If you’ve ever attended a wedding where the bride and groom had a routine worked out for their first dance, you may have witnessed first dance choreography in action.
According to Google, the number of people searching for ‘first dance choreography’ increased by 900% in the three months to February 2023, which may suggest a growing interest in wedding dance training.
Sadly, I haven’t photographed many newlyweds that do much more than turn on the spot for 30 seconds, before calling for reinforcements, but I’d love to do more.
I do, of course, understand why couples want to get out of the spotlight quickly. It isn’t easy to dance like no one’s watching when everyone is watching. Worse still when someone watching is also videoing.
Is first dance choreography the answer or will it just prolong the agony?
Ultimately, preparing for your first dance with a wedding dance choreographer is going to make you feel a lot more comfortable about dancing in front of your guests. That alone has got to be worth something.
It’ll also give all those phone camera’s something memorable to record, instead of just something embarrassing.
How much does first dance choreography cost in the UK?
Three hours of wedding dance choreography will cost between £150-£180 in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. In three hours, you can expect to learn half to three-quarters of a song; the assumption being, you’ll invite guests onto the floor at that point.
What’s involved in first dance choreography?
It all starts with a song. Your song. Or songs, if you haven’t already found ‘the one’.
After the song choice is made, the choreographer will usually design a routine based on what you want to achieve and your availability for lessons.
The best time to start learning is six weeks to two months before your wedding day so you’ve got plenty of time to practice but not enough time to forget (hopefully).
With the exception of Indian wedding dance choreography, most first dance choreographers will teach you in your own home, so it probably makes sense to choose someone near to where you live to avoid paying travel expenses on top. If you don’t have enough space but know someone that does, that could be an option too.
Some wedding dance choreographers will also offer local dance studios and halls as a fallback but you will have to pay for the hire cost of the venue as well as your lessons, if that’s the route you follow.
Lessons are typically 1-1.5 hours long. For a dance routine lasting the duration of a full song, you’ll probably need around five hours of wedding dance choreography.
Here are a couple of wedding dance choreography companies that cover Bucks, Berks and Oxford.
First dance choreography in Oxfordshire
First dance choreography in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire
Could we just find a YouTube video to follow instead?
If you’ve decided you want some wedding dance choreography but at the moment, you’re thinking of teaching yourself, you can of course follow any existing dance choreography on YouTube.
The challenge might be finding a song and dance that you like and can comfortably perform.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that when you’re teaching yourself, you won’t have an expert adjusting your posture and footwork or ensuring you support your partner correctly in moves like dips and lifts.
You might get lucky but it could just look like a big mess. And don’t forget, someone will be recording it.
For more information on first dance choreography in Buckinghamshire, Oxford or Berks, nip over to one of the companies I’ve suggested above or do your own search on Google.
If you’re looking for local wedding photography or wedding venues, why not visit my pages closest to you:
Choose Oxford wedding photographer for wedding venues and examples of my work in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire wedding photographer – well, you can probably work that part out yourself.