Help...Fun Reception Ideas??

So we are having a relatively small wedding approx 30 guests and we are now having it at the Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara. (It was originally suppose to be in Mexico in the beg of May but we had to cancel due to swine flu).

 

My new stress is that since its small and we are having an ipod rather than a dj and we are now in a more "traditional wedding" venue that our guests may get bored after dinner and the reception will be lame. I really want our guests to have FUN and I was hoping you smart ladies could help me out. Also most of our guests are our friends so its a young crowd (a lot of my family is from europe and israel and not sure if they are able to make it)

 

Are there any fun non cheesy "games"? or other ideas that take up some time. My fear (and i have dreams about this) is that everyone will want to leave by like 9pm.

 

All ideas are appreciated!

THANKS!

Ugh- sorry to hear about the swine flu drama!

 

I think a fun idea is to bring a mic and have an "open mic" type of thing where random people make toasts, dedicate songs to you or eachother or make jokes, etc. If you get a little liquer in people they are pretty damn fun and creative on their own, with nothing but a microphone. i think this is a great post and there are tons of creative girls on here who will contribute!

 

best wishes!

We ended up being 23 (including children !) in Mexico due to swine Flu (originally we were supposed to be 33). We used our laptop and a software called "virtual DJ" : awesome, it was like having a real DJ. We kept the ipod as a back-up in case... well just in case.

The music and the booze was all that was needed ! As soon as we got on the dance floor for the first dance, everybody else was on the dance floor ! People had been drinking for already a few hours (from cocktail hour to end of toasts, maybe 4 hours of drinks... with food but still 4 hours of drinks !) We kept the music going, very diverse - oldies, rock, salsa, french, pop, rap, disco, reggaeton, electronic - well everything ! and while I never had everybody on the dance floor at the same time (except on YMCA ), there were always at the minimum 5 or 6 people dancing. The others were having cigars (we had a cigar station next to the bar), talking, having cake, drinking, talking. It ended in the swimming pool at 4 in the morning, and really nothing was needed but the music and the booze... To give you an idea of the crowd, we had two older people (74 / 81) that went to bed after dinner ; the two kids (4 and 6) that were "out of order" by 11pm ; the parents left with them around midnight. So we ended up really being 17, + 2 guests from the hotel that joined us, one young girl of 20, all the others in our 30's or late 20's, except my parents (60) that stayed until 2am...

I say, don't worry too much about it ! Better let people have fun that "organize" the fun. If there's a good atmosphere, good music, and drinks, you'll be just fine !

My only advise would be, start the dances as soon as dinner is over ! We had dinner, then toasts (we did have a wireless mic as mentioned above), then went to dance, nobody had the time to get bored...

Nota bene : I don't remember leaving the dance floor at all... maybe it helped dragging people there ? I had a lot of fun that's for sure !

What is the website for the Virtual dj? Or what was the company that makes it? Thanks.

Yael I wouldnt worry too much about it. I only had 30 people and it really kept everything going. because it was so small the people that didnt dance mingled with each other. i would just make sure you get the dancing started and that's all you need to do.

VIRTUAL DJ SOFTWARE - MP3 Mixing Software

Thanks Ladies! Ya im hoping with all the booz and good tunes we wont have too much trouble. Hopefully Im stressing for nothing

 

Ayita - thanks for the virtual dj info - super helpful!

I'm doing a song choice contest... people can choose as many songs as they like (any genre) and the one that best represents me and my fiance and our style will win a prize and we'll dance to it at the wedding and announce the winner. It won't our first dance song but it has everyone listing out their favorite songs and I plan on playing them all so at least everyone has a song played they like.

 

Also another bride did the camera scavenger hunt with disposable cameras on the tables and a list of photos to capture for that specific table - fun stuff!

Thanks!!

I just saw the camera scavenger hunt and i love it - i may steal that. I also like the idea of everyone contributing something - great idea!

I'm also eager to hear more ideas since I'm going to have a fairly small wedding myself. I hear a popular thing to do is to get fire dancers. It's short and can be costly, but it will help get the party started. Maybe do a toast with tequila shots and then start the dancing!