whole moment feels as celebratory as possible.
From here, we recommend you head straight into your first dance, riding the wave of momentum from your entrance! And here’s what we’ll say about this part: remember how long 3 minutes felt when you had to get up and give a speech in high school speech & debate? Or how long 3 minutes feels when it’s the final 3 minutes on the washer/dryer? Or the microwave timer on your food when you’re super hungry? That’s precisely how long 3 minutes will feel when you and your partner are up there, dancing alone, with all the eyes of your guests on you.
This gets to the heart of the majority of our time length recommendations – we really recommend keeping your major moment dances somewhere between 1.5 and 2 minutes; maybe 2.5 if you have a choreographed routine! That said, most of us aren’t professional dancers, so a choreographed routine longer than 2 minutes becomes increasingly challenging not only to perform but also to remember! Don’t believe us? Even professional dancers rarely dance more than 2 minutes – notice most “Dancing with the Stars” routines are about 1.5 to 2 minutes long.
Our usual formula for a special moment dance is to play the intro, a verse, a chorus, maybe a bridge, and an outro. Trust us, this will absolutely feel long enough and hit all the emotional moments needed within a song. Additionally, the verse we play doesn’t necessarily need to be the first verse – if the second or third verse of a song is the one that’s most important to you, feel free to let us know and we’ll make sure to create a cut of the song that brings all the right emotions to the moment!
Some couples do choose not to shorten the song, but instead they have our bandleaders invite their guests to join them on the dance floor around the 2 minute mark, which provides a phenomenal segue into your first dance set! However, if your food service works best without a dance set here, then the first dance can segue beautifully into your first course, and any blessings or toasts that are integral to your day.
After that, we recommend a dance set to get the blood flowing and that first course moving through the system to make room for a main course! After the main course, another dance set, and after that, let’s cut some cake! For the cake cutting, if you’re doing a big moment that draws the attention of your guests, we really recommend having us play a little something to underscore it. This helps alleviate some of the awkwardness of the moment while you figure out how to cut the cake together, and brings some extra fun and vibrancy to the moment! This is another moment where we’ll be playing the catchiest part of the song – a hook and either a verse or chorus.
Now, time for your parent dances and again, we strongly recommend keeping this moment around the 2 minute mark for each dance! We know you and your parents love each other a lot, but this is the part of the night where you want to build the most momentum into your dance sets through the end of the evening, so an overly long parent dance can absolutely stop it in its tracks. Make time for a longer parent dance at a more intimate event like the rehearsal dinner, or after welcome cocktails, when there aren’t tons of antsy guests waiting to bust a move!
From here, let the good times roll! The special moments are wrapped up (unless you’d like to do a bouquet or garter toss – easily worked into a dance set) and our award-winning bands will have the most danceable tunes coming for the rest of the night!
