Weddings Anniversary Dance

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great thread all....I have done it a couple of the above mentioned ways, with great success.

My favorite one so far, was a good friend of mines wedding, where his grandmother and grandfather were the oldest married couple, at 60 plus years of marriage. His grandmother was in a wheelchair, and grandpa could barely walk, but they were on the edge of the dancefloor, holding hands, actually swinging along with the beat....I had everyone leave, year by year, and a lot of guests were curious about why nobody was dancing, until I announced them, and how long they had been married (my friend gave me the info beforehand).....grandma and grandpa were so happy and proud, and shed a few tears of joy, which led to not a dry eye in the house. The bride did give them her bouquet as a gift, which was a very classy move. Inevitably they gave their advice to the newlyweds as "love each other every day, and believe in God"....

One of my favorite wedding activities....I try to talk the bride and groom into a version of this, every time. Done right, its very classy, and memorable for all.
 
HOLY CRAP!
this is the first time I heard of telling couples to NOT leave the dance floor!
that has always been a real issue (for me) with this dance,
and you guys just gave me a great way to avoid it.

and Wes, you are 100% right...
the LESS THAN part of that announcement is critical!
 
Something that I forgot to mention is that it takes you a couple of minutes to get everyone on the dance floor, so I use an instrumental version of Can't Help Falling In Love as I invite all the couples to the dance floor. I find it's easier to use an instrumental as a background bed of music as you don't have to talk over a vocalist.

Once I get them all there and explain what we are doing, I then fade into the selected song for the Anniversary Dance. YMMV
 
Kirby that is the key. I use KC and Jojo with the violin intro for my bed to intro the dance. and its fairly current to the early group. All My Life. then at 15-20 I go into through the years and then Anne Murray for the 25+ and if I have the knowledge of the final couples first dance song I use it for the finale. Because of the economy it has shortened the signing I dont always get this info. So its the perfect waltz for this application if I dont have their first dance song.
 
I just want to let all the guys that helped me out on this thread.I did do the dance better than ever and the winner of the dance I actually knew since I was a kid.
It is something I will work on and thanks to all!!!
 
Great thread, tons of ideas! As for whether or not to clear the floor, whether or not you would want to depends almost entirely on what you have slated to happen AFTER the Anniv dance.

For example, many times, I will clear the floor because we are going to do the cake immediately after, so clearing the floor serves a very definitely purpose and you're not slamming a thoroughly pumping dance floor to a halt for some wedding festivities. Using slow dance events like this one, the dollar dance, and parent dances can be great ways to make those transitions where you WANT to clear the floor.

But as with anything, there are no rules, and there is no such thing as having too many options in your arsenal. Each approach has its place. Threads like this are why I, for one, hang out here!
 
Afer all isn't the idea of really sharing with one's associates an opportunity to "raise the bar" professionally as to how we, the DJ community, is received by the general population?

Whenever I have a chance to help out another associate who solicits advice, I do. Some of us are more adept in the technical aspects of our trade, whereas others have skills that are just as helpful, i.e. the Anniversary Dance.

Thanks.
 
Great addition Justin. I use it to my advantage in most cases to fill the floor but like you the client might have something planted right behind it making it a better option to clear.

Think about this as well though most people typically will come up to see the cake cutting yet again you have the captive audience even if they arent going to be moving into the dance portion but you have a great number of them up there to follow cake cutting with an encouraging tug to get them to join the bride and groom again to get the party started. I have altered mine so many times during the journey that what it began as 10+ yrs ago has become a masterpiece with options to alter.

One other option I didnt mention. In some cases you will have a particular crowd less than half or better of married couples. I will invite all significant couples (provided that will add more couples, ask your bride she will know) I explain it like this. All married couples and any significant couples please join Tom and Sue on the dancefloor for one special dance. When I say significant I mean any couple most folks would recognize as having been more than a date or two.

This way I gain a better majority of the crowd. If knowing in advance that its likely I wont gain much in participation (again the bride will know or not) I have other tools and will still recognize long marriages through out the evening if the info is available.

All of the added touches I use have included in my offerings have evolved with new ideas popping every time I perform. Its always a work in progress to improve and fine tune everytime.
 
Jon Tuck said:
Rick if you keep em all on the floor Voila you have a full floor to start the opening dance song. However whatever works for you who am I to offer additional improved or tested ideas? Good show with the mic thing.
Click to expand...

eh, don't be so touchy.........:triwink::tritongue:

I dunno, eliminating everyone down to the oldest couple is the way I picked it up but if you have a better plan........It seems to work out well and just showing everyone the way to the dance floor seems to pop that first pickle. I generally hit them with 2-3 older funk things then cupid or cha cha. It kinda drives itself after that.

YMMV :tricool:
 
At my 2nd Saturday reception, we did the Anniversary dance.

ALL four sets of grandparents were present and the longest married ones at 62 years won. I was talking to them earlier and they have 9 children and 20 grandchildren! I added that amazing statistic into my interview of them. They are an amazing couple!

Plus this grandmother was in a wheelchair and hooked up to an oxygen tank, so I was very surprised to see them out for the entire dance sans wheelchair and tank.

It made for a really great moment and an extra special anniversary dance.

For those that haven't incorporated this into your standard reception event items, add it. It's easy to run, adds to that "intimate" feeling and if you MC it properly, makes you look great to the client and the guests.
 
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