Here’s a snapshot of a typical wedding reception song timeline, along with the types of wedding dance songs you might use…
6 p.m. Guests arrive to cocktail music. May include selections such as Sinatra, Beaublais, Dean Martin, etc. Feel free to put your own spin/twist on this, according to your personalities or your wedding reception theme.
7 p.m. Bride/groom/bridal party arrive to grand entrance music, cake-cutting music, additional cocktail music, and breaks in between for toasts/grace.
7:30 p.m. Dinner is served. Dinner music is played for approximately one hour of the reception.
8:30 p.m. Dinner is winding down, and the music is slightly more upbeat, yet not quite danceable.
9:00 p.m. Bridal Dances begin. Pre-selected wedding song list from the bride, generally including the Bridal Dance / First Dance, Bridal Party Dance, Father Daughter Wedding Song, and the Mother Son Wedding Song.
9:15-9:30 p.m. Dancing begins. Fun and upbeat popular wedding songs and wedding love song music selections until the end of the night.
10:00 p.m’ish About a half hour or forty-five minutes into the night, we’ll typically do the garter-bouquet toss (if you’re having one). We’ll follow that up with the wedding anniversary dance.
11:45 p.m. The final dance selections of the night are played as the night winds down. These may be pre-selected by the bride/groom.
12:00 a.m. Lights come on, the wedding reception, unfortunately, is over.
If your wedding reception is only 4-5 hours long, all of the additional time will be taken from the dancing portion. You may want to consider reducing the amount of time spent on things such as cocktail hour, wedding toasts (ask your best man to keep it short and sweet), the amount of bridal dances and traditions included.
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I would recommend the song “My Little Boy” by Tough/Linville. It is a song for the mother/son dance. The lyrics are great and it was a huge hit at my wedding! It’s available on iTunes!
Thanks Katherine! I will definitely check that out!