I have to admit, I’ve been reading the ’bee for much longer than I’ve been engaged. When I was in college, and interning for a wedding venue, I spent so much time on wedding websites that it was no surprise that I had lots of ideas about what I wanted in my wedding. After talking about how we value quality time together and the idea of the sweetheart table, I remembered another important moment: our private last dance.
Photo by: Kallima Photography on Every Last Detail via Lover.ly
The first time I came across the private last dance was the lovely Mrs. FroYo. Then last year, right around the time my engagement happened, Mrs. Elephant and Mrs. Jaguar wrote about their last dances. I knew then that I had to remember to include a last dance in our wedding plans. Thankfully, I haven’t forgotten. 
So our plan, assuming that the lovely Indiana weather cooperates (wishing and dreaming here, hive, because Indiana weather is crazy), is to do a sparkler send off. We’ll have our DJ Brett ask guests to head outside to prepare the sparklers, and then our DOC Allison and her assistant will help usher guests out. As soon as most everyone is out and the doors start to close, Brett will start our last dance song. It’s just over five minutes, so it should be plenty of time to hand out sparklers and get them lit.
And since there was just a sparkler send off last weekend at our venue (!!!), we got to see a couple great photos of how it will turn out…weather permitting.
Photo by Bobbi and Mike / shared on their blog (with lots more photos of our venue )
So what do you think about the private last dance? Do you plan on having one—or having another special moment for you and your new husband?
What a great idea! I definitely want to do this. What song?
This is a beautiful idea. After all the partying, bring it back down and remember what the night is all about. *tear!*
Loved ours! Hope the weather works out for your sparkler exit! The rain let up for ours, but the wind was crazy.
We had one, but it wasn’t totally planned. Our DOC took everyone outside to get the sparklers going and we got our private, last dance. 
My favorite few minutes during the reception was the last dance. They played Forever by Ben Harper. It was beautiful. A few people tried to interrupt and say good bye. But I simply asked two minutes please. It was dark, I had my eyes closed and my arms wrapped around my husband as we sang the words.
We had one, and it was one of my favorite moments of the entire night.
I love this idea! We are also going to have a sparkler send-off and I never thought about what we will do while guests are gathering outside. I love this idea and will definetly do it!
We had a private last dance and loved it! We could soak up the final moments without worrying about people staring at us
@missmovies: Give Me Love, by Ed Sheeran. It has a bit of a build up at the end, so it would be a great way to exit.
@MrsJJC, @alphagam84: I’m so glad to hear that it was a good experience! I already know it’s going to be one of my favorite moments – and without any awkwardness that I’m sure I may feel during our first dance with everyone watching.
@loveandbasketball: I’m so glad I gave you an idea! It came from great ladies before me.
@MrsKeAloha: What a PERFECT song choice!
@Mrs. Elephant, @Mrs. Mink: I can’t wait for ours! I know I’ll feel awkward with all eyes on us, so this is a perfect solution of getting a dance in without anxiety or tears.
@Mrs. Thimble: Thank you Thimble! That was another one of our big things – we want to reflect on the day and just have a few minutes of “we’re married now!” before we see off all of our guests.
I loved this idea, it just wasn’t practical given our situation, this will make for such a special moment!
Oh, what a fantastic idea a private last dance is! Love the sparkler idea as well – makes for FANTASTIC photos if you photographer sticks around til the end!
Sounds like a great idea; this is he first I have heard about it. We did a last dance and all of our guests that were still there kinda formed a big circle around us and were dancing around and slowly got closer and closer until at the end of the song we had a huge group hug going on….definitely one of my favorite moments! Our photographer actually snuck us out of the venue for some awesome night photos and during that time we actually didn’t talk much just hugged each other and basked in all our married glory lol
I love this idea but I’m not sure we’ll have the chance to, aah oh well! it does make for gorgeous pictures though!
I’d love to have one, but I think we’ll do that back in the hotel by ourselves, chances are we’ll leave after the band 
I loved our private dance…which was sort of the only one at night. All about you two!
I loved our dance – one of my favourite things about the night. Everyone was downstairs organising the sparklers, and we just had us … and the sneaky quiet photographer. It was so beautiful. I cried like a girl.
I must have completely missed all of those posts (bad bee!).. but I think this is such an amazing idea!! It will absolutely be something that you’ll remember forever.
Mrs. Otter, Indianapolis, IN Age and Occupation: 22, Freelance Social Media Consultant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 23, CVS Shift Supervisor Engagement Date: November 11, 2011 Wedding Date: April 2013 Venue: Mustard Seed Gardens About Me: I'm a born and raised Hoosier girl, but a diehard Michigan Wolverines fan. I have a tendency to take too many photos and spend full days having TV marathons. Mr. Otter and I met in high school, started dating a couple years later, and moved in after a month of being official. He is easygoing and makes plans on a whim, while I'm color coordinating my planner and organizing everything in sight. He hates glitter, but it's my favorite thing. I have tattoos and he still won't get one, despite my attempts to convince him. We're planning a small, rustic, and (hopefully!) peony-filled wedding to get our married life started. (And yes, there will be glitter involved!)
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