October « 2009 « OUR WEDDING DANCE BLOG

October 30, 2009

Trick or Treat? The DIY Bride

Filed under: Types of Wedding Dances — Tags: Association of Bridal Consultants, Ballroom Dancing, Choreography for our song, Clutch and Sway, Dance Lessons Orange County, Dancing at the Wedding, DIY Bride, First Dance, Fun, Learn a First Dance, Love Bank, Orange County Wedding Dancing Lessons, Our Wedding Dance, Teach me to ballroom dance for my wedding, Trick or Treat?, Wedding Dance, Wedding Dance Teacher Orange County — admin @ 2:08 pm

Let’s face it the recession isn’t fun, it’s hitting hard and long and we don’t like it!

Ok, I got that out there.

And because of the recession there has been an increase in DIY (“do it yourself”) brides.

Brides are tackling everything from their own flower designs to their own dresses to their own day of wedding coordination.

Whew, I’m exhausted just thinking about it!

But what about the first dance?

Can a bride DIY the first dance and would she even want to?

Well, first off dance lessons are not in the same price bracket as flowers and dresses. Even some of the pros I’ve coached with over the years and others I’ve only heard whispers about topped out at about $185 for forty-five minutes, a far cry from the thousands you might spend on flowers or a gown for your wedding.

But still brides say every little bit counts.

In fact a recent Association of Bridal Consultants survey sited brides cutting back on almost every major category of wedding services with the most drastically hit category being personal, such as spa days.

But should you cut out those dance lessons?

And what are your choices if you still want to have a dance and not a clutch and sway fest?

You could try a DVD but do you have the time to sit there and dissect it and work with it a hundred times with your fiance who may or may not be up for it – let alone up for you telling him yet another thing he has to do!

I say look at the dance lessons as:

1) entertainment and fun during a super stressful time for both of you and

2) something you can learn to do together that you can keep on doing together long after the cake you’ve saved for your first anniversary is rock solid in your freezer!

So be kind to yourselves and give each other just an hour a week to hold each other and laugh together at a dance lesson where the most pressing question is which foot you’re going to stand on!

Consider it an investment in future “getting along together” points and bank a few love dollars in the love bank with your best friend and the love of your life.

Happy almost Halloween and enjoy the treats!

batwings

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October 26, 2009

The Dress & The Dance

So you have the dress of your dreams!

It’s sooo perfect and sooo you!

Now you’re starting to learn a first dance and what about that dress of your dreams?

Does it dance?

I have had brides wear everything from the $5, 000+ designer dress to the white matching aloha muu muu and shirt.

Brides have come in telling me that they’re going to wear a “mermaid” dress, an “A-line” dress, a “Scarlet O’Hara” type ballgown and hoop, a heavy beaded dress (one was over 35 pounds!) or a gown with a skirt that is cathedral length with no bustle only a loop to go over the hand.

Gowns cut straight across the bust are a challenge since one does not want to “pop” out. Gowns with small sleeves are usually not made for the brides to lift their arms in them. And gowns with lots of embellishment need extra care when coming into close contact with the groom for a dip or leg work or cuddle.

Plus I’ve had brides wearing dresses culturally particular to various countries, some with pieces of material over five yards long that will need to loop over one arm, scarves that the couple entwine into and figure fitting tight knee length dresses with little above the arm reach.

It is challenging to dance certain dances in certain dresses but compromises can be made with dance steps to keep you looking like a princess in that dress of your dreams!

I always talk with my bride in advance about her dress (after all many of the fellas are still convinced that the dress is polka dotted with stripes so we need to keep the secret!) and we work through whether it will be bustled and also what kind of “reach” the bride will have when she steps forward and back and side to side.

If you’re totally in love with an Argentine tango for your first dance and yet the dress of your dreams is a Gone With The Wind ballgown we may have to rethink some steps!

Likewise if you’re special song is a waltz and your dress is totally form fitting with about a four inch walking step we will have to get creative about the dancing and do lots of beautiful arms.

Different dances do just “look better” in certain dresses but I always tell my brides that if they love their dress and they love their song and the two wouldn’t normally “go together” – we will make it work!

After all, years from now you want to look back on your wonderful day, dress of your dreams and first dance and song and say “This was totally how we wanted everything to be”!

Below is a wonderful testimonial from one of my very recent brides. She mentions her dress was challenging but they did it and loved their dance!

Email me at jillian@ourweddingdance.com if you have dress and dance questions and I’m sure we can come up with a wonderful dance to make you look gorgeous in your dream dress!

Hi Jill,

It’s been a crazy week but we had to share with you how our guests loved our first dance… It was so nerve wracking that Rey and I didn’t know how to pull it off… but with all the steps you’ve taught us we were able to improvise.

We had a hard time with my dress but we made it through our grand finale. We don’t have the official photos and videos yet but we would like to share with you a link from our photographer.

http://unveilus.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoy the link and we’ll keep you posted when we receive the official photos and videos.

Take care, Rey and Shella

(Married: October 10, 2009, Reception: Anaheim Hilton, Song: “When You Say Nothing At All”)

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October 14, 2009

Small Dance Floor Can Give Big First Dance!

Are you getting married on a boat?

Are you having your reception for 95 in an intimate setting?

Does the restaurant where your reception will be not want to give up any floor from the tables for dancing?

Don’t despair…

You can still have a gorgeous first dance that is perfect for you both even though you don’t have a 20′ x 20′ dance floor!

I’ve heard a lot of my couples say they can’t do anything for a first dance because their floor is 8′ by 8′ or even 4′ by 4′ or really long and super, super skinny.

But you can do a dance on even the most postage stamp or lap pool size of floors.

It just takes a little creativity!

In fact a lot of my grooms have come away from their dance lessons for an intimate sized first dance saying that they’re glad their floor is going to be small. There’s less expectation for a dance that moves around like a race or any crazy Dancing With The Stars lifts and dips.

You can do a rumba or swing.

Or some very small foxtroting or waltzing steps and some twirls and dips in place.

Your guests will really feel like you’ve involved them since they’re so close and don’t forget probably no one will be looking at your feet!

Below is a picture of a wonderful bride and groom I had who just got married October 4th on the Newport Princess in Newport’s harbor. Needless to say they didn’t have a lot of space!

Hear what the bride’s mom said,

Hi Jill, The wedding was fabulous. What a party! Jen and Darrell were gorgeous. Thanks so much for teaching them how to dance, they did great. I hope you enjoy the picture! Sincerely, Diana

Jen and Darrell dance on the Newport Princess!

Jennifer and Darrell first danced on an intimate dance floor on the Newport Princess!

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October 5, 2009

Twice the Songs for First Dance

Filed under: Types of Wedding Dances — Tags: Here There & Everywhere, learn to ballroom dance, Orange County dancing lessons, Our Wedding Dance, Slow Dance for Wedding First Dance, Swing Dance for First Dance, The Beatles for First Dance Songs, Two Songs for Your First Dance, Wedding Dancing, When I Saw Her Face First Dance Song — admin @ 1:21 pm

I’ve had many couples choose two songs (or more!) for their first dance for the many years I’ve been teaching wedding couples.

In fact I’m not sure if you remember the crazy trend of inserting a wild piece of music in the middle of the soft wedding song with a “scratch of the record” sound but that was quite the rage.

We would start out with the traditional “clutch and sway” and then “scratch, scratch” and suddenly the bride and groom would be doing the robot, or reeling in one or the other like a giant fish, or catching up on some side by side hip hop moves. Then in less than a minute it would be back to a traditional wedding waltz, foxtrot, rumba or slow dance to end the hilarious piece.

These days that’s not so popular anymore but having two songs seque-way one into the other is!

I’ve got a beautiful dewy-eyed bride and Jim Sturgess look-alike groom now using two songs by The Beatles – “Here, There and Everywhere” and “When I Saw Her Face”.

This is super fun to work with and my couple, who admit they loved the movie ”Across the Universe”, are really doing up their first dance in their very own style with pizazz!

We’ve got some beautiful romantic moves for the first song where they use the melody to just float in each other’s arms and then they let loose for their swingin’ second song. I’m sure this will have their guests clapping and cheering and talking about their first dance all night!

So if you’ve got two songs that you both really like don’t be afraid to use them both for your first dance. As long as the total piece stays around three to four minutes you’re fine and the mixing up of tunes will keep your guests guessing about your beautiful and meaningful first dance.

Beatles

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