No worries – you don’t have to! This is likely your first time planning a huge event, so relax and allow your team of experts to draft and refine a perfect night for you. Those experts start with the bandleader! With our many years of experience and having played at hundreds of events, we know what works for a killer dance party, and what will make an event fall flat! We’re going to show you how to maximize the FUN at your event, after all why call it a party if it’s not fun?
What is a timeline?
Your party timeline is a chronological sequence of events that will take place during the reception (dinner & dance) portion of your party. This will include when special dances are, speeches/toasts, meal service timing, cake cutting, etc. Your venue party manager, caterer or planner should provide this to you 3-4 weeks out.
It’s all in the details!
You want to provide your bandleader with as much detail as possible so they can easily navigate and execute the plans you’ve worked so hard to put together. Things do happen to push and pull the timeline at every party, but an experienced bandleader knows how to go with the flow and fill in any gaps to keep your guests entertained no matter what is happening.
What if things don’t go according to plans?
Kitchen is a little behind? No problem, keep everyone dancing! Can’t find dad for his toast? No problem, keep everyone dancing! It’s time to cut the cake, where is the groom? No problem…you get the idea.
Nothing should ever totally derail any party – nothing ever has at our events and I’ve seen some crazy things! The bottom line is that the band is there to keep your guests entertained throughout and it’s ok if things get off by a few minutes here or there, we’ll get everything back on track with music and dancing.
Front loading the formalities.
This simply means placing the special dances and toasts after the intros and First Dance. This clears the way for more dancing before the first course. After first course, we like to get your guests up for a good 40-60 minutes of dancing before the main course is served. This allows for an all out dance party after the main course. Less sitting and more dancing = more fun…let’s get everyone up and dancing as much as possible.
Let us offer our expertise!
In the timelines we design, we maximize as much dancing possible. I’ve become somewhat of an expert in creating timelines that maximize dancing and eliminate down time (a/k/a boredom). Once we know the meal service times (first, second, main course and dessert) we can build a fun party around those anchors.