Wedding Blog
Last weekend, Mr. Sunbeam and I went for our first private dance lesson. When we handed over our music to our instructor, we still hadn’t chosen a song for our first dance. It’s a tall order for a song to be romantic, yet modern, yet everything you’d ever want it to be for your first dance. So we let the instructor listen to all three and he told us the recommended dance moves for each. Here were the contenders:
Lady’s House by Iron and Wine - Dance move: rumba
Re: Stacks by Bon Iver - Dance move: rumba
Look For Me as You Go By by Innocence Mission - Dance move: two-step
The thing is, none of the songs have a special meaning to us, so it’s easy for us to go back and forth on the decision. We just like them. Our actual first dance was to a Ricky Martin song and there’s no way we are going to have it as our first dance for the wedding. Needless to say, we hadn’t thought this far ahead when we started dating in high school!
For the lesson we went with the third song because the instructor lead us to believe the two-step would be cool, even though he said the rumba had some hip action, and I am certainly up for a little hip action. We had sort of been leaning toward the third anyway. He taught us a basic step and called it a day 15 minutes before our lesson was supposed to end. What!? Dance lessons are not cheap. Mr. Sunbeam is calling to make sure we get our full lesson time during our next appointment. Anyway, I didn’t really care for the two-step. It reminded me of middle school swaying, but you cross your legs instead of keeping them straight, Frankenstein-style. I’m sure it will get more interesting as the lessons go on, but we might have to try the rumba.
The length of these songs isn’t an issue since Mr. Sunbeam can cut them if need be to make them shorter.
What sort of dance did or will you do for your first dance? Any couples who did the rumba or two-step out there?
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Share this post: First Dance Debate
We’re doing some rumba-ing for “Time of My Life” and it’s a lot of fun and not too difficult!
I think the bon iver song will be too slow…love the rumba idea. We are doing a faster waltz! Dance lessons aren’t cheap, but have been totally worth it for us! We just wanted to get more comfortable dancing together.
I love this idea, I can’t pick a favorite but I can’t wait for you to post the video in your recap!
For our first dance, we’re doing mostly foxtrot and some basic swing steps to mix it up a little. And hang in there! It definitely took a couple of dance lessons before we felt like we were doing anything interesting.
We’re not taking dance lessons or anything and to be honest, the idea of slow dancing in front of 200 people makes me uncomfortable…We also don’t have a “song” like you guys, we have songs we both like but nothing with special significance…We haven’t fully decided what we’re doing but I have a secret idea of doing it to Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You, Babe” since that is ALL we ever call each other (it actually is bizarre if one of us calls the other by our first name) and then have everyone join us after the first verse or something…
We did the rumba to “Everything” by Michael Buble. I thought the rumba was pretty easy and we were able to throw some twirls and stuff in to mix it up a bit.
Great contenders. I love Bon Iver and I walked down the aisle to Iron and Wine so I of course love them too. I voted for #1 
I wish we could have done the rumba for our first dance! It was the easiest dance we learned, and we felt the most “natural” dancing to it. Our song better fit the foxy, which is a shortened version of the foxtrot.
I am with you on the expensive dance lessons. We did not have a good experience with our instructor from a popular studio chain, because she kept trying to push us to spend more money, and when she realized we weren’t going to, she quickly lost interest in teaching us. Sometimes those “talks” they have with you are considered part of your time, so make sure you spend less time talking and more time dancing to get what YOU want out of your lesson!
We’re going to dance to La Vie En Rose. We just like how classic it is, but we haven’t really thought what kind of dance we would do! Guess that’s something we need to think about! haha!
I love Bon Iver, but I feel like that’s such a sad, depressing break up record. I think the Iron and Wine song is perfect!
We don’t know when we’ll have time to get together for dance lessons any time before the wedding, so it’s looking like we’ll be doing the “slightly embarrassed and uncoordinated” side to side shuffle to whatever song we end up picking. Jealous of the dance lesson people!
We are doing a rumba! Ours is to The way I am by Ingrid Michelson. I totally recommend the rumba… My non dancer FI caught on really quickly and while it’s not difficult to learn, it still looks really fancy and impressive. If you are going to spend all that money on lessons, you might as well show off a little! 
Good luck!
My FI is a professional ballroom dancer. I’m a lucky, lucky girl! We’re doing a rumba (complete with lifts) to I Finally Found Someone. That’s the song I’ve always wanted to use as our first dance. I was torn because our first choreographed routine together was a waltz to Moon River - and it’s one of my all-time favorites. But, I think I’ll use the song somewhere in our ceremony.
My concern is that I’ll have to do a costume change prior to our first dance because of the lifts, etc (VERY fitted wedding gown).
I suggest going with a rumba. There are many, many great romantical songs that work with rumba. And, it’s a super sexy dance. And, I know what lessons cost. You need to DEMAND the full time you paid for. I can’t imagine my FI ever ending a lesson early.
We went to Sonoma Ballroom group’s monthly Friday lessons, for $20 we tried to learn Swing. Didn’t go so well, but on the plus side we met someone who gave us a two hour Cha-Cha lesson for… $100 I think, the day before our wedding. We danced the Cha-Cha to Red Hot Chili Peppers “Hard to Concentrate”. They also showed us the Two-Step, and I agree with you it looked like the middle-school sway. I can’t hear the songs, my work computer won’t allow it, but I vote for either one that lets you do the Rumba. =)
I love the the iron and wine choice the best. Though I might be a bit biased since our wedding song is actually flightless bird american mouth by iron and wine that song always brings me to tears and I can totally picture us swaying to the music on our big day
We’re going to dance bachata - not really taking classes because I’m confident enough I’ll have time to teach Mr. Poodle all we need
I could not decide! sorry I’m not much help!! I love them equally hehe
My vote is definitely for the Iron and Wine song. As I was listening to each of the songs, THAT was the song that I could imagine you dancing to. I also have a soft spot for his voice, as well.
They’re all pretty, but the Bon Iver is my fave! (Guess I’m in the minority.)
We’re dancing to “All I Ask of You” from Phantom of the Opera, and it is a waltz, a VERY difficult one with all the timing changes. My step father and I are dancing to “The Way She Looks Tonight” by Neil Diamond, and that is a rumba. Very fun, and fairly easy. Then again, waltz and rumba are similar in the steps, one is just a traveling dance, and rumba is a spot dance. We’ve been doing dance lessons for about 6 months, every 2 weeks or so, and I’m SO glad, our dances are going to be awesome!!
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Mrs. Sunbeam, San Francisco/Grove City, PA
Age and Occupation: 26, Grad Student & Office Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Motion Designer
Engagement Date: May 10, 2008
Wedding Date: September 2009
Venue: Harbison Chapel & The Maple Lane Farm
About Me: Mr. Sunbeam and I are high school sweethearts. We both come from a small town in PA but are growing to love the California lifestyle. He loves wine and I love cheese... the perfect combination! When I'm not drooling over wedding blogs, I'm attending grad school, out being a foodie, or attempting to "walk" our cat at the park. Two things guaranteed to excite me are wedding cakes and breaking out my suitcase to travel. Mr. Sunbeam and I are personalizing our hometown wedding to celebrate our high school sweetheart status and PA roots with a few CA touches. After ten years of dating we couldn't be more excited to call each other husband and wife!
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