Sewn Together: Line Dancing

Dim the lights and pump up the bass - it's dancing time!

But first - here's what you need to know about awkward people like us: we only dance to group or line dances.

So go ahead and pop a blood vessel at the thought - but about 80% of the songs during the dancing portion of our reception were line/group dances.

I think we played every song imaginable - Electric Slide, Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, Macarena, YMCA, and some I hadn't even heard of before. Cringing yet? The only one we didn't play was the chicken dance, and only because Sak had put it on the "do not play list" along with Soulja Boy.

The Macarena was popular with the men, oddly.

Aunt vs. Niece battle.

Luckily, the dancers in the crowd didn't mind the overload of line dances, and the awkward dancers like us joined in on the fun. As "uncool" as line dances may be - I guarantee people will get up and boogie when they play. It's like shouting the lines of your favorite movie out with the rest of the crowd during a special showing - you just can't help it!

Seriously, young man, you just can't stop.

The DJ even had the videos up on the screen if you didn't know the moves!

Sak's cousin teaches him to dance.

Wait!



You!



All better.

Much later in the evening one of our friends thought it would be funny to do a Rick Roll (I know, it's old, yeah yeah-), so he requested it of our DJ. Of course, it's only natural to start a conga line, because if we're going to be cheesy dancers, we might as well go all out.

And it was fun - more fun than I thought dancing could be, seeing as we never do it and didn't even want to have dancing at all. We were skeptical when Sak's parents insisted on a DJ, but it wasn't the empty, awkward dance floor that I was scared of. Not at all.

We ended with Flash Dance. Just a tad bit random.

(All photos courtesy family members)

Our wedding week in review:

• We took care of some last minute DIY details, and officialized everything.
• We vacationed with our out-of-towners, and threw a yummy welcome beach brunch.
• Sak saluted an angry dragon during our wedding rehearsal, and we sniffed at our dinner.
• Wal-Mart crashed my bachelorette.
• The women magically transformed, and Sak tied me into our dress.
• There was a windy photoshoot on the beach, and then we hung out at the chapel in flat shoes.
• We marched to the altar and got married.
• Everyone was camera-happy.
• Reception time! A bustle for our first dance, and then it was time to eat.
• I wore a kimono, and then fed some lions.
• We tried a bouquet pull, which didn't go as planned. Coincidentally, neither did our cake feeding.
• Everyone yelled banzai.

Tangling with the Tunes Track Two

{Note - this is more of a remix of my first music post, so please excuse some of the redundancy!}

Music. First, I had planned on going the iPod route. Why would I need more, when we were not going to be dancing anyway? Ambient background noise was more than sufficient.

Until the friendor was introduced. Saka-Dad did some sneaky dealing with a pal of his, and suddenly we found ourselves signed up for a sound system, projector and optional light show. Seriously. Light show.

(source)

Well, honestly I did a little balking, and had a few not-so-pleasant flashbacks to senior prom. Some people loved their senior prom, but me? Missy Elliot, strobe lights and one awkward teenager on the dance floor did not mix.

But I appreciate Sak's family wanting to help. And I still hold the reigns to this party, right? We can make it what we want, and heck no, we don’t have to listen to techno.*

Only one problem. Sak and I, well – we don’t really have a wedding-appropriate music identity. Alt-rock, J-Pop and 80’s music are not the most cohesive mix. I could try to make it work, you know, a little Cake with your M-Flo and Queen? But I think it would be easier to just pick some guest-friendly middle ground.

Hawaiian Music. Cliché? Maybe, but we can avoid Don Ho and keep it a little more modern.


However, I not really familiar with modern Hawaiian music. Can you even dance to Hawaiian music? Island clubbing? And since when were we including dancing? Is that going to cut into our bingo time?

Sak assures me that you can dance to many modern Hawaiian songs, and that you can also dance and play bingo at the same time. I believe him (at least on the first part), but it still makes me queasy knowing I’m going in blind. The idea of not knowing any of the songs played at our reception also makes me feel a little weird. I think I need to do some serious research so I’ll have at least a couple good, memorable songs to recommend. We’ve also asked the DJ for some sample play list ideas.

In addition, they are sending us their promo DVD, so I can check out the light show before I throw it off the table completely. Seriously, no prom resemblance allowed, but who knows - I've been wrong plenty of times before, maybe it can be cool?

Do you know what’s going to be played at your wedding? Down to every last song, or do you have faith in your musician/DJ? And can you play bingo and dance at the same time?

*We don't actually hate techno, in fact, Sak is a big fan!

Tangling with the Tunes

Wedding dilemmas and I are no strangers, that's for sure.

I have no idea what we're going to do about music. True, we won't really be dancing (I think...), but I can still use an IPOD for background noise, right?

At first, I tried the cop-out approach and told Sak he was in charge of the music. He shrugged, and promptly did nothing about it. I'm thinking now that his plan is to just play whatever he has on his IPOD at the current time.

No. Heck no I'll never listen to techno.

So I'm taking the musical reigns back, but I'm still somewhat at a loss. Music helps set the tone of the whole night, right? It's vitally important, right? I shouldn't royally screw this up, right?

Here's my current options:

A) Game orchestral music.

It's pretty, fancy, and sometimes downright epic. But am I having a pretty and fancy wedding? I don't know - sometimes it feels more like whacky and fun.

B) 80's music

Whacky and fun, most definitely. But part of me thinks it would be weird to have such danceable music at a no-dance reception. I mean, can you really play safety dance without dancing? No way. But I guess people can always dance if they want to, as we will have a dance floor.

C) Hawaiian music

Sak thinks this is super on the touristy side. But I really like island music. It's fun, but still laid back enough to not scream, "dance to me". The mainland guests would probably love it. Though I don't have very much island music, so maybe we'd have to get a DJ.

Now as much as I love all three, I don't think they'd work together very well? Switching from Tiny Bubbles to You Spin Me Right Round isn't exactly a seamless transition. (Just kidding! As if Sak would ever let Don Ho grace his wedding..)

What route should we take? Help me friends, you're my only hope.

I need my princess leia, er, husband!

No joke, this is how I envision myself walking down the aisle:



*sigh* my dream! Saka says no way. But I mean, come on, Dad can even do the wookiee yell halfway down the aisle! :D

What kind of music should I use, if I can't use this? Instrumental Christian contemporary? Final Fantasy Instrumentals? There's just so many choices!

What are you doing for your "walk"? Are you keeping it simple or making a dramatic entrance?