Traditional Dances for the Wedding Reception

I'm just curious how you guys feel about all those traditional dances. Beside the obvious ones, such as the First Dance and Mother of the Groom / Father of the Bride dances, there are some other fun dances who's purpose it is to get everyone in attendance involved. I was thinking about doing some of them, but I've recently learned that the appropriateness of some of these has been questioned in recent years.

One you probably all heard of is the Dollar Dance. During a predetermined song, the bride and her Maid/Matron of honor and the Groom and his Best Man take places on the dance floor. Male guests line up for an opportunity to dance one on one with the bride, and female guests line up for a personal dance with the groom. Each dance lasts around 30 seconds. The Maid/Matron of Honor and Best Man collect the dollars from each guest.
The Dollar Dance has the advantage of giving the bride and groom a few seconds of personal time to spend with each guest. It also can be used as the first dance of the evening in place of a receiving line.

Then there's the Marriage (or Generation) Dance. This begins with all married couples at the wedding on the dance floor. The MC then asks everyone who has been married less than 12 hours to sit down (obviously the bride & groom). Then you move on to 1 year, 5 years, 10 years etc.. until only one couple remains on the dance floor (the longest married couple). You can either exchange partners and dance with this couple, or give them the chance to offer a piece of advice on how to maintin a successful marriage.

And then there's the Snowball Dance. This is a great way to get wedding guests moving to the dance floor. An up-tempo song is played as the the wedding party is called to the dance floor. The bridal party begins dancing. When the music stops, the female members of the bridal party go to the seated guests and bring back another male partner. The males of the bridal party do the same and bring back a female partner. The fun continues until every able body dancer is on the dance floor!
You can also start the Snowball Dance by calling one couple from each table to the dance floor to join the bridal party.


I can't think of anymore right now, but those are some. What do ya guys think? Are there any others I haven't mentioned?

I've questioned the dollar dance many times,wondering if it's even appropriate. I remember my sister did it at HER wedding 5 years ago and it was a lot of fun. It gave us a chance to share special time with each, and it was just goofy too. (we didn't HAVE TO pay a dollar, but most did)

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The snowball dance may put people on the spot that don't want the attention and don't like to dance....

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Yeah, i agree completely! I know that I am usually that type that doesn't always feel comfortable getting on the dance floor unless i'm surrounded by a lot of friends. So I don't want to do that to somebody else, just because it's now MY wedding. But I do like the other ones.

Another name for the generation dance is the anniversary dance, many brides do this in place of the bok toss and garter toss.

the dollar dance I do NOT like at all. People come to your wedding to celebrate and almost all give you a cash gift. I feel like the dollar dance is being greedy and asking your guests for more money.

The snowball dance I wouldnt like either, it puts people on the spot and maybe some people just dont dance~not a fan.

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Posted by PegaLega

Another name for the generation dance is the anniversary dance, many brides do this in place of the bok toss and garter toss.

the dollar dance I do NOT like at all. People come to your wedding to celebrate and almost all give you a cash gift. I feel like the dollar dance is being greedy and asking your guests for more money.

The snowball dance I wouldnt like either, it puts people on the spot and maybe some people just dont dance~not a fan.

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I totally agree

I believe the dollar dance is a polish tradition I think it is kind of tacky unless it is in your culture to do such dance. Its kind of like asking for more money.

The anniversary dance has been done in place of the toss and garter. My friend actually had a bottle of champagne as a gift for the last couple standing

Do you have any dances that are traditions in your family. I am Jewish and FH is Italian we'll be doing both the Hora and Tarantalla.

i didnt want any group participation dances. I do like the anniversary dance idea, ive seen it at weddings and its sweet.

I've seen a twist on the generation dance in which the garter and bouquet is presented to the last people on the dance floor. I'm thinking of doing something like that.

I have heard of the dollar dance and not a big fan and the snowball dance I don't like too much either. If at parties I've been to, people don't get up to the conga line, I'm sure they won't get up to dance.