Five Things We Do That You Are Not Supposed to Notice

Transitions, the nine o'clock turn, and why the volume goes up two clicks and not six. The working parts of a reception, said out loud.

Most of this job is invisible when it goes right. That is the point of it. Here is what is actually happening behind the booth.

One, the floor is read, not planned

Your college friends, your parents' friends and a seven year old with strong opinions are all in the same room. Nobody's playlist serves all three at once, so the order gets decided in the room, in ten minute increments, all night.

Two, transitions do the work

Anyone can play two good songs. Getting from one to the other without a gap is the whole craft. A gap is permission to go to the bar, and once thirty people take it the floor has to be rebuilt from nothing.

Tempo is the bridge, not genre. Nobody leaves because the genre changed. They leave because the tempo dropped fifteen beats and their body noticed first.

Three, the nine o'clock turn

Dinner has cleared, the toasts are done, the polite dancers have had their song, and the room is deciding. Within ten minutes of nine, almost every reception either goes up or goes home.

• Dance floor lighting comes up. It is in every package, and a floor under full house lights does not fill.
• Volume goes up two clicks, not six. Six announces that you are trying.
• The first three songs after the turn are for the room, not for the couple's list.

Four, the requests are already answered

Somebody will ask for Elvis, somebody for 2000s hip hop, somebody will just shout for country. The pivot has to take seconds, which is a library question and a preparation question, not a talent question.

Five, they remember how it felt

No guest has ever left a wedding praising the playlist. They remember the sing along, the floor at midnight, and the face you made during your entrance song.