Wedding Reception Entrances (No, They Don’t Have To Be Grand)

I got this excellent question from reader Laura:

I am not a “grand entrance” kind of girl. In fact, I think they are downright silly. And, I’d prefer to stick with the tradition I grew up with (and that my family is used to), in which the first dance is after dinner, not before. The DJ we met with last night and our caterer (who is great, really) are totally confused by this. They think that the party “won’t get started” without a big entrance followed by a dance. Are they right? Am I nuts? I just can’t see making all my guests watch my new husband and me sway like 6th graders for 3 minutes before allowing them to eat.

Um. No. You are not nuts. I actually AM a grand entrance kind of girl, and there was no way that I wanted any part of that for my wedding. We just were not having that sort of party.

So what did our entrance look like? So, after our ceremony, we had our yichud (do this, people) and then our photographers pulled us aside for five minutes of photographs. And then we wanted to party. We were so excited to party. So we just walked over to the cocktail party going on, like so:And that was it. I’d tell you our first dance happened after lunch and after cake cutting, and it did, technically. But we also snuck away during the cocktail hour to dance to Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free,” just the two of us. Because that’s what getting married felt like (especially the last two lines):

I wish I knew how
It would feel to be free
I wish I could break
All the chains holding me
I wish I could say
All the things that I should say
Say ’em loud say ’em clear
For the whole round world to hear
I wish I could share
All the love that’s in my heart
Remove all the bars
That keep us apart
I wish you could know
What it means to be me
Then you’d see and agree
That every man should be free

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