Please don’t request the Anniversary Dance.

Note the “please, make it stop…” look on the face of the guy on the far left.

Not that we will steadfastly refuse to do it, but we would very much like to steer our clients away from the Anniversary Dance and offer a better alternative.

Our experience

Our experience with the tradition has rarely been 100% positive. The Anniversary Dance essentially spotlights the oldest married couple in the room through a process of elimination. As DJs and MCs, we have to talk through the entire song and ask the married couples to sit down one by one. Everyone knows there is another couple in the room married longer than them. So they dance half-heartedly out of obligation to the tradition, waiting for their number of married years to get called so they can sit down.

As your DJs, we have to counter-intuitively and systematically ask guests to leave our dance floor. This is painful. Once the marathon of calling out years is over, everyone is mentally fatigued from the process and the energy level has dropped significantly. And we’ve got to build it back up again. People are talking, playing with their smartphones, visiting the bar, focusing on eating cake, and generally being disrespectful of the couple the dance is supposed to honor.

Our alternative

Dedicate a song to the longest married couple in the room, give them the spotlight for a minute or two, and then ask other couples to join them on the dance floor. This approach is inclusive rather than exclusive. And much classier all the way around. Because we’re not yammering all the way through the song, calling out numbers like we’re in a bingo parlor. We’ll get more couples out on the floor and the feeling of togetherness and family is really felt.

Do your homework

Let us know who the longest married couple in the family is, and find out the song they danced to at their own wedding. We’ll happily announce it at the right time and give them some shine on the dance floor.