A suddenly sober dance, and reception game prizes
Refresher! We're the ones doing the reception dinner in a Victorian mansion, and then moving across the street to the library to have our dance. Approximate times planned thus far are 5-8 for the dinner portion (cocktail hour, dinner, cake, speeches, live music) and 8-11 for the dance. I know that seems horrifically long but all of our guests are from out of town and have nothing better to do, and want to spend as much time with us as possible. Probably doesn't make a difference, but guest list is currently holding at 42.
So, we're ten days out and I got a whammo the other day... I'll spare you the story, but suffice it to say, we had been planning to have beer and wine at the dance, and now we've been told that no alcohol is allowed. ARGH! I am worried that with no booze, the guests are just going to leave the dance to go to the bar. My coworkers have confirmed my worry with their experiences at "dry" receptions. Also, we had already put on our website that there'd be open bar at the dance, and I am worried people are going to feel disappointed because I'd said that and not followed through... plus, when you are on vacation and don't have to drive anywhere, wouldn't you want a drink? There will still be wine, beer, and champagne at the dinner, but none at the dance. The dance venue is already paid for so cancelling that portion is not an option unless we want to miss out on our bajillion dollars.
I guess my question is where to go from here. I don't want to make it seem like alcohol is such a big deal but I also don't want a totally dead dance floor because everyone's left to go drink or just gone back to their hotel. It crossed my mind to shorten the dance to 8-10, and then have an after-party at a local bar, but I didn't know if that was trashy or not? I also didn't know if I should add more stuff to do at the dance since there's no bar now... should I bring in board games or something to keep people entertained? The current plan for the dance is music, drinks (non-alcoholic, now), photo booth. Thoughts?
Bonus Question: We put a word search on the back of our menus, with the idea that people can turn them in once completed and we'd draw one out of a jar for a prize. If you were a guest participating in such a thing, what sort of prize would make you smile? The last two weeks have been incredibly draining on our wallets (my wedding brain has totally forgotten things like a garter, shoes, table numbers) so less than $10 would be awesome. It could also be a non-material thing like getting to go up and get cake first...but that seems lame to me so I want other ideas :)
So, we're ten days out and I got a whammo the other day... I'll spare you the story, but suffice it to say, we had been planning to have beer and wine at the dance, and now we've been told that no alcohol is allowed. ARGH! I am worried that with no booze, the guests are just going to leave the dance to go to the bar. My coworkers have confirmed my worry with their experiences at "dry" receptions. Also, we had already put on our website that there'd be open bar at the dance, and I am worried people are going to feel disappointed because I'd said that and not followed through... plus, when you are on vacation and don't have to drive anywhere, wouldn't you want a drink? There will still be wine, beer, and champagne at the dinner, but none at the dance. The dance venue is already paid for so cancelling that portion is not an option unless we want to miss out on our bajillion dollars.
I guess my question is where to go from here. I don't want to make it seem like alcohol is such a big deal but I also don't want a totally dead dance floor because everyone's left to go drink or just gone back to their hotel. It crossed my mind to shorten the dance to 8-10, and then have an after-party at a local bar, but I didn't know if that was trashy or not? I also didn't know if I should add more stuff to do at the dance since there's no bar now... should I bring in board games or something to keep people entertained? The current plan for the dance is music, drinks (non-alcoholic, now), photo booth. Thoughts?
Bonus Question: We put a word search on the back of our menus, with the idea that people can turn them in once completed and we'd draw one out of a jar for a prize. If you were a guest participating in such a thing, what sort of prize would make you smile? The last two weeks have been incredibly draining on our wallets (my wedding brain has totally forgotten things like a garter, shoes, table numbers) so less than $10 would be awesome. It could also be a non-material thing like getting to go up and get cake first...but that seems lame to me so I want other ideas :)