Did you hire dancers to perform at your wedding reception?

artbyallie

Why did you ask for opinions? You're clearly going to do this even if you get a hundred people saying, "No, it's a bad idea."

Viczaesar

eglassman88 said:

I don't like the idea of hiring dancers for a wedding. However, I've seen a wedding in the Philadelphia area bring some Mummers in and it was such a great time. 

eglassman, you can't advertize, even in your signature.  @KnotPorscha

TheVirginians

Count me in with the naysayers. I would love to watch your first dance, flamenco or not. If the dj played flamenco and your friends all danced, I would love that too, for one song worth. Heck, even if the dj did it again, so it would be three songs and three flamenco dances spread throughout the evening, I would love it. That'd be enough, tho.

Jen4948

It would be reasonable to have one or two flamenco dances that everyone there who knows flamenco can do-but it really isn't reasonable to keep a significant percentage of your guests on the sidelines watching some "performance" for a prolonged period of time.   Your guests are not a captive audience.  They are there to witness your wedding ceremony and celebrate with you-not to watch a long activity that they can't actively participate in.

incarnadine

LeSwan85 said:

The thing is, you mentioned you didn't think folks would like to dance with the flamenco dancers, which for me, sent up a red flag. I'm the kind of person where if I don't like doing something, I'm going to be even less inclined to want to watch it and I don't think this is uncommon. Believe me, I just recently got a text from my mom devoted to complaining about the music at a recent wedding she and my dad went to and how she felt the "young" people were acting like "drunken fools" (her words). They actually ate and ran they felt so uncomfortable. So to me, saying your guests wouldn't appreciate dancing flamenco but that you're planning on springing a surprise flamenco performance on them seems incongruous.

Well, flamenco is not widely considered to be a kind of dance that is easy to just casually join in on, but I don't think that's necessarily a problem. There are various instances of wedding dinner entertainment that typically the majority of guests are not aficionados of. Sometimes there's a jazz singer while the guests are having dinner, and not everyone likes to sing, let alone sing jazz. Sometimes there's a pianist, sometimes a guitarist, and not everyone likes to play piano or guitar. For that matter, not everyone likes to dance. I also know and have met many people who do appreciate flamenco without being dancers or musicians themselves. I've personally never heard of anyone describing flamenco dancers as drunken fools, but I suppose it's possible.

As far as "springing a surprise flamenco performance," the flamenco thing with my fiance and me is well-known among those who know us. The save-the-date cards and invitations have a flamenco-themed design. The engagement photos show us performing flamenco. My wedding gown is a flamenco dress. A flamenco performance would probably not be surprising. Any invitee who would object to a flamenco performance has ample warning to decline the invitation.

LeSwan85 said:

It honestly sounds really shady to me that the instructor and guitarist don't pay the other dancers and are looking for so high a price.

Yes, I agree.

artbyallie said:

Why did you ask for opinions? You're clearly going to do this even if you get a hundred people saying, "No, it's a bad idea."

I asked for opinions, but I didn't ask for just any opinions. Almost all of these opinions are about something I didn't specifically ask for opinions about. Perhaps I should have spelled it out in more detail for you, but my intent was to ask for opinions from people who hired dancers to perform at their wedding receptions, regarding how much money is reasonable to pay for such dancers. I thought the title of this discussion ("Did you hire dancers to perform at your wedding reception?") along with the question "If so, how much did you pay?" in my original post would be enough of a hint.

It seems people are making the mistake of assuming I asked if they think I should have dancers perform at my wedding reception, which would be a question that is entirely different from the one I did ask, but that's okay. I understand that posting on an online message board will attract opinions about all sorts of things, especially from the kind of people who enjoy inserting an opinion that no one asked for and/or are low on reading comprehension, and that's beautiful.

You have a right to your opinion, but I also have a right to completely ignore it or counter it with my own opinion, especially if one or a combination of the following applies:

1. Your opinion as someone who's never been to a flamenco-themed wedding or any wedding where dancers performed is contrary to my own experience as someone who not only has been to flamenco-themed weddings but also is a flamenco dancer at weddings and other events. Perhaps geographical and cultural differences come into play here, but I happen to live in an area of California with a lot of Spanish colonial influence, and it is not unheard of to have a flamenco performance - even a 30-minute one - at a wedding, flamenco being a Spanish dance.

2. You express your opinion in such a way as to attempt to win snark or rudeness points.

3. Your opinion has little or nothing to do with the question I asked that was my purpose for posting this discussion in the first place. In other words, your opinion is an answer to a question that I never asked. Again, that's okay. I'm a fairly easy-going tolerant kinda gal, and answering a question in a way that has little or nothing to do with the question is hardly an offense I'd consider punishable by death. But if you expect me to curb my critical thinking and just take the advice of strangers on an online message board, especially about something they have no experience with that I didn't specifically ask for opinions about and do not really consider negotiable or up for discussion, then you crazy, yo.

artbyallie said:

You're clearly going to do this even if you get a hundred people saying, "No, it's a bad idea."

You are wrong. Give me a zillion opinions about something I didn't ask for opinions about, and ultimately not a single one is a factor in my decision not to do this. Majority doesn't always rule.

Courtpenguin21 said:

OP, I don't understand your question.

This was my question: "Did you hire dancers to perform at your wedding reception? If so, how much did it cost?" You see, it is a two-part question. The first part calls for a yes or no answer. (Oh, I know. It's just so hard to understand, so very hard, but stick with me here.) If your answer is yes, then the second part calls for a dollar amount. But if your answer is no, then stop; no need to proceed to the second part as it does not apply to you. What part of the question do you not understand? Not that I give a dang anymore 'cause though it's been quite lovely, I'm a very busy woman, and I'm done.

Happy planning, everyone! Good luck in your marriages.

Jen4948

If you don't want "opinions" then don't ask questions on the Internet, anywhere, because you're going to get them and they won't always be what you're looking for-regardless of how busy you claim to be, or that you're "done."  It's selfish to expect to be able to control the answers you get.  And not everyone who disagrees with you is "snarky."

That said, I would not hire dancers for any type of dance to be performed at my wedding, because those attending are my guests, not my captive audience.

missmo14

Im a Vegas bride so I have hired 2 showgirls and an Elvis to meet and greet with our guests, take pictures and perform 3- 5 songs during dinner. It cost $585 for 1 hour. Just like you we wanted to enhance the theming at our wedding. Maybe its a vegas thing but the company I went through does A LOT of wedding reception performances. I think dancers/entertainment at a wedding is great. Especially over dinner!