Why Everyone Should Take Dance Classes for their Wedding
As a professional wedding planner, couples often ask me for advice regarding what areas of their wedding budget are “splurge-worthy” and what they should cut back on. Most of the time, the focus is on food, decor, and entertainment. One area that sometimes gets forgotten about is the first dance.
Your first dance as a married couple is a romantic, intimate moment that all of your guests witness. This is definitely a splurge item!
I see it all the time as a planner: The Emcee makes the announcement. The house lights dim. The music starts. The couple walks toward each other across the dance floor and meet in an embrace... and then they shuffle awkwardly holding each other as they realize that all of their friends and family are watching them and they don’t know how to dance.
This is usually the biggest let down of the evening. Your guests will very quickly lose interest in the dance and start talking amongst themselves. No one wants to watch two people shuffle around for 3-5 minutes; it gets boring. A simple semi-rehearsed routine can make a huge impact on the evening and on the interest level of your guests.
Here are my top reasons why investing your time, energy, and money into taking wedding dance lessons is a must:
1. Fun and interesting entertainment: couples inject their own personality and style into their song choice and routine, so your dance will be a unique reflection of you. This adds a layer of entertainment to the evening. Everyone in attendance is being asked to observe this dance, so why not give them a show? Your guests are vicariously experiencing the day through you; inspire them!
2. Confidence boost: a few lessons go a long way in instilling confidence on the dance floor. Having a few go-to moves will make you both feel less anxious about this moment and allow you to focus on having fun with your partner.
3. Relieves stress, anxiety and is good for your health: we all know that exercising releases endorphins and is good for your overall health. Dancing is low-impact and especially great for those who sit all day and may have issues with their posture. In the months leading up to your wedding, you may be particularly stressed out and this will be a great distraction and fun activity.
4. Strengthens your teamwork: listening and moving to the sounds of music will bring you closer to your significant other. Learning a routine together requires patience, understanding, and teamwork, which are all great things for engaged couples to improve upon and practice. Typically one person is the “lead” and the other is the “follow”. For heterosexual couples, the lead is traditionally the Groom and the follow is traditionally the Bride. Same-sex couples can opt to either take turns being the lead or choose one partner to take that role; whatever works best for them.
5. Amazing photos and video: for this reason alone, taking dance lessons is a must! The photos and video footage you will get back will be spectacular because your range of motion and movement will be so much more dynamic. Your first dance will become a timeless memory, captured beautifully.
6. The gift that keeps giving: learning a new skill is always a good idea. Although you may take lessons just for your first dance, those moves are yours to use any time you want. Not only will you avoid the awkward shuffle on your wedding day when everyone is watching you; you’ll also avoid it for the rest of your lives. Every time you go out for a night on the town, dance at a friend’s wedding, or even just goof around at home, you’ll be able to twirl and dip and spin. These lessons will be the gift that lasts a lifetime.
As a wedding planner, I knew my fiancé and I had to take lessons before our big day. Not only did he have two left feet, but our song was originally written and recorded by him, so we had to do it justice. It deserved a “wow” moment. We took lessons for two months before our wedding and worked hard rehearsing to get the routine down. Our guests loved it and I still hear about how beautiful and fun it was to witness. The moment it really dawned on me how happy I was that we did it, was later in the night when I saw my new husband busting moves on the dance floor like I’d never seen him do before. The lessons gave him a confidence that just radiated out of him! We had so much fun that we’ve since started taking other dance classes just for us!
I personally recommend George from Your Wedding Dance in Toronto for wedding dance choreography and lessons: http://yourweddingdance.ca/
Happy dancing!