You're dying to know the secret to having a reception that everyone will love, right? Why are some weddings so much fun and others so dull? If you really want to please your guests, you have to first acknowledge who they are. Your elderly relatives are not going to enjoy an extremely loud, bass-booming sound system. Your bratty teenage cousins are going to be bored to death if you choose a five-piece band to play oldies.

When it comes to pleasing everyone, you have to realize that you may not be able to, especially if you're having a large wedding and especially if you've got some friends or relatives who can be real sticks in the proverbial mud. Contrary to what you may believe, reception choices are more about the guests than they are about the bride and groom — you're deciding what you're going to feed your guests, whether you're going to pay for their drinks, what type of music will bring everyone onto the dance floor. Keep your guests happy, and your reception will be a hit. That's rock-solid advice.

How do you keep them happy? By taking into consideration what most people will enjoy — or at least tolerate. We know that your older relatives (which, for the sake of this discussion, includes anyone in their fifties or older) will hate loud technotronic music at the reception; that's a given. But will your friends really mind dancing to milder tunes? (Honestly, does anyone object to big-band music?) Probably not. Where one group of people is likely to be so unhappy or bothered by the music that they may get up and leave, the other group may accept the mellowness of the music and go with it. Your DJ or band should be able to mix things up enough so that everyone has a great time.

It's not easy to please diverse tastes and/or age groups. The name of the game here is mitigating negative reactions and giving everyone food, drink, and entertainment that they won't hate. And when you look at it from that standpoint, it's not so hard to do, after all.