Weddingbee Blog

Now, before I can show you our first dance with music and pictures, I have to give you a bit of a back story.

King Hippo and I had decided long ago that we didn’t want to do the 7th grade sway for our first dance. I’ve danced my entire life, and King Hippo is super coordinated and not afraid to cut a rug, so we figured we could do way better than rocking back and forth like a couple of awkward teenagers. I’ve studied the dance basics (ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary… a little tap only ’cause my instructors made me) and even taught, choreographed, and danced professionally in Dallas for several years, but I have zero experience in ballroom. In order to pull this off, we needed some guidance so we signed up for a series of private dance lessons before the wedding. But… they didn’t go exactly as I imagined.

See, what I’m used to is learning choreography.

You learn all the steps in a particular order, you memorize those steps in said order, you perform those steps… in that order. Now, I don’t know if it’s the ballroom way of doing things or just our instructor, but he wanted to teach us steps, several different steps, and then make suggestions of how we might fit them together, but not set it as choreography. Are you with me? So, he would teach us the basic waltz step or a promenade or the foxtrot zig-zag (oh yes… we zig-zagged), and then King Hippo, with his new found skills of leading a dance partner, was supposed to decide, on the fly, what steps he was going to do, and lead. And I, with my new found skills at following a dance partner, was supposed to pick up on his subtle leading cues, and follow. I don’t know about you, but it sounded like a recipe for disaster to me. Why not just, you know, learn a dance? And practice it? So that we would be good? And prepared??!? Isn’t that what they do on So You Think You Can Dance? I don’t think those guys are just wingin’ it.

But, Tim felt very strongly that this was the better way. We would have some rough idea about what steps were going to come next, but if we memorized choreography and something were to go wrong or the dance floor wasn’t as big as I thought it was (I didn’t have the dimensions) or one of us were to completely forget the dance, we wouldn’t be doomed. We would have the skills to recover and figure it out. What??!?? How about you teach us a freakin’ dance, we memorize it, and we don’t screw up? Tim wasn’t having it and King Hippo, who doesn’t have the experience of memorizing choreography and practicing it until it’s just plain muscle memory, agreed. So…. professional ballroom dancer Tim: 1. Hippo: 0

We signed up for five lessons, and by the fifth one, we were decent. Not amazing, but we certainly weren’t going to embarrass ourselves. King Hippo was getting the leading thing down and not completely stopping in the middle and wanting to start over from the top when he messed up (”Honey, don’t stop! Just go with it! I’ll figure it out!”), and I was getting better at following and not trying to lead (oops). The problem was, our last lesson was sometime in February, and we didn’t practice much after that. Our teeny NYC apartment wasn’t the best setting for ballroom dancing, and the month before the wedding, we were just busy. So when the morning of the wedding came, I was super nervous about our first dance. We debated over breakfast whether we should just go back to the 7th grade sway so we wouldn’t embarrass ourselves and chalk the dance lessons up as quality time together. The thing was, I knew I would be able to follow, but the leading thing was all on him, and without set choreography, all the pressure to pull out steps was resting on King Hippo’s head. He decided we would go for it, and I was nervous.

The music came on just moments after we were introduced. We did our choreographed intro (not sure why Tim thought it was OK to choreograph this part, but whatever) and made our way to the center of the dance floor - King Hippo with concentration face and me with nervous fake smile.

As soon as the music started, it was on! I have no idea how, but we were pulling out Tim’s steps like we had been practicing! Our nerves quickly disappeared as did my nervous fake smile and before I knew it we were dancing… ballroom dancing, yo! King Hippo was leading and I was following, and the whole time we were zig-zagging and basic stepping and twirling, I was saying to him, “We’re doing it!” and “You’re doing so good!” and “We’re doing so good!!”

Our friends and family were cheering us on, and I even heard a friend of King Hippo’s yell, “Did she teach you that?!” Oh… you wait, screaming fraternity brother… there’s more. Although he wanted a semi-improvised middle section, Tim choreographed the beginning and the ending of our dance. It was time for…. the dip.

Success!!! We ended with a smooch and a big hug, and I was ecstatic that it went so well. It was time to get our chow on and take off the shoes of death.

Did you decide to do more than the 7th grade sway? How did it turn out?

Need to Catch Up on the Hippo Wedding?

• We finished up our last minute projects and hung out with the family.
• The ladies met up for lunch.
• We rehearsed for the big show.
• We had an amazing rehearsal dinner.
• The girls got their hair did, and I put on my face.
• I get all bridal.
• I take bridal portraits and pictures with the ladies.
• The guys get ready and take photos.
• We get a sneak peek of the reception venue.
• The wedding party warms the rings.
• Our guests warm the rings.
• The wedding party makes their grand entrance.
• We get hitched (part 1) and (part 2).
• We take photos together for the first time.
• The wedding party joins the party.