5 tips to save money on your wedding dance in 2024

Bridal dance tips
Wedding couple dance with dip

Weddings are expensive, so here are 5 tips to help you save money on learning your first dance in 2024.

1. Start as early as you can

Starting your lessons as early as you can will have enormous benefits to learning your wedding dance and the ultimate result. You’re probably thinking that every dance studio says that so they can sell you more lessons. While it may be the case with many, it’s not at William Maslin Dance Studios.

We include group classes and practice time in studio as part of our personalised wedding programs so the earlier you start, you’ll end up getting more value out of your program and a more polished natural looking dance as a result.

To give you an example. We had a client come in nearly 6 months before their wedding date. They had a limited budget and were quite nervous. They chose a 6 private lesson program and started straight away.

While they spread their private lessons out over the 6 months, they learnt as much as they could about ballroom dancing at the weekly beginners group classes. This meant that when they took their private lessons, they could work on more advanced figures, because they had covered their fundamentals in the group classes. In addition to this, they become very comfortable dancing and so their dance looked natural.

Another advantage to starting early is you’ll have flexibility to make changes to your dance if need be. You may find that you exceeded your expectations with your learning ability and want to beef up your routine. You’ll have time to nail it!

Finally, there’s going to be plenty of stress in the weeks leading up to your wedding. The pressure of who to seat where, making sure suppliers are going to come good and much more. The last thing you want to try and do is learn something completely foreign to you when your brain is already fried! So get your learning out of the way early and take one more thing off your mind.

2. Choose a studio that offers wedding dance programs instead of packages

We all love the idea of packages and packaged deals. On the surface it may look great, but it’s not really the best way to judge value when it comes to learning to dance. Okay, so the studio may say silver 5 lesson package and you’ll get xyz. The reality is, we all learn differently and at different paces, so you may not get exactly what your package says. On the flipside, you may have fantastic ability and easily learn the package inclusions in less time, but don’t be disappointed if you don’t learn extra.

We recommend choosing a studio that offers wedding dance programs over packages. The first thing is, you’ll be getting a better bang for your buck if you choose to make the most of it. A dance program usually includes practice sessions, such as group classes and/or workshops, and usually you are able to practise in the studio outside of the booked dance private dance lesson. This is great because sometime practising at home just doesn’t really work.

The other thing about a program is it is tailored to your specific needs. Putting together a wedding dance program is a very personalised process. It starts with understanding the couple and the look and feel they are trying to achieve at their wedding. The dance professional will assess their natural ability, discuss dance options such as styles that suit the song and make a recommendation based on complexity, ability and overall desired outcome.

This will mean that the number of private lessons recommended will match exactly what the couple need to achieve their dream dance. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s going to cost more. What’s the point of thinking to yourself I’ve got $1,000 to spend on the dance, let’s buy a 6 lesson package, because it was the cheapest 6 lesson package, when you only needed a 4 lessons to achieve your desired dance!

3. Don’t choose choreography

Yes, we understand you want to know what you’re doing for the big day, but knowing how to lead and follow your figures well will be of greater value than a choreographed routine. We’re not advocating a what ever happens on the days happens approach either, but rather focus on learning and practising your figures so they come naturally and then dance to the feeling and mood of the day.

Not choosing a choreography will ultimately save you money in that you won’t need to spend money on lessons learning the order/routine. Choreography or otherwise, you still need to learn the figures, so if you choose choreography you be adding at least 2 extra lessons to learn the sequence on top of the lessons needed to learn the figures.

4. Take a beginners social dance course first

You’re probably thinking how does spending money on a beginners dance course that has nothing to do with my wedding dance save me money! It’s a fair question, so let’s delve deeper. You can pick up beginners courses relatively cheaply and they come in a range of formats, which will determine the cost.

In these courses you’ll cover the fundamentals of partnership dance and usually across some different styles, so you’re going to be body aware and get your body moving the way it needs to.

When the time comes to start learning your wedding dance, you’ll be streets ahead of the rest because you are starting from a strong foundation. You’ll end up needing to spend less time/lessons learning your wedding dance because your learning will have already started to accelerate, which happens as our competence in dance increases.

5. Be realistic. Do a dance that suits you, not someone else

It’s great to cast your eye over YouTube and the likes to get inspiration and ideas for your wedding dance, but also keep in mind how long you have to learn your dance, your willingness to practise and your natural ability.

If you’ve only got two weeks, it’s going to be challenging for you to learn a full choreography with lifts, dips and turns. And while it’s great to cram a lesson in every day in the lead up, you’ll find it quiet overwhelming and challenging.

So decide on a dance that you feel best reflects you as a couple and have an idea on the must haves as well as the nice to haves. Are you doing a wedding dance because you want to have a moment to show off, or is it more about a special intimate moment as couple enjoying a true moment of partnership.

At the end of the day, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to learning your wedding dance. What is consistent for everyone though is you’ll only get out of it what you’re willing to put in.

Not sure on the best way forward, have any questions or need some advice on your first dance, feel free to reach out to the friendly team at William Maslin Dance Studios.

Get 10% OFF your wedding dance

Get 10% OFF your wedding dance

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