Alternative Brides - what to do?

[5tormTrooper]

Alternative brides out there I need your help! I'm not having a first dance, or any of the traditional elements like cake cutting, bouquet throwing or being announced as a married couple etc. The wedding is NYE in the evening so a very condensed affair, albeit with 150 odd people! thanks mil for inviting your entire long lost family

The timings basically work well imo, and it means we have less standing around in between. No time for photos so doing all that before.

My question is what to do for the 30 minutes after dinner but before band starts? (around 9.30pm I think). DP thinks we should have a moment of milling round after the meal and before dancing. I don't want the 'energy' to drop or people to lull. We have a number of rooms at our disposal so no worries about having the band set up and plenty of options in terms of space. It is just about what to do. My worry is if guests move from dining room into, say the bar area and are just standing about with no music in the background the atmosphere might drop a bit and it might feel a bit lacklustre.

I would like something but not sure what. This is the bit where most people would have coffee and cake but we don't want a cake and want timings to be snappy, plus I think standing about having coffee is a bit boring. I feel like my friends will be up for the party by then and so something to segway into the dancing would be cool.

Also how to move into the next room for the band without announcing a first dance.

Any ideas??

We got changed into dancing clothes while our guests had fizz. It’s good to have time to digest before dancing. Coffee helpful similarly! Maybe espresso martinis could take the place of coffee, fizz and cake

If it’s a segue between a sit down dinner and a band, it’s nice to have a chance to chat and mingle over dessert or cocktails.

Serve tea, coffee and cocktails. People like a bit of a breather to chat/ go to the loo.

Hot caffeine if some description is good if you’ve been eating and drinking wine all afternoon but still hope to dance!

Just serve coffee. It’s expected at the end of a meal and I don’t see how it can be “boring” especially as you only have a 30 minute window. Coffee is welcome after a hot meal and it gives people an excuse to mingle with guests on other tables before the dancing takes over.