Weddings, like many other things, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. What we’d like to talk
about today is dance floor sizes and how it affects your event.
Some people think that the bigger the dance floor the better, however often the opposite is more
true. Having a smaller dance floor tends to relieve some of the anxiety that your guests may
have about getting out there to bust a move.
At any event, for dancing purposes, there are 3 types of guests. There’s the group that will
absolutely be dancing no matter what, the group that will likely NOT be dancing, and the people
that MAY dance if the situation is right. When choosing your dance floor size, you want to pick
something that will entice this “in between” group to join the fun. These are guests that may
want to disappear into the crowd a bit more, something that a giant dance floor doesn’t really
allow them to do.
The smaller floor also gives for a more intimate experience for the guests that are out there.
There’s less guesswork about where on the floor they should be, and they can interact with
friends and family much easier because they’re closer together. The floor will appear filled
more often and your guests will want to be a part of the action, drawing them to the dance floor.
Now surely you’ve seen our AWESOME LED dance floor, but there are plenty of variables that will go into how big of a dance floor that YOU want for your big day. Typically we say around 40-50% of your guest total is about right. We find that each couple needs roughly 9 square feet of “boogey space”, so using these numbers will give you a rough estimate of how big of a floor you’ll need.
An example may help, so here are some ideas for sizing:
100 guests - @50% = 50 dancers (25 couples). Let’s assume 9 square feet per couple, so we need roughly 225 square feet of dance floor. A 16’x16’ dance floor is 256 square feet, so that may be our sweet spot.
150 guests - @40% = 60 dancers (30 couples). Assuming 9 square feet per couple, we need about 270 square feet of floor. A 16’x20’ dance floor equals 320 square feet. This would fit with a little extra room to spare.
There are many variables other than guest total that can affect your floor needs. Perhaps you’ll have more elderly guests that won’t be dancing all night long, but you want to give them more space for when they ARE out there. Or maybe you’ll have several guests that will have small children that will be on the floor with them. This will give them the space they need to fully enjoy your event.
Some final things to think about while you’re planning your dance floor space include leaving
space for any live performances and musicians, if you’ll need space on the floor for your buffet,
or simply knowing that Sound Express Entertainment Group will be ROCKIN' your party!
