Weddingbee Blog

My husband and I debated our first dance song for weeks. I wanted romantic; he wanted fun. At some point, I gave in, figuring it would be less embarrassing to pick something fun and cheesy and join in the laughs than to sway and smooch with everyone watching.

So we chose “Islands in the Stream”. Oh, yea! Dolly (who is pretty loved around these parts) and Kenny singing the cheesiest song ever… and one that we both apparently sang as five year olds. With heart.

My girls joined in to help detract from the train wreck about to happen. Smart girls.

Here we go.

So embarrassing. Who knew that song was so incredibly long? Not us, that’s for sure.

We survived.

My people are dancers, turning every get-together into an excuse to party… but most of my people weren’t at our wedding reception, joining us instead at our hometown reception. Having grown up in my own family, I didn’t realize not all families are dancers, so I was a little bit sad that our dance floor wasn’t packed with people.

But hey, the people closest to me and it made for some fantastic photo ops. Always a bright side!

Check it out:

We sing, too!

Oh, the embarrassment!

Look at the joy on my stepsister’s face!

Me and my best girls:

“I wanna dance!”

I taught my new husband how to two-step. “See, honey, my parents are doing it.”

He agreed to try and he did great!

… but complained that dancing made his legs hurt. Wimp! (I say that with love!)

My brother stepped in to show him how it’s done.

And my hubby had to step back in!

He’s thinking he’s pretty awesome. {And yet again, I’m checking him out… or am I looking at my cleavage? Hard to tell.}

Note to future brides: if you’re going to serve beer in bottles (easy peasy), CHARGE SOMEONE WITH POURING YOURS INTO A GLASS, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE. Then again, who cares? Not me!

*Happy sigh* So much fun! You don’t need a packed dance floor or a pricey DJ to have a great wedding reception. You just need fun-loving peeps and a fantastic little bro willing to manage your playlist. Isn’t he just the suavest?

We used our home theater speaker system, his laptop, and a really long extension cord. We didn’t have any problems, and I’m told we even took requests for songs and downloaded them on the fly via my wireless connection.

When I started writing this post I’d planned to end with a lesson: do not hesitate to go with a romantic first dance song, because I often wish we had. But, as has happened so often during my recap-writing, I remembered how darned fun and completely appropriate our decisions were, and I realize I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Sure, it was embarrassing, but we’ve always been willing to laugh at our own expense. Like the story of our life, the idea was good, the implementation not so perfect, the end result perfectly suited to us.

So do what feels right. And then enjoy the heck out of it.

All photography by Angela Herzog of Angela Herzog Photography (www.angelaherzogphotography.com) unless otherwise noted. Asterisks (*) indicate that post-processing was done by me, and thus, should not be held against her. See this post for more details.

Late to the party? See previous recaps here:

Part I: And It Begins
Part II: My People, Part I
Part III: It’s Time
Part IV: Our Ceremony
Part V: My People, Part II
Part VI: Celebrate Good Times, COME ON ALREADY!
Part VII: Yummy Yummy For My Tummy