Orange County Wedding Dance Lessons Success Story: Rachel and Ryan

On February 22^nd, 2015 Rachel and Ryan arrived to Bella Ballroom Dance Studio in Orange County, CA with an eagerness to plan their wedding dance lessons for their first dance. Their upcoming Laguna Hills wedding would arrive in four months and they wanted to surprise their guests with a beautiful and romantic wedding dance. Even though they were self-described as having “two left feet”, they were not discouraged and they were excited to get started.

They had already picked out their first dance song, “You and I” by Michael Bublé. I quickly learned that Rachel had quite the extensive music library of Michael Bublé songs and the engaged couple had seen him in concert. I could tell they were fans and it was no surprise that they chose this dreamy and dance-worthy song for their first dance.

On their introductory dance lesson and consultation, Rachel shared that she was interested in trying something other than a traditional waltz. The beginning of their song was set at a slower tempo and soft in nature. We took a unique route and customized Bachata dancing into the first part of their routine. Rachel and Ryan learned the basic steps of the Bachata, including a pretty underarm turn and dip, and were hooked! They decided to do a package of 15 dance lessons to create the perfect planned routine for their first dance.

Rachel and Ryan would come in on weekends to do their wedding dance lessons. They lived in North Orange County in Yorba Linda and found weekends worked better for their schedules and provided a better time to make the drive down to our studio. Even though they lived over twenty miles away from the studio, they were committed to learning their first dance and knew that it was worth the drive to our Orange County wedding dance studio as we are the best at what we do!

Initially, Rachel and Ryan were unsure of their dance floor size and layout, but I was able to get them started out learning some fun moves and dance basics. We worked on turns, traveling moves, directional changes, spins and more! Eventually, the couple learned that their dance floor would be 15×16 and their guests would be watching from three different sides of their dance floor. This would become important information as we planned which direction they would be facing to show off all their dance moves.

Once Rachel and Ryan were feeling comfortable with their dance patterns and had a nice variety of wedding dance moves, we started to put their first dance together. Their wedding dance started out with romantic sweeping Bachata dance steps with turns, traveling, cuddles, and moves that synced up to their first dance song’s lyrics. Halfway through their first dance song, there was a swell in the music and the beat picked up. Ryan led Rachel through a beautiful around the world dip and then the wedding couple changed their dancing steps into a Rumba. This matched the new energy of the song and gave a unique variety to their first dance.

Rachel and Ryan had a lot of fun learning their first dance. They were always ready to learn and practiced in between their wedding dance lessons. I had Rachel practice in heels as well as in one of the practice skirts that we have here in the dance studio. The bottom part of her wedding dress was very fitted so we made adjustments so that she would be able to perform all the spins and dance moves with ease and grace. Eventually, they had a beautiful wedding dance that was sure to impress their guests. They had learned their moves well enough to feel comfortable performing their first dance on their big day. We were even able to sneak in a little bit of swing dancing into one of their lessons for a little extra fun. They wanted to learn to swing dance together during their reception. They were going to have some big band songs that would be a perfect fit for this classic upbeat dance style.

Rachel and Ryan performed their wedding dance with success in South Orange County at the Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills. DJ Michael Fenton played their song, and the couple glided across the dance floor and executed their moves with elegance. Rachel and Ryan nailed their first dance, and were delighted that their guests thought so too. Congratulations Rachel and Ryan!

Article by Orange County Dance Instructor, Ziva