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Sujet: Wedding activities

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I have a wedding coming up. The couple was thinking of doing this dance for just the married couples. Basically you start off with all the married couples on the dance floor and start filtering the couples out by going from the shortest term marriage to the longest term marriage. At the end, you end up with the couple that have been together the longest. I personally cant stand going through all the formality stuff. It eats up a lot of time. But, we give are customers what they want. Is anybody familiar with this married couple dance? What would be the proper way of performing this? I know I can wing it, but would rather know the proper way of performing this. If any of you are familiar with this, could you give me the proper run down. Any help would be great.
 
Posté Sat 08 Mar 08 @ 1:20 pm
kinda weird in my book considering that the newlyweds will be the first to sit down?

my guess is that you pick a long slow song with many chorus's and every chorus you change in increments of 5 years - ie those 5 years married, 10, etc

that could save time if you want that - and it would only take one song
 
Yeah, my goal will definately be to rap it up as fast as possible. I did a little more research on this. It is referred to as an Anniversary Dance. Basically, at the end of the dance you have the couple that has been married the longest, give the newlyweds some words of wisdom. Announce them as the poster children of a successfull marriage. I also read about doing it in reverse, that way you have a bunch of people on the dance floor. Any other thoughts?
 
Ok...I am guessing you don't perform at a lot of weddings or the "Anniversary Dance" has just not made it to your area of the world. The Anniversary Dance is typically done instead of boquet and garter. (I can see the freaked out look on your face now)...Yes...instead of boquet and garter.....

It is MUCH more popular than traditionally boquet and garter here in the Northeast (CT) at high end weddings $1200-$1500 price range.... The reason is the majority of couples getting married tend to be older (28+) and are more advanced in their careers...most of their friends/family are already married and having the DJ invite their 12 yrs old niece out on the dance floor to have a garter put on by their 40+ yrs old divorced uncle is usually what will end up happening and is just too weird......

Here is how I perform it and find it works best....

For starters you announce that the bride and groom (use their names) have invited all the married couples to join them for a dance (typically you will need 2 or 3 slow songs)..... Once everyone is out there (takes a minute or so) let them know that the reason they have been invited for a dance is to determine which couple in the room has been marriend the longest, "so if you know, please don't tell"...... This is great for getting dancers up who won't move the rest of the night...they are on the spot and have to honor the bride/grooms request...

Then let them know "that in order to determine who has been married the longest we will be counting up in years and if you have been married for less we will ask you to just step to the side of the floor and continue to enjoy your dance. The trick here is that when you say "whomever has been married for 5 years or less, WITH THE EXCEPTION of the bridge and groom, please move to the side (adlib here...don't leave us...just move your dance to the side of the floor)...

Then goto 10 yrs....15yrs....19yrs.....

At this point you should have a nice circle of couples dancing around the floor....with the remaining couples and bride/groom in the center.... DONT Rush this event....its a special moment that people will remember and makes you look like a star for a good 10 minutes...

Now ask for a huge round of applause for the couples remaining...they have been married for a least 20 yrs.... Then continue up...25--30--35 yrs... at some point when you are down to 2 or 3 couples you will have to start counting in single digits....go slow...

At the end you should have the bride and groom and last couple....walk out to the dance floor...ask them how long they have been married....annoucne it to the crowd for applause....

At this time the bridge/groom can finish the dance with that couple but quite often the bride will present her throwaway boquet to them or sometimes a bottle of wine... It becomes passing of the torch from those who have been married the longest to those who just started their journey together... When done right its a special moment, on a special day...that few offer..........

Let me know if you have any questions...hope it helps...

Vin.
 
Use it all the time. I have variations also. Does not have to be instead of the garter ceremony. If you hear from the bride/groom they have a family that doesn't dance much or your usual party starters are not getting the party started this is a great ice breaker. I use Kenny Rogers Through The Years. Works very well. I even reward the longest married couple with a dance with the newlyweds. (remember when you count down to start with 4 hours, I kick the bride/groom right off the floor, then 1 year, 2 years, 5 years.) If I the bride and groom gave me permission in the planning stages I will even follow with the shoe game, Newlyweds vs longest married couple. If you don't know it look it up. Don't want to give away all my tricks. Obviously if the bride/groom does not want any games at all you may upset them so bring up their options in planning.
 
Hey, appreciate your guys input. Yeah, they dont want a bunch of games, they just thought that the Aniversary Dance would be cool. I have heard of it in the past, just never used it. Actually, never had to do any kind of games at all. I guess I have been fortunate enough that the dance floor was busy. I dread the day that nobody is dancing. I'm sure I will end up with one of those days. A bummer crowd. Thats when, I would feel like it is pointless for me to be there. I have been DJing about 13 years. 8 doing weddings and parties. I am 38 years old and have seen the formality parts of receptions slowly decline. Which I have know problem with. They just want to get straight to the party. Most the younger couples that I have met with seem to request stuff out of there parents wishes. I always start the evening off with oldies and motown and work my way to today. Never had a problem. I have seen a ton of different games that are used and will check them out and add them to the arsenal. You never know.
 
Oh yeah, Thanks Vin, for the complete breakdown of that.
 
Your welcome...I stay away from games/tricks also...just like the "party".... Unfortunately in this area of the world we don't have too many young folks getting married (under 25)....so things like the anniversary dance are really needed.....itd amazing..the higher priced the gig..the less "party" that seems to happen..... find me a 24yrs old couple and its a scene from Wedding Crashers....problem is the young kids just book the cheapest DJ were the older couples are secure financially and in their career and spend the big bucks....so thats where I play!

 
I do a slightly more variation to the "generation dance". I go the years to get what I'm looking for the oldest married couple. Then I bring the couple back on the floor with the older married couple. I then start the banter of giving applause the older couple. Then I ask the older couple what it takes to stay married for so long. I usually start with the gentleman then his wife. You get all kinds of great answers that people either do the "ahhhs" or the laughter because the gentleman made it funny. Then I would reward the older couple with a dance with the new couple for about a minute. Then I give another applause and thank everyone and start the partying again.
 
I always know who the longest couple is, before hand, because sometimes they are unable to dance. This is all planned in advance.
 
A Man and His Music wrote :
I always know who the longest couple is, before hand, because sometimes they are unable to dance. This is all planned in advance.

I agree, but I do it for the showmanship
 
fatkatzdj wrote :
A Man and His Music wrote :
I always know who the longest couple is, before hand, because sometimes they are unable to dance. This is all planned in advance.

I agree, but I do it for the showmanship



Yes, I go through the show also, because most of the guest don't know. Some times it is a surprise to the longest couple. We just make our way to the table, and make the presentation there.
 
I do this dance in the reverse form the way most people do.

After the cake I announce it and explain that we start with the bride and groom and end with the couple that have been married the longest.
This way the B&G dance the longest and the oldest couple (who may be in their 80s &90s and not able to dance or stand too long) will dance the shortest.

The best part about doing it this way is that you fill the floor and not empty it.
Once it's filled you can take the party anywhere you want.
With an empty floor you may have to fight to get them back on it.
 
man oh man this all great stuff and it sure beats the pants off the gig i did a few weekends ago. the bride/groom got married danced the bride groom dance father daughter dance groom mother dance and left just left no anouncement just left. well everybody else left exepet for the brides parents and 3 other couples, a total of 8 ppl sticking it out, out of 300 and all this with in 2 hours after the wedding. the brides father came over said if you all want you can shutdown and go. we said nope we got paid till 12 well stay till they kick us out well we all played till 1 and the brides father (who is the one that paid us) had a hell of a great time and got to hear every tune he wanted not that there was a big demand.

man i have never played so many disco tunes in my life and they were on the floor till 1 never sat down just went to get a drink!!
all in all that was the best, crapply planed wedding ive ever seen
 


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