Getting married and not sure what to do about your wedding dance? Keep reading. Want easy? Spicy? Fun? Want to get the party started? Where are you going to find all this? Dance video games, they are easy fun wedding dances your guests will love!
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For a quick overview of this post see the YouTube video, easy fun wedding dances your guests will LOVE!
In my blog, dance work-outs are the most versatile of all video games, I explain my wedding dance was one way I used dance video games. With wedding season around the corner thought I’d expand on my own roller coaster experience. Below, find quick links to each section:
criteria
When it comes to the wedding dance, the bride and groom are on their own. Someone can be hired to do just about everything but the dance itself. You can make this as simple or complicated as you want and below are some things to consider:
- What is the goal of your wedding dance? Is it to share a romantic intimate dance together or do you want to entertain your guests?
- Do you have a special song you share and want to dance to?
- How much time, effort, and money do you want to put into your wedding dance?
- What style of dance do you want? Can you see yourself doing a Tango or is hip hop more your style?
- If you have a theme, how can you incorporate it into your wedding dance?
- Can you do your dance in your wedding clothes?
- Have you seen a wedding dance you’d like to copy?
My husband, Mike, and I, wanted something different. Not intimate, slow, and romantic, but a wedding dance that was fun, entertaining, and original.
learning options
Even though we had the basic criteria we still had a lot to figure out. How would we learn it, what song, and what type of dance? With dance video games part of our exercise routine you’d think that would be the first thing we came up with, but it wasn’t.
I can research something till it’s boring but that’s painful for Mike, so one night over wine we committed to choosing our wedding dance before going to bed. We didn’t need to look any further than Google, there’s loads of options for finding and learning a dance:
- in-person lessons
- copy a dance
- online and digital lessons
- dance video games – we came up with this later!
in-person lessons
In-person dance lessons was a short conversation. There’s no shortage of dance studios in Ottawa but this option was out of the question. It required a commitment we were too busy for. We also preferred spending our wedding budget on other things rather than a dance we’d never do again.
copy a dance
Knowing we didn’t want to spend much money or go somewhere to learn narrowed things down. There are lots of dances online and Youtube is the best resource with lots of sample and choreographed dances. That night we accomplished our mission. We found a spicy choreographed dance to “Despacito” to learn on our own.
online and digital lessons
Learning by watching the video was very hard and took up a lot of time. As much as we practiced, it wasn’t enough, there were too many moves. Oddly, this “Despacito” dance didn’t show lessons or we didn’t notice they were available otherwise, most likely, we would have gone that route.
Instead, when the countdown to our wedding day got to six months I got anxious. Mike worked 12 to 14 hour days and usually 13 days in a row. As much as Mike and I love going out dancing we bit off more than we could chew with that dance.
There was no way we could pull it off with how little time we had to practice and gave up! Even though we weren’t willing to commit to in person dance lessons, I would definitely recommend online or dance lesson DVD’s you can buy.
Inevitably, we were back to where we started with a few exceptions, we liked the song “Despacito” and wanted something a little spicy. We just needed a new plan soon.
dance video games
With the choreographed song scrapped we couldn’t find anything till it dawned on me, what about doing a dance video game? As mentioned in my post, dance work-outs are the most versatile of all video games, dance video games are part of my winter work-out regimen. When I checked the Just Dance playlist “Despacito” was on it.
Other than having two dance couples, the Just Dance routine for “Despacito” was perfect! It was simple, repetitive, fun, and a little spicy. The bonus? We could practice together or apart.
Just Dance is available on pretty well all the video game consoles as well as the Just Dance phone app, Just Dance Now. It works great with my Google Pixel Pro 6, casting my phone screen to my television using the Google Chromecast.
There are lots of other dance video games and phone apps but we didn’t need to look any further. Six months to practice was lots of time and maybe, we’d even add a few moves of our own.
adding personal touches
It was 2020, Covid was rampant and ripping our world apart. Our wedding was supposed to be in June and the lockdowns delayed it till September. This gave us lots of extra practice time. When August arrived we had the song nailed and got creative by adding a few things:
dance in sync with the video
Our first creative idea was to play the video of the dance behind us while dancing in sync with the characters. We had one obstacle, keeping time with the video so practiced even more. Later we found out there was a much bigger problem.
dress in character
Dressing in character was another idea. Finding the pieces to match the characters was not an easy task. Coloured gloves are hard to find in the middle of summer, thank goodness for Dollarama. Also, we had to make some of the jewelry we couldn’t find. I used velco with ribbon for my neck choker and a big hair elastic for the armband.
a surprise introduction
Our last idea was adding some old style drama beginning with a teenage slow dance to Neil Young’s song, “Heart of Gold”. After about a minute, dry ice fog would begin filling the area along with the classic vinyl scratch sound. Those distractions were long enough to reveal our costumes underneath and begin our real dance. If you haven’t already watched my video, easy fun wedding dances your guests will LOVE!, catch a glimpse of our dance on that YouTube video or see the raw original unedited content in the video, wedding dance 2020.
ask for help
We needed a bit of help to do the surprise introduction and on-boarded Mike’s daughter and son-in-law. We bought the dry ice fogger machine and they prepared the song and the scratch. Everything came together the week before our wedding…or so we thought.
prepare for glitches
You never know what’s going to happen and being prepared is your best ammunition. That was my thought. As a perfectionist and not wanting to make a fool of myself I took my dance practices to the extreme. I rehearsed every day, several times a day which ended up being the problem.
our glitch
Everything was coming together for our wedding. The Covid lockdowns were easing, guests were excited to have something to do, and the long-term weather forecast was sunny and clear for our outdoor wedding. Things were going great till the week before our wedding and Mike noticed our mistake. Our practices were facing the video, we were mirroring the moves.
That was backwards for dancing in sync with the video behind us. Our moves would be the opposite to what the characters were doing. Luckily, we were on vacation and had a week to re-learn our dance.
Not sure how much you know about muscle memory but after doing the same routine for eight months my body knew where to go. My muscles memorized the dance. After a few practices I lost all confidence because I didn’t know which way to go and what body part to move. There was no way I could un-learn everything in a week.
Mike being Mike, he persisted after all our efforts! If anything was going to be a glitch I figured it would be something technical – I never imaged it would be me!
The devil fools with the best laid plans.
Neil Young song Alabama
In the end, our dance was a hit; we still get compliments on how fun and memorable it was. But it wasn’t what we planned. The surprise introduction was slashed, no fogger, no vinyl scratching, and no changing clothes. I just couldn’t pull all that off and remember the moves too. Sometimes you have to improvise.
a memory for a lifetime
Watching our wedding dance video gives me mixed feelings. We didn’t plan on having a video so are thankful for what we have and that video editing software is so good. Even though I cringe at my hesitations and awkwardness, I reflect on the fun Mike and I had brainstorming, planning, preparing, and practicing.
For us, our wedding dance wasn’t about holding each other on the dance floor gazing into each other’s eyes, it was all about fun. It doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing, whenever we hear the song “Despacito” we share a glance and a smile for all those memories.
the party starter
After our dance and all the usual wedding traditions were done we replayed the Just Dance “Despacito” video and got a surprise.
The children were the first to hit the dance floor re-enacting our dance – facing the video – and they were quickly followed by adults wanting a piece of the action too. Covid was an added stress for our wedding and I did everything I could to keep everyone safe but at that moment many of us forgot. Sharing that dance with many of my guests is a joyous memory and thankfully, no one got sick.
easy fun wedding dances your guests will love
Whether it’s your dance or the back-up plan, dance video games are easy fun wedding dances your guests will love. Even if your dance is something different, know your criteria, decide how you want to learn the dance, what personal touches do you want to add, ask for help, and be prepared for glitches. If your dance is anything like ours, it will jump-start your party.
Did you enjoy this post or know someone who would? Do you have comments or your own wedding dance experience? I hope you will share and leave your comments on my social media. Please follow me and like my social media pages to receive notifications about my future posts.
Cheers,
Vickie Girolami
February 18, 2024
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This is such a well-written post! The insights you’ve shared are highly relevant for anyone trying to put together the perfect wedding. I love how you covered every detail so thoroughly. I’ll be sure to link to this on my wedding gear blog because it’s a great resource for my audience. Thanks again for this wonderful piece!
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on middleagedteen. I hope your audience finds this blog useful and exciting to know how many options they have preparing for their first wedding dance.