The first dance
Although he'll probably never admit it, my fiance watched "Dancing With the Stars" and enjoyed it. He was a big Joey Fatone fan this season. I was all about Apolo. Clearly this marriage is never going to work.
Anyway, as you know, the show caught on like wildfire and people now want to learn how to ballroom dance. Among the wannabes are countless engaged couples planning to really wow their wedding guests with their first dance. I asked my fiance if he would take lessons with me so we too could wow our guests but apparently, enjoying the show is very different from actually wanting to learn the moves. I didn't push the issue because, quite frankly, if I had to drag him to lessons, he would be miserable which of course means I would be miserable and if you're not having fun, then what's the point?
The point is, lots of engaged couples are taking lessons and choreographing elaborate numbers to impress their families and friends. Surfing YouTube one night resulted in hours of mindless entertainment and several examples of these dances. My favorite is this one from a couple in the UK that performed the "Dirty Dancing" number. I challenge any girl to watch this and not smile just a little. I mean, who didn't want to be Baby at the end of that movie just so you could do that dance?
For some reason, "Thriller" is very trendy for choreographed wedding dances. I like the video just as much as the next 80s child, but, seriously, it's not original anymore. However, this one was impressive simply because the couple was able to get their entire wedding party in on it. We can barely get our wedding party to be fitted for attire, let alone learn and practice a dance. Major kudos.
And just for the fun of it, check out this one and this one and this one and this one too.
Did you have a choreographed first dance or did you see one at a wedding you attended? Do tell (and show, if you can)! If you are interested in taking dance lessons for your wedding, let me know and I'll gather up some info. Or maybe I'll do that sometime soon anyway.
In the meantime, my guests can expect to see my fiance and me swaying middle-school-dance-style for our first number. But stick around because my dad is a fantastic dancer so the daddy/daughter dance may make up for it. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
Comments
Wow - Baby from Dirty Dancing! But we decided to go against a choreographed dance, bc I was afraid that one of us would slip up, and then what? We did however decide to learn a ballroom dance, so we're doing the Foxtrot. My poor Fiance has to decide what to do as we go along!! But it should be great, I hope.
Posted by: AlmostMrsGraf | June 2, 2007 03:35 PM
I got married 7 months ago in Maui. I just wanted to offer some random advice - not in any particular order- for you & other brides out there.
Since I didn't have the usual girlfriend support during my planning, I learned a lot of things the hard way.
When looking for a dress?
1)Lie to the bridal store so you can get your dress early, I went to the House of Brides & was told that I would get the dress in 6 months. Since I bought the dress in December, I thought that having the dress by the end of May would work out perfectly. I was told in June that I wouldn't get the dress until about a month before my November wedding. After fighting with them (informing them that I wouldn't have bought the dress from that store if I knew upfront that I would wait for almost a year for my dress)I got my dress in late July. I picked up the dress -that wasn't even pressed or in a proper dress bag. You might want to buy a good dress bag from e-bay. It saved my dress during the flight for my wedding.
2)When picking out the dress - think about if you have beading or sequins under your arms - it might scratch you & won't be too comfortable after a few hours in the dress. Also think about how you'll go to the bathroom in it. My dress was a bit difficult while trying to use the bathroom. It might sound silly but if you have a huge dress you might have an issue - unless you don't plan on using the bathroom all night!
Invitations - don't pre-stamp your invitations. I pre-stamped almost all of the invitations only to find out that my Mother-In-Law wanted to hand out the invitations personally. In the end, my husband had to remove all the stamps from the envelopes that weren't used & that was a pain. Also, count all your invitations, envelopes, reply cards & thank you notes. I had some issues with mine that they shorted me on a few (I can't remember if they were reply cards or what)but thank goodness, I didn't need them all.
Finally, remember that whatever you & your fiance decide on - someone will get mad. It's amazing how people will behave when you are trying to plan your wedding. But in the end, your relatives & true friends will support you with love on your special day.
Posted by: Barbara Wong | June 3, 2007 04:10 PM