Wedding Schedule

In order to help you plan your wedding schedule, we have put together a timing schedule with notes. We’ve serviced more than 250 weddings and have seen a lot of schedules that worked out well and a few that haven’t. Here are our recommendations.
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Reception Schedule

Guests Arrive (Cocktail Hour) - 30 Minutes to 1.5 Hours

Music should be playing as guests arrive in order to set the desired atmosphere.  This music is soft enough that everyone in the room can talk easily, but loud enough that people can recognize the song or artist. We recommend at least 30 minutes for guest to get settled in before the wedding party arrives. If guest will be waiting an hour or more, or if dinner will be served late, it is good to provide hors d’oeuvres for your guests.

What you can expect from our DJs:
Always be prepared with 30 minutes more music than the schedule requires.
Keep volume low as stated above.
Make any housekeeping announcements that are needed. (Ask people to sign the guestbook, let them know where the hard to find bathrooms are, and anything else that they might need to know…)

Wedding Party Arrival - 10 Minutes

This is your time to use the bathroom, bustle the dress, sign the marriage license, or anything else you might have forgotten. After you get done with photos and arrive at the reception venue, have someone let the DJ and Photographer/Videographer know that you are about ready to come into the reception. During this time take a breath, the day can be crazy. Planning a little break, just five to fifteen minutes, can be really nice. The DJ should line your wedding party up for their entrance and get the guests seated.

What you can expect from our DJs:
Once the wedding party arrives, go out to meet them and get a feel for their desired time frame.
Let the guest know the wedding party has arrived and ask them to find their seats.
Let the guest know what to expect next (e.i. Grand Entrance, Toasts, Prayer, then Dinner)

Wedding Party (Grand) Entrance - 5 Minutes

For most weddings, the bridesmaids and groomsmen enter together, one couple at a time, then the bride and groom come in after we ask the guests to stand and welcome them.  In some weddings other people, flower-girls/ringbearers/other-family, sit at the head table so they join the grand entrance.  A separate song can be chosen for the bride and groom’s entrance. One of the important things that can easily be missed is communication between the DJ and Photographer/Videographer. We want to make sure they know when the big events happen, so you get photos/videos.

What you can expect from our DJs:
“Please draw your attention to the entrance of the room and join me in welcoming the wedding party”
Start Grand Entrance Song (something upbeat many people pick theme songs)
“____ and ____”
“____ and ____”
…
“Maid of Honor, ____ and Best Man ____”
“Please get on your feet and join me in welcoming the new Mr. & Mrs. __________”

Toasts & Prayer - 5 to 20 Minutes

We recommend speeches before dinner because the guests will already be seated and have their focus on you.  It also allows the people giving speeches to get them done early and not worry about the mall night. The exceptions to this recommendation are if dinner is after 7pm and minimal hors d’oeuvres have been served. You don’t want hangry guests. If your Best Man or Maid of Honor are given to drinking a bit too much, early toasts are an absolute must.

We also recommend, when asking people to make speeches for your wedding, that you ask them to make a 2 to 5 minute speech. We have seen speeches that last over 30 minutes.

What you can expect from our DJs:
Introduce the first person to speak “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m now going to hand the mic over to _____ to get us started with a toast”.
As you hand the mic over to the person, remind them to hold the mic close to their mouth. Make sure your assistant is ready to adjust the volume as needed. (This is one of the reasons it’s great to have two DJs at a wedding)

Dinner - 1 Hour to 1.5 Hours

There are 3 styles of dinner: Buffet, Plated, and Family Style.

• Buffet: Guest are asked to wait to be released table by table for dinner. Once released the guests head to the buffet and fill their plates. We often release tables so that the catering staff can focus on the food.

• Plated: Dinner is prepared on plates and delivered directly to tables. Depending on the caterer, this can be a faster or slower than buffet style.

• Family Style: Courses are brought out to each table on serving dishes. Guests serve themselves from the serving dishes and pass the food around. This is usually the quickest dinner style.

What you can expect from our DJs:
Plan the playlist to be at least 30 minutes longer than the schedule requires.
Make sure your speakers are above head level and pointed away from the closet table if possible without killing your sound coverage.
Keep volume low enough that the people at the closest table can still talk. Ask them to let you know if the volume gets too high.
If possible keep the volume loud enough that people on the other side of the room and hear enough of the music to identify the song if they know it.

Cake Cutting - 5 Minutes

Cake cutting can take place just before the first dance, directly after the grand entrance, or during the dancing portion of the evening.  Many weddings don’t have cake cuttings others don’t have a formal announcement made (by default we make an announcement). If you have a lot of kids at your wedding or the reception is outdoors on a hot day, we recommend cutting your cake as early as possible to help make sure it stays nice until being cut.

Formal Dances - 5 to 20 Minutes

Formal dances open the dance floor. It is wedding dedicate for guests to wait till after the formal dances to get on the dance floor. For this reason, some wedding actually have their formal dances before dinner (this can work out well if your reception starts at 4 or 5 pm and you want to fill some time before dinner, or if you want to have upbeat music during dinner and want guests to feel free to dance). With that said, most weddings have formal dances after dinner.

For Formal Dances pick out a song you like, that reminds you of the other person, or the words/mood fit your relationship well. We have some playlist with some ideas, but there are a lot of other lists out there, so google it or check out some lists HERE. If the song is too long, you can have the DJ cut it off whenever you feel like you’re ready. Just give the DJ a nod. If you ask ahead of time (we like 3 or 4 weeks) the DJ can cut you song down for you.

The most common order for dances is what you see here, but many weddings switch the order to fit the needs and relationships involved.

• First Dance

• Father Daughter Dance

• Mother Son Dance

Many people skip some of these formal dances, some people combine the Daddy Daughter Dance and Mother Son Dance, others add a dance with a step parent, or a child. Do what fits well for you.

What you can expect from our DJs:
During the end of dinner, watch the guest to see if they are getting restless or are taking longer with dinner than expected, and adjust your timing to help the event flow. Make sure to check with the Bride and Groom about 10 minutes before the dance is scheduled to see if they will be ready. It’s okay to delay the dances if they aren’t ready. Check with the Photography, Videographer, and Coordinator to make sure they will be ready.

Open Dancing - 2 to 3 hours

The formalities are done and you get to enjoy the night relaxing, talking with friends and family, and dancing the night away. When you pick out songs for dancing, think about the mood you want for the evening and the guests you have. Will your friends and family want to dance to slow songs, fast songs, line dances, pop music, 50’s, 80’s, 2000’s, Country, Latino…? Usually the answer is some mix of different styles.

Also, it’s good to provide a Do-Not-Play list if there are songs you don’t want played, especially if they fit inside the genres you requested or you like another song by that artist. For example, if you like one song from Taylor Swift, but hate the rest of her music, put her name on the Do-Not-Play list and add the one song you like to your request list. The DJ will understand.

We often get asked how long to plan for dancing. It’s a tricky question to answer because there are many things that play a role. But the short answer, …We generally recommend 2 to 3 hours.

What you can expect from our DJs:
Turn your speakers in towards the dance floor and bring them down 6 -12 inches in order to keep the sound focused on the dance floor.
Invite guest to join in the dancing and ask them to come up and ask for requests. If you’re having a hard time getting things going, play a line dance and follow it with a classic or pop party song (Shout, The Twist, YMCA, Can’t Touch This, Can’t Stop the Feeling, Yeah…).
Watch for the people that get others dancing (and hope they make requests).
When the dance floor starts losing energy play a few slow dance songs 2 or 3 is usually best. Introduce them this way “We are going to play a few slow songs, if you have someone special to you, ask them to dance”. After the few slow songs, speed things back up again and maybe try another genre the Bride and Groom requested.

Handling requests:
There are two kinds of requests. Some people love what is going on and request other songs that fit the mood and they love. The other are people that want to change the mood because they don’t like it. Once you have these categories, you should be able to determine which requests to play.

Special Dances/Activities

Anniversary Dance:
This dance is a great way to open the dance floor so it often immediately follows the formal dances. If this dance, we invite all of the married couples out to the dance floor to start. After about 30 seconds, we ask anyone who has been married less than 6 hours to leave the dance floor. The guests usually laugh and the Bride and Groom leave. After this every 10 seconds or so, we ask “if you’ve been married for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years… until we have the longest married couple left. So at the end, only the longest married couple remains and we congratulate them. It’s fun to ask them for a piece of advice and get a photo with the Bride and Groom.

Bouquet Toss:

Garter Toss

Dollar Dance

Games/Activities

End of the night

Final Dance

Exit

Ceremony Schedule

Guests Arrive

We like having all gear setup and music playing when guests arrive.  Guests often show up 30 minutes before the ceremony begins. We recommend instrumental music for most weddings.

Seating of Family

Often wedding processions begin with the formal seating of grandparents and/or parents, followed by the wedding procession.

Wedding Procession

Sometimes the bridesmaids and groomsmen walk in together, other times the groomsmen come in first, either down the aisle or around the side, then bridesmaids come in one by one.  Some weddings have one long song for seating of the family, wedding procession, and bride’s entrance.  In weddings with flower girls and/or ring bearers, they walk in directly before the bride or along side the maid of honor.

Bride’s Entrance

This can happen with her father, mother, both parents, someone else, or solo. 

Common Parts of Mid-Ceremony 

Weddings can have many things happen during the ceremony, scripture readings, candle lighting, knot tying, worship song, communion, and the list goes on…

Recessional

After the officiant presents the new Mr. & Mrs., a song plays as the bride and groom walk back down the aisle followed by the wedding party.  This song is usually more upbeat than the procession songs.

Post-Ceremony

After the recession, most couples head to a private place to sign their marriage license and get ready for more photos.  At this point guests are sent to the cocktail hour location (this is often the same location as reception)