Guide · 6 min read
Wedding Timeline: Where A Silent Disco Fits
The timing question is always the same: do we use headphones all evening, or switch to them later? Both work, but they need different running orders.
Option A: headphones from the first dance
Your first dance goes out on all three channels at once, guests collect headphones as they arrive at the dance floor, and the room is quiet from the start. This suits venues with a hard limiter that would trip all evening anyway, and weddings where a lot of older guests are staying in the room.
Build in five minutes for handing headphones out before the first dance so the moment isn't spent explaining buttons.
Option B: switch at the curfew
Amplified music and a DJ or band until the venue's cut-off, then a headphone afterparty for the last one to two hours. This is the most common choice in Devon and the easiest to sell to guests, because by then the room is already committed to the night.
Announce it from the microphone during the last amplified song. Have the headphone cases open and staffed before that song ends.
A worked example
19:30 evening guests arrive · 20:00 first dance, amplified · 20:15–22:45 DJ · 22:45 announcement and headphone handout · 23:00 amplified music off, three channels on · 01:00 last song, headphones back in cases.