Today I’m coming to you with a couple unique ways you and your wedding party can enter your reception as well as a first dance tip (or three)! There are things here for both extroverts AND introverts, so don’t click away if being the center of attention isn’t your thing. So let’s talk about tips for reception entrances and first dances!

Wedding receptions are so much fun because the “hard part of the day” is over. It’s time to celebrate your marriage!!! Every couple celebrates differently, but there are a few ways you can spice up the beginning of your reception to set the tone for the rest of the night.

Whether you want to bring alllll the energy or have a more low-key celebration, here are 6 fun ways to enter your reception (plus one first dance tip at the very end!)!

Introduce your wedding party two-by-two with detailed intros!

If you want your wedding party to enter the way they walked up and down the aisle in pairs, this is for you. Usually just the names are announced, and sometimes the relationship to the couple. But what if you gave the DJ some funny stats to read about each person? For example, you could do something like: “introducing the bride’s childhood friend who is best known for her undeniable karaoke skills and for adopting stray cats without consulting anyone beforehand, the maid of honor, Caroline!!!” You can infuse a funny story or a well-known attribute of the person that everyone who knows them will understand. I’ve also seen athlete-style introductions with stats, like “coming in at 6’2” and claiming to be Penn State football’s biggest super fan, the best man, Connor!!!”

Encourage your wedding party to bring props for their entrances!

If you want to do fun wedding party entrances like this – and it’s totally cool if you don’t – you can ask your wedding party to plan ahead. They can bring sunglasses or a football or a wrestling belt (yes, I’ve seen a whole wrestling move as an entrance before lol). You know your people best, and if this is something they would enjoy, then by all means let them have fun!

Calling all introverts: this first dance tip is for you!

If this has made you cringe with having all eyes on you, this next first dance tip will be wayyyy more up your alley. If you and your partner do NOT like to be the center of attention, then you can have your first dance ~with the rest of your guests~.

When you enter the reception, the DJ can call everyone onto the dance floor for whichever song you want your first dance to be to, and you can slow dance with your new spouse alongside all of your favorite people!!! That way you still get to have your first dance, but everyone will be focusing on the person they are dancing with instead of on you. I had a couple do this last fall and they loved how it turned out!!

Enter with an energetic dance before your romantic first dance

If you love the idea of riding high off of the entrances of your family and wedding party, and you don’t want to go straight into a slow song for your first dance, you could do like an energetic dance as your entrance before transitioning into a slow song first dance. Sometimes this can turn into a group dance set before your first dance one-on-one as a couple together, too!! So many options here.

Learn a choreographed dance … but make it a surprise!!

I just had a couple take dance lessons and learn a choreographed dance for their first dance to surprise their guests and it just might have been the loudest crowd I’ve ever heard at a wedding reception!!! They didn’t tell anyone except me that they were doing this, and the cheers from the guests were awesome. And the couple smashed their routine out of the park – one of my favorite photos of the day is both of the brides fist pumping the air in celebration after they finished their choreographed dance perfectly!!

Learn a couple fancy moves for your slow dance

If learning and remembering a whole dance feels like too much for you BUT you still want to surprise or wow your guests, this next suggestion is for you – learn one or two moves to incorporate into your regular slow dance!

There’s an account on Instagram called “your first dance” that teaches different single dance moves that you can incorporate into lots of different dances. These are things like spins, dips and even lifts that vary in difficulty and are often times not as hard as they seem, and they all look super duper cool!!! If your first dance song has a crescendo chorus or a great ending, this is an awesome way to spice up your first dance.

Here’s a tip for all first dances!

And lastly, I want to end on a tip for all first dances. Practice them in the shoes and clothes you’ll be wearing!! If you’re hiding your wedding day outfit, you can wear something similar. But make sure you are able to do everything you want to do – spins, dips, lifts, etc. – in the shoes you want to do them in and the clothes you want to do them in. Because formal attire like suit coats and dresses are usually more restrictive than every day clothes! This may be an obvious tip, but most couples I photograph are first time brides and/or grooms and didn’t know this stuff beforehand. And since I’m in the wedding world all year round, I pick up on fun tips like this!!

More Resources

I hope you learned something that you can take and implement in your wedding!! If you need more tips, check out 8 Ways to Include Your Loved Ones in Your Wedding Day or 6 Factors That Affect Wedding Timelines. And don’t forget to check out my podcast, The Busy Bride!