The First Dance Decision
Trevor Gyves
Ok, so you've booked the venue, bought the dress, organised the flowers, picked the menu, and even picked your band. As the big day gets closer, things are starting to come together nicely.
However, there's a very good chance that there's still one decision left to make, the one that you've been putting off for ages. Yes, that's right, you still haven't picked a first dance.
In our experience, the first dance is one of the trickiest decisions you'll have to make when planning a wedding. So, if you're having problems deciding, don't worry..... you're not alone.
The main stumbling block, is that many couples have very different taste in music. He'll want a Metallica B side, while she'd much prefer Taylor Swift! At this point, diplomacy has to be the name of the game, and the final decision needs to be somewhere in the middle.
Here are some things to consider, and hopefully help you make your decision.
YOUR CHOICE
It's your day, so you can pick a song that is totally personal to you as a couple. It might be something that reminds you of your first festival together, or the a song that you danced to at the school disco! Don't worry if nobody else knows it. If the sentiment is right, that's half the battle. Everyone will be so delighted to see you dancing together for the first time as a married couple, that they won't notice if they don't know the song.
SHOULD THE WEDDING BAND PERFORM OUR SONG?
That depends. If you are dead set on having the wedding band perform your first dance, bare in mind that a four piece band won't be able to match the full production that you hear on a lot of your favorate recordings. You should be prepared for the band's cover version to be quite different to the original. Usually this means it's a more stripped back affair, without the string and brass sections you're used to hearing. If you have booked a rock band, they probably won't be able to play a swing song for you, and visa versa.
If you have your heart set on your first dance being exactly like the version you know and love, there's no shame in having a CD played instead.
STRANGE SONGS
We've definitely been asked for a few strange ones over the years. We won't name names here, but picture our lead singer belting out a Celine Dion song without decending into fits of laughter! Actually, if you contact The Panoramics for a quote, you'll be reminded that Celine Dion is not an appropriate song to ask an all male four piece guitar band to cover!
REMEMBER
Having to dance in front of all of your friends and family can be daunting. Try to pick a song that has some kind of a "pulse" to make the actual dancing easier. Nobody will expect you to have any sophisticated ball room moves down, so there's really no need for those dance classes. So long as you can sway about a bit together and look like you're enjoying yourselves.... that's more than enough!