Wedding Blog
In honor of Dancing with the Stars (premiere tonight), I would like to tell you about my lack of dancing skills. Yes folks, I am so completely lacking in rhythm, it’s not even funny.
Back in elementary school, I was a square-dancing fiend. Not by choice, mind you, but because we had “Square-Dance Wednesdays” all through my elementary school career. So, I could do that, with the Do-Si-Dos and all. Even got a badge for it from the Girl Scouts, when it was Father-Daughter Square Dance day. You’d think, though, that because I exhibited some rockin’ dance moves at eight years old, I’d be a maven now, right?
You’d think majorly wrong. I must be the only partial hispanic in the country who has little to no dance skills. You’d find better rhythm on a person being stung by a nest of wasps - the only kind of dancing I do is referred to by my friends as “stripper dancing” (don’t ask). Due to my lack of all things rhythm, I hate dancing. HATE it. Seriously, it is my least favorite thing to do. Usually I don’t feel like embarrassing myself, so I just don’t bother. This plan has worked out fine, since Mr. Kiwi doesn’t really care one way or the other (although he is a good dancer, I’ve heard) about working the floor.
Now that we’re getting married, I suppose I could learn to dance. We plan on having a first dance and a father/daughter dance, both of which will be slow songs - a dance I’m sure I can manage. With all eyes on the bride and groom, though, will I be able to get away with my lack of skills? To be perfectly honest, I don’t care if I ever learn to dance. I have a feeling I will never like it, and that’s fine with me.
Despite my distaste for dancing, I suppose I should attempt to learn. And then Mr. Kiwi and I can look like this:
What do you think? Take costly lessons for something I don’t care about, or just wing it? Did you guys take lessons, or are you planning to?
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i think we are just going to wing it…granted we might end up standing there swaying, but a dance routine doesnt scream “FI and I” 
I’d rather worry about the moment, than 8 counts LOL!
I say wing it! We took dance lessons, and I didn’t care for it… I thought it was too formal…Down-up-up, down-up-up and all of these leg cross-overs. I think we laughed the whole time and I felt so silly.
I think if we would have tried to do one of the dances we learned, I would have been concentrating too hard and wouldn’t have enjoyed the moment. I am a big fan of just swaying back and forth!
Initially we didn’t plan to, but then we picked a first dance song which we both LOVE, and it turns out that it naturally has a very nice waltz tempo. So I’ve talked Mr.E into taking private lessons (it wasn’t easy, he usually gives into me, but this time he was more resistant, haha)… And its not as $$ as I thought. $300 for 5 sessions. I think we’re gonna do them over the summer, June/July-ish. Good luck!
Hahaha - your photo made me crack up at my desk (and everyone’s looking at me like I’m a weirdo).
I say skip the lessons! We took basic ballroom dance classes through our county’s park system to learn the steps of a couple different dances, and even practiced our first dance several times to a waltz. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 can’t be too hard, right?
On the wedding day my new hubby froze and we ended up doing the old classic standby…”hug and sway.” Very junior prom, but very us.
Do what you’re comfortable with, whether it be stripper dancing or the ‘hug & sway.’ Your guests will pick up on the fact that you’re in love and enjoying yourselves more than they will if you’re awkwardly counting steps and tripping over each other. Good luck!
I say that you should go for it. It’s always something fun to do, especially if you had fun dancing when you were younger:)
There’s some cheap lessons (relatively speaking I suppose) where you can learn how to dance with a group of people or just private lessons if you like. It’s worth going to just one for night for $15 to check it out, or go on first Wednesday night of the month and get the beginners lesson for $8.
Rhythm Club:
http://rustyfrank.com/rhythmclub.asp
Lessons info:
http://rustyfrank.com/lbs-classes.asp
Granted it’s Lindy Hop and not a Waltz. But I think Lindy is always more fun anyways:)
i say take the lessons. it’s actually a lot of fun, and the first dance looks so lovely when it’s practiced.
I’m tempted to take a couple lessons just so that I can enjoy the dance without worrying if I’m looking like a total klutz. FI and I are both terrible dancers.
Maybe we’ll just have a couple drinks first, that turns the worst dancers into “excellent” dancers, and I also won’t worry about looking stupid, HA HA.
i dunno…i’d go for wing it. or, like laura said, see if the rec system has ballroom dancing classing [ours does] and you can at least get the basics and then forget it and hug and sway. lol.
as a guest, i get distracted and taken out of the moment when the bride and groom break out a dance routine. it’s obviously very forced and i just end up counting the eight counts in my head.
It’s a little more than two months to our wedding, and that’s one thing I need to get moving on–heh, “get moving”–dance lessons. I can wing it, but my poor sweetie can’t even slow dance. You might think that everyone can slow dance, but he can’t. It was a shock, let me tell you. He bought me a very nice set of speakers as a surprise, and I put on some romantic music and tried to dance with him in our living room, and was horrified to find out that he can’t even sway in rythmn. So we’re going to take a few lessons. 
miss kiwi…
just give in and take them! FI and I can’t dance at all. I don’t even like dancing! But less than two months til the wedding we found ourselves struggling with picking a first dance song. You see, the only song we LOVE is not a song you can just sway back and forth to. So, I researched a bit and found a great instructor here in the LA area. She is actually a swing instructor, and our dance is a bit more latin. But, she is just so awesome and fun that I stuck with her. We have our 5th and final lesson this Sunday, and I am really sad I can’t afford more! It has been the most fun we’ve had in the planning. I am sure we’ll still look like beginers out on the dance floor, but it’ll be a fun suprise for our guests! FI is even glad we took lessons!
my future inlaws gifted us with 11 hour long private lessons with their instructor. i don’t think it was that much maybe $500?
we’re learning a choreographed waltz for our song. i don’t like the idea of trying to do an intimate stand and sway dance for 3 mins while everyone watches. makes me uncomfortable to say the least.
taking classes has been A LOT of fun for us! while i’m better at the movements, my FI is really good at remembering the choreography. it works out well, we laugh and have fun every sunday and i think it’ll be fun for our guests since a lot of his parents’ friends all ballroom dance as well!
we’ve had 6 lessons so far and have learned most of the choreography. we’re having her add 5-10 more steps though so that the big finale ends in time with the music!
Miss Kiwi,
Try checking out some of the local art institutes. There’s one here in Philly that offer some complimentary, some with a $10 cover and some private classes $80/couple for the entire course.
click on my name. See if there is anything like this near you.
Hi Miss Kiwi!
We decided to take lessons… we’ve been taking some private ones with family friends who are dancers since last July or August and it’s been realllly fun! Maybe we’ll even do some after the wedding, hehe. Anyway, I know it’s not for everyone, but if you can get comfortable and good enough so you don’t have to think about it, I think it’s a great idea!
I was going to wing-it, but my FI was really nervous about it and booked us group AND private lessons. I have to say - it is a lot of fun. We are considering continuing the lessons indefinitely. If you have time, I recommend trying a group class first to see if you like it. They are less expensive than private classes and will let you know if it is something you might enjoy doing.
As a ballroom instructor, if you have MONTHS before your wedding, give lessons a try. You may be surprised at how well you do. If not, you may take away some skills that you can use at your wedding and at future social events. If you only have 1 month or less, wing it. In my experience (depending on the couple’s talent and assuming you are average), a few lessons for couples that are not “dance inclined” tend to freeze up at the first dance.
If you DO do a first dance and you seem to indicate that you may have two left feet, stick with something easy like a waltz (Josh Grobin’s “So She Dances” is my wedding dance for my non-dancing fiance), or a Fox Trot (anything Sinatra). Since you have some latin blood in you, why not a Merengue or Salsa? Hot first dances are one heck of a way to kick off the party.
Worst case scenario: you freeze up and sway back and forth
Best case scenario: you have a cool looking dance, a few moves in your pocket, and memories captured for posterity
Hey everyone, I really appreciate the different viewpoints- I think I’ll definitely look into lessons- we have 8 months left, plenty of time!
Thanks for the link, Miss Snow Pea
We’re definitely going to take dance lessons — if we were doing a slow traditional dance (we were originally thinking What A Wonderful World), then I’m sure we could wing it. Instead, we decided on Come Fly With Me, and thought that it could look fantastic if we actually had a dance choreographed… so that’s what we’re going to do.
YACH - OMG, thats also our first dance song!!! We are totally planning to do a choreographed waltz, too. I’m so surprised cuz I didnt think anyone else would choose that song, since the lyrics are a kinda non-wedding-y. Hehe, but we love it, its totally our favorite song!
Lessons would’ve been a good idea. We never got around to it. And then at the wedding the first dance music was suddenly playing…. his military school dance lessons sure paid off and I was a total DORK. Everyone was just thinking, aw… he’s so sweet to marry her even though she is a clutz. Fortunately, he is a good lead (ladies, don’t forget to let him lead!) and covered nicely but I shoulda woulda coulda prepared and had some really cool pictures, instead of the 8th grade dance box-step. Alas.
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Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA
Engagement Date: March 31, 2006
Wedding Date: November 3, 2007
Venue: Radisson Hotel
About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
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