La Vibora De La Mar

For starters, you're going to want to place 2 chairs in the center of the dance floor. The bride and groom will then both stand on their own separate chairs facing each other and form an arch under which everyone (participating in the snake) passes through.

The groom often uses the veil or train of the bride's dress to form the arch or the bride and groom can simply hold hands and they become the arch.

Now that our B & G are all setup and ready to go, we can have our DJ or Band announce "all (single) ladies or (single) men (depending on who's turn it is) that wish to participate in the snake, to please report to the center of the dance floor and form a single file line" which will eventually become none other than our snake.

Secondly, depending on the amount of people participating in the snake. You are going to need to assign one or possibly two members of the wedding party (per side) to firmly hold on to the (ladies) bride and (men) groom. Their jobs will be to prevent that neither our bride nor groom gets knocked off of their chairs while the snake passes through them. Why you ask? I will further explain below.

If there are many first timers in attendance, there are 3 recommended ways that the snake can be linked together if the crowd needs instructions to do so.

• 1. is to simply hold hands with the person directly in front and back of you.

• 2. is to place your hands on the waist of the person directly in front of you.

• 3. is to place your hands on the shoulder of the person directly in front of you.

There's one more thing we have to do before we can officially get started. We need to assign an "engineer" to direct our runaway train, someone to be the head of our snake if you will. In comes the "best man" for the guys and the "maid of honor" for the ladies.

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Note: Before you begin, it would be wise if the DJ made a quick announcement instructing all wedding guests not participating in the snake to please scoot in their chairs and keep the running lanes clear. If there are several small children in attendance, ask the parents to keep a close eye on them while the snake is in full swing.

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At this point, all our participants are anxiously waiting for their cue to go, in this case, the sample Mariachi music in the media player below titled non other than "La Vibora De La Mar". Click play to preview.

Now that our snake is in full-motion, we can discuss more about why we need the one or possibly two wedding party members (per side) assigned to both our Bride & Groom as mentioned above.

The reason why is that the guests participating in the snake will intentionally try to knock off either the (ladies) bride or (men) groom from their chairs by intentionally bumping into them as they pass through the arch before the music ends, at which point the game is over. To sum things up, the wedding party members assigned to the B&G, have to try to keep that from happening.

More often than not, the men will be successful in knocking the groom off of his chair, at which point they will grab him, place him over their heads, walk him over to an open area and toss him up in the air repeatedly as they chant in celebratory fashion. In some cases the men may even rough the groom up a bit as initiation to becoming a married man.

At the end of the game, depending on the sex of the participants, the bride throws from her chair the wedding bouquet, and the groom the garter.

The bouquet used to be a symbol of happiness, but in today's practice the single woman who catches the bouquet is believed to be the next to marry. Same goes to the single man who catches the garter.

In some instances, it is said that they will marry each other. Which reminds me of the follow idea (below).

Garter and Bouquet toss winners

Several years ago we did a wedding for a couple who approached us with a fun idea that we still use till this very day.

When we first met with them, they were still in the planning process. During our meeting they asked if we could help them pull off something that they saw and liked at a wedding they recently attended.

They told us that a few weeks prior to meeting with them, they attended a wedding where immediately following the Garter and Bouquet toss, the DJ asked the winners who caught the Garter and Bouquet to please report to the middle of the dance floor to take a picture by request of the B&G.

Once on the dance floor, the photographer walks up and snaps a picture of them. Before the winners have a chance to walk away, the DJ asks if they could please stay right where their at for a brief moment. He then goes on to announce that it's a tradition (not entirely sure if it's a real tradition or not) that the winners who catch the Garter and Bouquet dance together to bring the newlywed couple good luck.

To encourage them he adds that if they do NOT dance together, it will on the other hand bring the B&G bad luck. He then looks around and gets the crowds approval. At this point the winners are on the spot, they give the nod of approval and agree to dance together.

He then adds that the longer they dance together, the longer the B&G's relationship will last. The winners then get ready to dance and wait for their song to start. The DJ then surprises everyone by playing a fun upbeat song. In this case we were asked to play Suavemente by Elvis Crespo. (below)

The crowd goes crazy as the DJ encourages them to clap along while the winners dance together. The wedding guests are now pumped, most of them are on their feet dancing in place and clapping along.

About a minute after the song starts, the DJ asks everyone to join the winners on the dance floor and help bring even more good luck to the B&G. With the dance floor now packed, the DJ or Band then announces that dancing time has officially kicked off for the rest of the night.

We liked their idea so much, that we had the opportunity to use and perfect it before their wedding date because they had booked us a year in advance. Each and every time we used the idea they brought to our attention, it was a huge success! If you are looking for a fun, tested and proven idea to pack your dance floor once dancing time begins, then this is it!

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