[Part 2 - long wait]
Friends,
When certain things are drawn out for an abnormally long period of time, they become super awkward. Sometimes TV shows (I'm thinking of The Office and Family Guy) masterfully extend a conversation, gesture, or pose to create a hilariously uncomfortable scenario. However, when it comes to real life and the players aren't Dwight Schrute or Stewie Griffin, this kind of awkwardness is simply uncomfortable.
Pet Peeve #3 -- Aaaaaaaawkwaaaaaaard
And I STILL haven't gotten to the garter toss
I understand that weddings are steeped in tradition. I know that each of the common rituals carries different weight with the various brides out there who are planning weddings. So I'm not calling for a blanket removal of any of the following dances. But I ask all fiancees to consider their length; imagine the following:
1. Bride and groom's first dance
This is, of course, a staple of wedding receptions. And as the newlyweds romantically kiss and gaze into each other's eyes, it is cute and appropriate to watch... for about 30 seconds. Each additional minute doubles the awkwardness and the feeling that I shouldn't be in on this intimate moment, whether they've invited me into it or not.
2. Bride dances with her father
Cool for about 10 seconds.
3. Groom dances with his mother
5 seconds.
4. Groom dances with bride's mother while bride dances with groom's father
Less than 1 second.
5. Entire wedding party dances with each other
This step shows up in maybe 20-40% of the weddings I've attended. It is completely unnecessary. This not only adds pointless spectacle for everyone outside the wedding party, it's actually pretty dumb if you're in the wedding party, too. Suppose you walked down the aisle with a bridesmaid who's married; you'll now be slow-dancing with her as her husband looks on. Why not just open the floor up to everyone at this point?
Summary: the comfortable attention span of the crowd, or at least one bearded member of it, for the entire "special dance" segment is about 45 seconds. And yet, if each of the above is given a full-length song with some annoying emcee banter throughout, you're looking at about 18 minutes.
At some weddings, you have the freedom to ignore all of this after the first 45 seconds and return to drinking and talking. But at others, respectful attention is demanded for the duration. This is, without too much exaggeration, an experience on par with a sitting through a mostly-out-of-tune children's strings concert.
What do you think?
As per TS(s) policy: no arguments, just friendly disagreements
What is the ideal number and length of these dances?
Have you experienced any long and/or awkward wedding dances?
Jon
I know for ours we were so focused on soooo many other details we never discussed the length of the special dances. The wedding planner and DJ usually handle that stuff. I just knew to dance with my mom until the music stopped, haha.
ReplyDeleteBut i hear what you are saying. There have been multiple weddings where I'm thinking, "ok, the song can be over now."
I let my dad choose the song for the father/daughter dance at our wedding. My parents' song is "Stairway to Heaven" so somehow he concluded that would be fun to dance to with me. Not only is that the longest song ever, but the DJ couldn't seem to find the Led Zeppelin version, so he played something much worse instead. We awkwardly danced to a song we didn't recognize in front of thirty [possibly drunk] college students who were eager to get out on that dance floor (your first pet peeve would not have been a problem at our wedding). The DJ did end up cutting the song short, but it still felt like an eternity. At least we got some good photos out of it though! :)
ReplyDelete-Chellee