Order of Events Walkthrough

You only get one shot to get your wedding perfect, so you need to be prepared for everything! Here, our DJs show you a basic schedule so you know exactly what to expect. Use this as a guide as you fill out our Order Of Events Document

Guests Arrive

Your guests arrive at your scheduled start time. Sometimes your caterer will have salads or appetizers available. Guests take their seats and mingle as they wait for the wedding party to arrive.

Wedding Party Announcement

After the ceremony and pictures, send a bridesmaid, groomsman, or guest to let the DJ know you’re ready to be announced. The DJ will then come out and order the wedding party and return to the DJ booth to announce everyone. Announcements are usually made to an up-beat or happy song chosen by you. For suggestions, contact your DJ. As names are called, the wedding party enters one couple at a time starting with the flower girl and ring bearer, bridesmaids and groomsmen, maid/matron of honor and best man, and then you, the bride and groom.

Dinner

Starting with the wedding party and parent tables (if applicable), guests are released to begin eating. With larger receptions, we at Mizes DJ Service like to dismiss tables one at a time. This gives us a chance to introduce ourselves to the guests, and ask for requests so that we can play music that everyone will enjoy.

Toast

As guests are finishing, we can start the toast. After deciding who will toast, be sure to consider whether you want to open the microphone to anyone who wishes to speak. With Mizes DJ Service, we have wireless microphones. In most locations, the microphones can reach just about anywhere in the room. In cases where the reception may be intercepted, Mizes DJ always brings a spare wired microphone with a long cord.

Note: Toasts can be before dinner if you prefer, but we have found that following dinner with the toast works best because the wedding party will finish eating long before other guests, and this gives everyone a chance to finish without long waiting periods or rushing through food.

Cutting Cake

Try and pick a light and up-beat song for cutting your cake to keep your guests having fun with you. Make sure to have planned how you want the cake cut and/or distributed so that it can be announced. Cupcakes can spare a lot of time and attention so that guests can come grab them as they want, and there is little to no mess afterwards

Special Dances

Usually we can start the dances right after cake-cutting, depending on the location of your cake table. The dances you need to worry about are First Dance, Father/Daughter, Mother/Son. You don’t have to do all of these, and you can add one. (For example, in the case of a step-parent, there might be 2 Father/Daughter dances). There are hundreds of songs just for these occasions, so search around or ask your DJ if you need help picking one.

Bouquet Toss

Single ladies in the crowd come up to catch the bouquet from the bride. In smaller weddings, or where there is less guest involvement, we might ask you to pick out any single ladies trying to hide. Your photographer may place you on the dance floor to get the best picture, or your DJ will. You will also need a song, consider Girls Just Wanna Have Fun or Single Ladies

Garter Toss

This follows the same idea as the bouquet toss, single men come up to the dance floor, the groom removes the bride’s garter and tosses it behind him to the men. This event has a great opportunity to get some extra laughs; you can use creative props like explorer goggles, you can place a rule that the groom may not use his hands, or you can get more creative. Talk to your DJ if you want to plan something special.

Optional Dances

These following dances are less common in smaller weddings, but are recommended for the fun and involvement before early-leavers start heading out.

Wedding Party Dance

This can be a fast or a slow song, choreographed or improvised; this is simply a song where you dance with your closest group of friends. You can also choose to begin the dance with only your wedding party, and then open it up to anyone else that wants to join in.

Married Couples Dance

The DJ Calls up all the married couples to the floor and we play a slow reminiscent song (like Remember When by Alan Jackson). During the song, Mize’s DJ can let the music play, or get on the dance floor and try and single out the couple that has been married the longest. We slowly move older couples to the middle and younger couples to the outside of the dance floor by calling things like “If you have been married less than 5 years, please make your way to the edge of the floor.” When we are left with 1 or 2 couples, at the end of the song, we ask them what piece of advice they could give you, the new bride and groom, to make your marriage last as long and as wonderful as theirs. Oftentimes we will then do one more couples dance to include non-married ones as well.

Dollar Dance

This is actually made up of several songs grouped together. Your guests line up in two lines to dance with you and your new spouse, bringing up some cash to help reduce your total expenses. This usually runs smoother if you bring a bridesmaid or groomsman with a box or bag to hold the cash. Appropriate songs can range widely, so pick your favorites or leave it up to your DJ.

Dance!

Now that everything on the agenda is over, the rest of the night can be dedicated to the party. We like to open up the dance floor with some favorite dance music and line dances. Your DJ can teach things like the  Electric Slide, the Cupid Shuffle, and the Wobble. Other interactive dances like the Locomotion, the Chicken Dance, YMCA, and the Macarena are all available too so be sure to let your DJ know if you’d like anything like this! Requests are welcome and we will make use of requests we got earlier in the night (dismissing tables).

When it’s time to close down, let the DJ know a little bit ahead of time so they can announce to the guests. You can consider having a final song to end the night.

Download a printable order of events form here to help you choose the music for your event.
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