“Dance lessons” has the whiff of a couples massage, followed by a trip to your local craft store for knitting supplies, finished off with a Lifetime channel movie marathon. That is what you’re up against. The perception, unfortunately, is the reality until educated otherwise. So how do you change it? Especially if you want your first dance to be a custom feature of your wedding? Read along, and you’ll see that you can convince your fiancé to take wedding dance lessons in three easy steps (not threats).

1. Let him pick the song

So what if he picks the latest song by Usher, a Beastie Boys classic, or “Baby Got Back”? He has been in the passenger seat (with a child safety harness if we’re being perfectly honest) through this entire process. So let him pick something fun.

If you want to do something classy, before trashy then:

Do a mashup: Start with an elegant dance like Waltz or Foxtrot, then transition to something epic that no one is expecting.

Do a second dance: The first one in formal attire, the second one paying tribute to your lifelong ambition of being an N’Sync backup dancer.

2. Offer A Trade

From a wedding planning perspective, a typical trade is “do it or else”. Let’s break type here and offer him something of real value. Like “Football Points”.

For every dance lesson he takes, he gets guilt-free football watching credits (or any other high-value sporting event).

3. Get Real with him

No one wants Bridezilla to attack. Including the aforementioned bride. Most engaged couples have no idea that dance lessons actually reduce the stress of wedding planning. That’s right. Reduce! So try something like:

“Honey, the last thing I want you to have to deal with is me getting all Bridezilla (*make a crazy face) on you through this process. I read in this article that if we start early, learning to dance can actually reduce the chances of me going all mental on you. So what do you say?”

In Closing

Brides-to-be, we hope this article gives you the tools to turn your fiance into your dance partner… even if it’s only temporary. Remember this quote by Kathryn Murray:

“With male students, you have to drag them in, but, before long, you have to drag them out.”

Here’s to having to drag him out… even if it costs you a football game. Happy Dancing!

Check out these great Wedding Dance articles:

Father/Daughter Dance Advice	Best Practices For Your Wedding Dance
Wedding Dance Disaster	Wedding Dance Trends

Starting your dance lessons for the wedding reception of your dreams is not as difficult as you might think.  It all starts by taking the first step.