Weddings Anniversary Dance

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bizzyb53

bizzyb53

DJ Extraordinaire
Jul 20, 2008
455
62
68
Pittsburgh,Pa.
I have a wedding this Saturday and they want to do an anniversary dance.I
have done one before but felt like I really didn't know the real way to do it.
I basically half assed it.Any suggestions on the proper way and the proper
way to do the announcing would be greatly appreciated.Thanks.:tribiggrin:
 
Have all married couples on the dance floor...start weeding off the couples (I usually mention all couples married less than 6 hours, please leave the dance floor...it usually gets a laugh. Then I go from
1 year and less, 5 years, 10 years etc.
As I get down to the last 3 couples...I stop the music, grab the wireless and ask each couple their names, how long they've been married and have them give advice to the b&g on how to have a successful marriage. The guys give some great answers.
After this, I have the B&G re-enter the dance floor and finish out the song with the longest married couples.

As a classy touch, the B&G can hand a carnation or rose to each of the ladies exiting the dance floor.
 
Gee...I was in the middle of typing and trafficgoo posted. Mine is the longer instructional version. :) For what it is worth, here is my reply:

BizzyB53...

The way I do it may be different than others, but I will attempt to explain below. The key is to find out who the longest married couple will be attending and whether they had a "special" song at their wedding. If no wedding, a very special meaningful song. Try to obtain it and make it the last song in the series of a 3-song set.

During the evening prior to the Anniversary Dance, be sure to make an off the cuff announcement, well in advance. Something like, "Gentlemen, later in the evening you are going to need to know the NUMBER of YEARS tha you have been married, so if you aren't sure, then you had better check with your spouse."

The Anniversary dance, as I know it.

Gather all married couples on to the dance floor. The newest married couple (Bride & Groom) included. Have three songs ready to play. Give them a brief explanation of how this dance will progress.
This is the Anniversary dance. Remember when I suggested that you men should confirm the number of years you've been married? Well, now is the time to know.
When the music starts I will be calling out numbers that correspond to the number of years of marriage. When your "number" is called, please move to the edge of the dance floor. At the end of this dance there will be two couples left in the middle of the dance floor; the longest married couple and the shortest married couple (Bride & Groom). So let's get started.

The three songs should be representative of those who have recently been married (6 mo - 5 yr), then middle age (6 yr - 20 yr) and then long-term (21 yr - ?).

You will need to switch songs as the dance floor becomes less crowded and end up with the song that may be from the longest married couple's era...or perhaps "their" song.

When the last two couples are left on the floor. Stop the music and ask everyone to congratulate the longest married Bride. Then the new Bride will present a small "bouquet" of flowers (usually carnations) to the longest married bride. You can then ask the LMC if they have an words of wisdom for the young married couple.

There may be other ways of doing this dance. This is the way I learned of it. Of course, you need to discuss this dance with the B&G in advance to determine if it would be worthwhile. It works best if there are going to be plenty of married couples at the wedding. The number of years of the longest married couple is really not significant whether it be 40 or 50 years. I would offer a suggestion about couples who have been married for a very long time and don't have the stamina for a 3-song set. You may want the Bride to ask them to come to the dance floor when the third song begins so that you don't wear them out before the end of the last song. :)

Hope this helps.
 
Traffic... I like your version of the dance, too. Nice twist with the a flower given to each married couple exiting the floor.
 
Everyone else has pretty much coverd it. Here's the only parts different that we do.

We try and leave the last couple left 30 seconds where its just them dancing. Kind of a hats off to them sorta thing.

Also durring the planning portion I always ask the B&G if they can give me an approximate number of years (65ish, etc) that way I know how fast I need to rattle off the years.
 
trafficgoo said:
Have all married couples on the dance floor...start weeding off the couples (I usually mention all couples married less than 6 hours, please leave the dance floor...it usually gets a laugh. Then I go from
1 year and less, 5 years, 10 years etc.
As I get down to the last 3 couples...I stop the music, grab the wireless and ask each couple their names, how long they've been married and have them give advice to the b&g on how to have a successful marriage. The guys give some great answers.
After this, I have the B&G re-enter the dance floor and finish out the song with the longest married couples.

As a classy touch, the B&G can hand a carnation or rose to each of the ladies exiting the dance floor.
Click to expand...

Thats great!:triwink: Thumbs Up!
 
I have also don it in reverse order, starting with the B&G, then start adding couples. (Makes a full dance floor). After I have the B&G and the oldest couple everyone else dances in a circle around them, as the song ends i pop in something faster and get the dance party started with a full floor.:tribiggrin::triwink:
 
Three suggestions:

1) Alan Jackson's "Remember When" is a perfect song for this event.

2) When you are asking the questions of the winning couple, have the B&G on one side of you with the winners on your other side.

Afterwards, suggest to the photographer to get a group shot of the longest and shortest married couples. They're already up there together.

3) If the bride is not tossing her bouquet, and if there is still an extra one for tossing, use it as a gift to the winning couple's wife.
 
TwinSpinDJ said:
Traffic... I like your version of the dance, too. Nice twist with the a flower given to each married couple exiting the floor.
Click to expand...

I've actually done this in REPLACE OF the garter/bouquet...when the are not many young, single guests.
In this case, they offered the garter/bouquet to the last remaining couple.
(this was the b/g's idea, not mine...and the 80-year old guy wanted to know if he could put the garter on his wife's leg)

the bride politely said, "no, that's okay..."
 
I didn't read all the posts, but just wanted to suggest that when/if you are getting couples to exit the dance floor, say it like this. Example: 'All couples married less than one year, please exit the dance floor'. 'All couples married less than 5 years please exit the dance floor', etc.. This is because I always stop at the 25 year mark and ask everyone to recognize all those who have made it 25 years or longer. If I had said 'All those married 25 years or less', it might have sent a couple who is celebrating their 25th anniversary that year off the dance floor. Does that make sense?
 
there are archives of many of us who have done these for yrs. Kudos to those giving it a shot these days. A couple things I do which are a no brainer once you think about it is.

Dont clear the dancefloor.
How? You might be saying.
Ask the mentioned yr couples to move to the edge of the dancefloor but to keep dancing. eventually you have made a circle around the remaining couples. This I enhance by mentioning that we have formed a ring around the floor which after all is the symbol of marriage.

I also spotlight the B&G parents if they supply me the number of yrs (big hit even if they arent the longest) Ialso spotlight 20,25 and each successive 5 yrs that I move up to. I have suggested that my Bride and Groom might want to give a special gift to the final gift of flowers, box of chocolates a gift card, bottle of wine or simply a congratulatory hug. I then invite the B&G to join them along with the rest of the dancers and for the bride and groom to get extra close so some of those yrs might rub off. I then kick it up into a Jive Bunny or something like that to get the floor moving. I didnt clear the floor and have to get them back. This has been the greatest tool to gain an immediate dance party. I use it almost every Wedding per my clients request once they have heard the format of this Gem.
 
Again, most have covered this very well. But I will repeat this, don't send them off the dance floor. Go to the side, dance on the side, dance around the group in the center, but don't send them off the floor.

I also like the idea of the reverse Anniversary Dance, though I've never done it that way.

Let your photographer know they should be ready to get a pic of the B&G and the longest married couple....We carry it one step further and get a big honkin' group picture of all the couples who participated. It does not take that long.....if the photographer is good at working fast.

Again, many of our couples do the $$$$ Dance immediately after the Anniv. Dance and I will give the oldest couple each 2 - $2 bills and tell them the dance is on me... :)

And remember those couples that you never sent off the floor? Well many of them line right up for the $$$$ dance which makes it a smoother transition for the B&G and they don't have to wait for someone to come up and break the ice as I've already tapped the oldest married couple to start things off....

YMMV...Let us know how you decided to do this and how it worked....And good luck!
 
Mine's pretty much the same. Invite all married couples to the floor, play a slow song. I start off with "Anyone married less than 24 HOURS, please exit the dance floor." It always gets a good response. I then do the 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc. years, until I've gotten down to the longest-married couple. I then stop the music, take a wireless out to them, then introduce them to the crowd. I finish by asking them to take the mic and to give advice to the newly-married couple. As they give their advice, I go back to the DJ stand and cue up the first open-dance song. When they've finished, I'll ask for applause, then crank it up.
 
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.
 
I do it the same as Trafficgoo, in 1 song (Through the years by Kenny Rogers works well)
I don't ask them to sit down though...I ask them to move to the outside of the dancefloor, and keep slow dancing.

When you get down to the last couple, you have a big circle of friends & family slow dancing around them. It works great.

Another nice touch: Get a heads-up on who the couple might be (Grandparents?)
See if they had a special song...and invite everyone: single, married, etc. to join in.
Last week, it was the bride's grandparents, their song was "Moon River" It was fantastic!
 
Thanks to all of the responders to this thread you guys have really clarified this dance for me.THANK YOU!!!
 
I try and do the dance the same way but never happens

just follow as outlined above and you wont go wrong!
 
Bill Kexel said:
Another nice touch: Get a heads-up on who the couple might be (Grandparents?) See if they had a special song...and invite everyone: single, married, etc. to join in.Last week, it was the bride's grandparents, their song was "Moon River" It was fantastic!
Click to expand...

Bill, that's a great idea! I'm gonna add that to the way I finish it.

And even if you do the elimination process (versus the adding couples method), most times the eliminated couples won't sit down. Instead they tend to remain at the edge of the dance floor to see who wins anyway.

And after the interview, with that cool romantic feeling still in the air, it's not difficult to get them back. I use "You're Still The One" by Orleans as it's a great upbeat tune PLUS the title makes for a great transition and reminder of what just occurred.
 
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