Being proactive against distractions is one of the most effective way to keep your dance floor full at your wedding reception, bottom line.

By the term “distraction” I am talking about allowing multiple entertainment options or activities all simultaneously. When this happens, you subsequently split your audience all over the place, and in turn give your guests excuses not to dance.

It really is very simple. If you want a full dance floor in the last two hours of your wedding reception, only offer dancing as an option and play music that the majority of the population will enjoy.

One mistake is booking two forms of entertainment and creating your own competition. If you are planning and ask, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a DJ in one room, and a band or acoustic act in the other?” You may be right. This sounds like a neat idea, but it is important to not run them at the same times.

“Should we photo booth all night, even while the band is playing so that people who don’t like the band, or those who don’t want to dance have something to do?” Yes you can do this, but I have been to weddings where some people will do the photo booth thing all night and never make it to the dance floor.

Offering multiple forms of entertainment options simultaneously splits the audience. This occurrence can make people interact less, and will definitely leave guests out of the dancing fun who need encouragement. And overall, It means less people dancing and less people seeing the acoustic band play a great number. The solution? Run them at separate times.

I was recently at a wedding in Troy, NY at The Italian Center that was great fun, but some of the guests kept wandering off into a separate bar to see the big game. More people would have danced if the brode and groom had just shut off the TV!

Distractions can also be inherent in the actual venue’s layout. If there is a great smoker’s lounge, or a separate bar with a New York Yankee’s ballgame playing right down the hall, you can bet that a few of your guests who don’t take to dancing naturally may set up camp belly-up-to-the-bar. This will decrease your dance floor attendance, in the end.

“But I really do want to have a photo booth, or a band AND ALSO have a DJ. What do I do?” Chop up the time and have a the first cocktail hour be for the live band, or only run the picture photo booth the first three hours and leave the end just for dancing. When go this route, more guest we default to dancing for entertainment with no alternative distractions. Then, and only then, will you have full optimization or your dance floor.