receptions - does your church allow dancing?

[Cright]

I'm in the process of finding wedding and reception locations...


I inquired about dancing or champange toast or music limits ect for the reception hall that is in the church..

and he said we'll have to get back to you... i'm not sure if you can have a DJ and dancing in the church, that it used to be we could not.. but they are restructuring and that we might be able to.. so I have to check back.

Anyone else encounter this?
do you want to have dancing?
are you going to have your reception in a different place because of this?

I've never been to a wedding reception that didn't have dancing... has anyone here? what was it like?

Any married people in here that had a no-dance wedding? plz give details.

Thanks!
God Bless,
Carina

 

[wemmick]

My bro and sil had a reception at our church without dancing--it was not allowed. They are both introverts, and it just was not their thing. It was still a lovely time to chat and catch up with friends and family who attended the wedding. I'm sure it ended more quickly than if there had been more "activities" at the wedding, but that was okay with them.

My fiance and I were also considering having our reception at the church, but he has always dreamed of "the first dance." We thought about trying to get around the "no dancing" issue because we read through all the church's wedding literature, and there is no mention of it. Also, my mom works at the church, so we thought we might be able to get special consideration for one dance as husband and wife. We ended up deciding to just go another route--if they took too long to decide, we could end up losing out on the other location we were considering. We went ahead and booked it instead.

~Becca

 

[Cright]

Becca,

Thanks

That's exactly what my hangup is too... the first dance.. I want a first dance! If I coulden't have any other dances that'd be okay with me.. but I would prefer to have dancing.. I love salsa dancing!!

The thing I can COMPLETELY pass on is the drinking... I woulden't mind a toast.. but other than that I don't even want any alcholic drinks there at all. So.. to give up the toast.. and do it w/ whatever soda/water/whatever that'd be fine too.

Thanks for sharing... comments still welcome!

Hugs,
Carina

 

[LadyBird]

I have and it was kinda lame. I love dancing and that's probably why I found it to be a bust! I want to have a huge dance at my someday wedding. And I would like to have a toast. Dancing and alcohol are prohibitted in the church...and the gym is ugly, so I would never have it there anyways.

 

[Maeyken]

I've been to a wedding that didn't have a dance. There was the dinner, and then people did the speeches (there was no toasts that I remember...) and then people were free to go, or they could stick around while people shared stories about the bride and groom. At my wedding, I really wouldn't care if there was dancing or not. It'll definitely be no alcohol, but perhaps sparkling water or something for toasting. I do like the idea of the first dance though... it'll all depend on the guy I marry, and what his opinions are!

I think I would like to have *some* sort of music playing though... so that people could stay around and talk awhile, because I would want to say hi to people and thank them for coming. But I wouldn't need a DJ or anything for that... just a good CD player! haha

 

[LiberatedChick]

We had a separate reception venue to the ceremony venue and after our meal we had the speeches and then a couple hours break where people could nip back home or to there hotel rooms to change and then come back for a big party later on. We had the reception venue, DJ and a late alcohol license until 1am so everyone could party the night away. We did our first dance and danced a bit more throughout the night. We didn't stay until 1am though, I was tired by the time it got to 10.30pm so we were home around 11pm. I think everyone else stayed until around midnight.

 

[Sascha Fitzpatrick]

It depends on the church, I guess...

Our church wouldn't have a problem with dancing, or a DJ, but we wouldn't be allowed alcohol (we're Salvation Army). My old baptist church allowed dancing, djs, and champagne for the toasts.

You'll find the more conservative branches of churches (presbyterian, catholic, methodist, etc) would probably have rules prohibitting drinks, dancing, etc...

Doesn't matter when I'm planning it - not getting married in a church, we can't dance (and I don't see the point), and the whole day will take place about 200kms from our church...



Sasch

 

[PurpleBunny]

Dancing is allowed at my church hall, and exactly one glass of wine, no more, for toasting.

However, the sound is so bad in our hall/gym, that even though it dresses up pretty I refuse to have my reception there. It's the worst building, acoustically, that I've ever been in.

 

[JillLars]

My church doesn't have a hall big enough to accomodate my wedding reception.

I can't imagine not having dancing at a wedding reception. I am looking forward to partying all evening with my family and friends. We will also have champagne for toasting a few kegs of beer and free pop. I have family members that like beer, but they won't be getting out of control (what a mess that would be), I can totally see why some people wouldn't want to have alcohol at their receptions though.

 

[redwing030]

The church that my husband and I attended did not allow dancing or alcohol of any sort to be at the reception or you couldn't be married at the church... So, we went to a different church to have the ceremony. We didn't care so much about not dancing (our reception was only 3 hours long so there wasn't any) but my entire family does like to have a drink with dinner. I wasn't about to tell my parents (who paid for the wedding) "Nope, you can't have a glass of wine at my wedding reception. By the way, can I have some more money please?!"

Although we did have alcohol we purposely made our reception from 4-7pm so that people wouldn't come to the wedding just to get drunk on our dime. It worked out rather nicely.

 

[Cright]

Wow.. thanks everyone for the responces..

(redwing30 - your dress is beautiful.. your picture is awesome! what a beautiful day!.. I live in MI too.. just outside Royal Oak )

I think we've decided to have the wedding in a chapel (saves about $300 from what our church wanted).. this chapel has an attached hall.. we're thinking of using this for the reception.. but we'll have to check it out first.

I'm still thinking of other ideas.. need something affordable!

Hugs,
Carina

 

[flounder7786]

My church doesnt let people dance...even at a wedding reception...and that is why i am choosing to have my reception somewhere else...what is a wedding without dancing?

 

[redwing030]

(redwing30 - your dress is beautiful.. your picture is awesome! what a beautiful day!.. I live in MI too.. just outside Royal Oak )

Awww, thank you very much I used to live right around Midland, if you know where that's at. It's about 2 hours north of Detroit, near Saginaw. I hope that you have a wonderful wedding day!