Make Your First Dance Extra Special
Your first dance is one of the aspects of your wedding day to which friends and family look most forward to seeing. While the classic dancing to your favourite ‘couple song’ is always a treat, being creative (perhaps even humorous) with your dance adds an entirely new perspective to this feature. So, here are a few suggestions to creating a memorable wedding dance:
Group Effort
Get all of your wedding guests involved by doing a group dance. This can be something like the Funky Chicken, or you can hire an instructor to teach the entire group something that they can then do together. Line dances work well. Alternatively, they can be taught a more contemporary number, such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Billy Ray Cyrus’ Achy Breaky Heart. By including guests, you avoid being the centre of attention (if this is an unattractive prospect) and you make your friends and family feel special and included. It also breaks the ice, encouraging them to stay on the dance floor for the reminder of the evening.
Movie Style
Copy a dance scene from your favourite movie. To help guests in identifying which movie you are referring to, it is important to dress like the characters (think Baby’s dress in the final scene of Dirty Dancing) and use the same music. This gives you ample room for creativity and will encourage guests to have as much fun as they can see you having.
Share the Love
After opening the dance floor for a few seconds, the bride and groom can break away from one another and start inviting another partner onto the dance floor to dance with them. After 20 seconds, they can encourage that partner to do the same, while they find a new partner. This will get people dancing and take the focus off of you, as the couple, for the remainder of the dance.
Snowballing
To get people dancing, have the MC call them up in groups or as couples after you have opened the dance floor. He can group these according to name (e.g. everyone whose name begins with the letters A to G), role (e.g. start with all the family members of the bride) or table numbers. As each new group is called up, the dance floor will steadily fill up until everyone that is physically able to dance is getting down to the music.
Anniversary Dances
The MC requests that all the married couples get onto the dance floor and start dancing. Then, he should ask every couple that has been married for less than 24 hours to sit down. This is usually only the bride and groom. He can progressively ask couples that have been married for less than 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, and so on to sit down. Eventually, only the couple that have been married the longest will remain dancing. This couple may receive a gift or just a special round of applause from friends and family.
Special Songs
Ask your married guests what their first song was at their wedding well ahead of time. Then, put these together on a playlist and ensure that each one is played throughout the evening. The DJ or MC should announce whose special song it is and encourage them to come and dance, while the rest join them. This sets the mood for a romance-filled occasion.
Photo Credit: dancetoledo.com
