Did you/are you practicing for spotlight dances?

sarawifenow

So it just hit me that I am about 2 1/2 weeks out (!) from the wedding and FI and I have practiced our first dance once (6 months ago) and my uncle and I have practiced our uncle/niece dance exactly zero times.

 

Did any of the OMHs or any upcomming brides practice these dances? Our songs are pretty slow--Watch the Wind Blow By-Tim McGraw is for FI and I. My uncle and I will dance to Landslide-Fleetwood Mac, and FI and FMIL will dance to In My Life-The Beatles.

 

I am a little nervous about going in with no practice, but I just don't know when I am going to have the time! Is it even necessary?

southernbelle0915

Yay for SaraBrideReallySoon!

We randomly dance in our house whenever Pandora decides to play a fun slow song. So we didn't really practice, but we had danced together before. Neither of us practiced with our parents. 

sarawifenow

@southernbelle0915--It is SO close. Sometimes I will walk by FI and he will sing at me "It's the finaaaaaal countdoooown!"

 

I wonder if I should try to dance with my uncle. He gets really, really nervous in crowds and I am sure he will be shaking the day of. He is adament, however, to do the dance. Not sure if the practicing it would make it better or worse for him.

pinkcow13

Ahhhh, 2 1/2 weeks out! I think that FI and I will practice. We still do not have our first song yet, but we are VERY close to choosing it, and we have practiced dancing to it twice. So I'm sure as the date nears, we will practice more. I do want to sign us up for salsa dancing lessons. FI can salsa really well, but I can't. I have never been able to learn to dance salsa my entire life, I just FINALLY learned the basic step a while back. I was also thinking of signing us up for some other classes just to brush up on our dancing together, since we don't really go out dancing on a regular basis.

We will not be practicing the parent dances, though.

sarawifenow

@pinkcow13--Ooooh what are the songs you are debating on? I love to hear about everyone's music!

wandajune6

"Our song" isn't workable for a first dance but we usually dance around like idiots to it at home. ("She Don't Use Jelly" by the Flaming Lips"

We're not practicing- and we know we're both horrid dancers. I'd like to but FI hasn't been feeling well lately and has been having problems with his foot. He's planning on dancing the night away at our wedding.

Our DJ knows to fade the song away when we start embarrassing ourselves.

Maggie0829

H and I never practiced our first dance and I never practiced with my Dad.  We just got up and there and did our thing that was comfortable at that moment.  I also was pleasantly surprised at how good of a dancer my Dad is...never would have guessed since he is such a wallflower.

sarawifenow

@wandajune6--That is an awesome first dance song!

 

ETA: A week and a half for you?! Woah, Nelly!

sarawifenow

@Maggie0829--That is exactly how my uncle is! Maybe he will surprise me, too.

pinkcow13

I love "Fools Rush In" by Elvis Presley, and "At Last" by Etta James, but FI thinks they are too "old" for his taste. SMH. 

I adore "Fly me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra and "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green. Those songs seem more "dance - y" to me, though. FI likes them - regardless they will be played at some point during the wedding.

So far the top contender is "Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake. That song has a special meaning for us, and we both love it. It is more "dance-y" too, but I think it is more personal to the 2 of us. We practiced it one night, and we were able to slow dance to it. Then FI started incorporating some crazy JT moves into it, and I was like "Not happening" lol. 

sarawifenow

@pinkcow13--That is adorable! I think "Mirrors" would be an awesome first dance song.

wandajune6

SaraBrideSoon said:

@wandajune6--That is an awesome first dance song!

 

ETA: A week and a half for you?! Woah, Nelly!

Actually, we're not dancing to it. We're doing something else (either "Time After Time" or "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing"- FI's top choices). We're definitely playing it though!

A week and a half. Freaking out!

sarawifenow

@wandajune6--Those are great, too! Do you have a lot left to do?

ashley8918

Nope. I have slow danced with FI a grand total of one time EVER. Approximately 3 years ago. Am I worried about it? Not even a little bit.

To be fair, I was initally super concerned about us embarrassing ourselves. But now that we are under 2 weeks out (OMGOMG), I just cut it off my give-a-shit list. I have promised to not allow myself to stress over non-guest comfort things (Although, i'm having a hard time not freaking out about the stress acne that i've got happening).

theartistformerlyknownas

Nope. We had bought a Groupon for dance lessons and ran out of time to use it, and picked our song really late too. DH had said "I'm not going to get much beyond my typical awkward shuffle, so there's really not much point." We did make sure to pick a song that he knew though, so he could kind of anticipate what the song was going to do, if that makes any sense.

sarawifenow

@ashley8918--This sounds super weird, but whenever I have really stubborn pimple, I rub some lemon juice on it. It dries it right up!

wandajune6

SaraBrideSoon said:

@wandajune6--Those are great, too! Do you have a lot left to do?

I'm working from home today and tomorrow - and kinda half-assing it. My goal for these days is to finish the ceremony, get the wording finalized for the programs, and finish a few craft projects. I just can't keep up with my lists!

sarawifenow

@lolo883--FI is the king of the awkward shuffle. I asked him if he was going to twirl me at all and he said, "OH YEAH!" I am not sure how I should feel about this.

What song did you two dance to?

theartistformerlyknownas

SaraBrideSoon said:

@lolo883--FI is the king of the awkward shuffle. I asked him if he was going to twirl me at all and he said, "OH YEAH!" I am not sure how I should feel about this.

What song did you two dance to?

Ben Folds, "The Luckiest."

KPBM89

We didn't practice our first dance.  And I live too far from my family to have practiced with my dad, but we actually have randomly slow danced to things before so I knew he'd be fine.  I surprised my mom and brother with songs for me to dance with each of them, so of course we didn't practice them.

sarawifenow

@KPBM89--That's sweet that your surprised your family like that.

 

All of these responses are really keeping me calm. Now I can stop freaking out about this and start freaking out about my seating chart!

amelisha

My parents (32 years happily married) always insist that the closest they ever came to divorce was when they were still engaged and practicing their first dance, hahaha. They took lessons...

ashley8918

SaraBrideSoon said:

@ashley8918--This sounds super weird, but whenever I have really stubborn pimple, I rub some lemon juice on it. It dries it right up!

I willing to try ANYTHING at this point. I'll give it a shot! I already struck out with tea tree oil.

Peaseblossom55

Never practiced any of our first dances really.  It was about two weeks out from the wedding and I decided let's dance to our first dance song.  So we did and we both looked at each other thinking.... we really can't dance to this song (All I Ask of You).  It's a bit awkward in the beginning.  So two weeks out we scrambled to find a new first dance song (Storybook Love).  It worked out so much better than way though. 

RosieC18

No, we didn't and I have regrets about it. Maybe no one else noticed, but I felt really awkward the whole time dancing with both my husband and my father.

sarawifenow

@ashley8918--Heads up, it stings a little. I have also heard that toothpaste(?!) works, too!

ashley8918

SaraBrideSoon said:

@ashley8918--Heads up, it stings a little. I have also heard that toothpaste(?!) works, too!

Good lookin' out! Haha, fingers crossed!

beethery

My mom wants my dad and I to take dancing lessons for our first dance. She likes to speak on behalf of my dad and say, "Well Daddy would want you to do _____" when I know if I ask him he would say straight out: "B, when have I ever given a fuck? We can do what you want."

I feel like the slow dances are going to be a lot of stand and sway and I don't super care. There's going to be TWO WHOLE SONGS (at maybe 2 minutes each) of that, so I really really do not care.

hikebikebemerry

This reminds me... FI and I need to pick a first dance song.  The problem is that everytime we sit down to look at songs, we find a bunch more that we love!

ElcaB

pinkcow13 said:

I love "Fools Rush In" by Elvis Presley, and "At Last" by Etta James, but FI thinks they are too "old" for his taste. SMH. 

I adore "Fly me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra and "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green. Those songs seem more "dance - y" to me, though. FI likes them - regardless they will be played at some point during the wedding.

So far the top contender is "Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake. That song has a special meaning for us, and we both love it. It is more "dance-y" too, but I think it is more personal to the 2 of us. We practiced it one night, and we were able to slow dance to it. Then FI started incorporating some crazy JT moves into it, and I was like "Not happening" lol. 

@pinkcow13, have you ever heard the Ingrid Michaelson cover of Fools Rush In? It's terribly romantic and a little more modern, so it might appeal more to your FI. 

ETA: Having trouble posting video. YouTube it. 

JaxInBlue

DH and I took dance lessons. We were gifted some and add more to avoid feeling uncomfortable. It worked out - if anything it gave us a chance to feel comfortable not looking like the cast of Dancing with the Stars. And I second the Ingrid Michaelson cover of Fools Rush In. That's one of our songs. (The other is Come Away With Me by Norah Jones.)