Tips and Tricks :: The First Dance

Happy Friday ya’ll! We’re actually headed out to Bluemont, VA in a little while to photograph a wedding today! But before we go, we wanted to leave you with today’s blog post. This Tips and Tricks post is a fun one, and it’s all about the first dance! Our couples ask us all the time for tips, recommendations, suggestions on anything and everything wedding related. This is one area of the day that gets forgotten, and although these tips seem minor they make a huge difference in your photos. So here are some things to remember about your First Dance…

1. DANCE – Seems crazy to suggest a couple should remember to dance, but it’s true! To get that photo of the Groom spinning his Bride around the dance floor, he has to actually spin her around the dance floor. This is a dance, these photos should be action shots. So make sure to move those feet, spin, dip, twirl, and move around the dance floor. Even the most intimate, quiet, slow song can be danced to. Lessons? Sure, go for it! Are lessons necessary? Not at all. Watch some you tube videos of a Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers. Just watch how they hold onto each other and try out a few moves  😉  Whatever you do, give us more to photograph than the 8th grade style slow dance.

2. Speaking of 8th Grade – Ladies… keep those elbows pointed down. The classic hold for slow dancing includes one hand up and out holding your Groom’s hand (the one he’ll lead with) and the other hand resting gently on his bicep. Doing this ensures your elbows are pointed down and out from your sides, elongating your arms. Whenever you wrap your arms around his shoulders, you cut off our sight line to your gorgeous face. All we get is arm, and even if your arms are the most toned/chiseled arms around they’ll be a distraction in the photo. So Ladies, make sure to dance your First Dance in that classic hold and you’ll eliminate the arm issue.

3. Be Aware – This sounds completely and totally against our photojournalistic grain, but while you’re enjoying your First Dance don’t forget you’ve paid you’re photographers to capture it in photos. What exactly do we mean? Well… we mean smile at each other, go in for a kiss every once in a while, dance cheek to cheek for a few moments here or there, embrace, give us a visual of how much you love each other. Give us that moment to turn into a photo. And we know this one’s hard, it’s hard for US not to sing along to our favorite songs, but during your First dance don’t. Don’t spend your entire First Dance lip syncing the words to each other. You’ll end up with a ton of photos with your mouths open. 😉

4. Forget about everything else – Just dance. Just be together. Just embrace this incredible moment. Even if you hate dancing, and you can’t stand the idea of a room full of people watching you fumble over your two left feet… no one else matters besides your dancing partner. So just dance, let go, and love every second of it. It’s one of the quickest moments of your day.

*One more quick thing that came to mind: If you have a long train and it isn’t busted for your first dance, it’s no problem. Hold the edge of your train in your left hand Ladies, the hand that will rest at your Groom’s bicep. Let the train drape down from your left side and if you need to lower your hand to his elbow, go right ahead.