Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The First Dance





A happily huge portion of our life right now is WEDDING. All of a sudden, everyone is getting married. Two of Chris' brothers, my brother, my cousins and multiple friends. I believe the last time we counted, there are twelve weddings for us to go to in 2014, and Chris and I are in four weddings apiece in 2014. My Pinterest feed is all bouquets, bridal DIYs, wedding dresses and cakes thanks to my lovely sisters-in-law and sisters-in-law-to-be, Geena and Becca. It's a good thing to be happening in our life; the more the merrier ... and married, ha. I've been thinking about devoting a few posts recapping our wedding since I wasn't boring the internet with our life back then so this nudge in the form of a wedding song dance along from Grace is a great way to get my  three-year wedded fingers a-typing. 

We danced to "The Way You Look Tonight." We used the Tony Bennett version because the Frank Sinatra version was a bit too peppy for us. Now that I'm writing this, I'm remembering that we took a dance class during which I pretty much learned nothing. I completely forgot about that! I was a stressed out bride with only a couple weeks left until the wedding day, and Chris suggested that we take a class because he knew I would like it. He was training a lot for his new job, but he managed to come back to South Bend one Friday so we could get our marriage license and take the class. Things got a little ruffled when we were pulled over in a speeding trap, and Chris got a ticket (ugh). We made it to the dance class, and the teacher was a little shocked that we were only planning on taking one class. Then she didn't have the Tony version, she had the peppier Frank version, Chris didn't have it on his phone and the internet connection was bad to search for it on YouTube. So I spent the hour stepping on Chris' toes to a song that wasn't going to be our song. Even so, it was a fun afternoon.

Let's jump ahead to the night before the wedding. My mother-in-law had just made salmon for 100+ of our out of town guests, the wedding rehearsal was over, and Chris and I were in the reception hall of the hotel so we could practice our dance. We started to 1-2-3-step, 1-2-3-step, but soon we noticed that we were in a fish bowl when we spotted a bunch of our Chris' cousins and uncles peeking through the glass doors on their way to the pool. I'm laughing just thinking about it! Well, after a few trips around the dance floor with me literally tripping and realizing that it was almost ten or so, we decided to just wing it the next day. At least Chris knew how to dance. We sat down on the dance floor in the empty room with our backs against the pillars and practiced our vows, which was a much more pressing and much more important task. That was the moment when the wedding became real for me. 

It didn't matter that we actually memorized the incorrect vows. Ha! But, that was nothing that couldn't be handled by a text from Chris received at the bridal salon the following morning and wonderful bridesmaids helping me.

"The Way You Look Tonight" wasn't necessarily our song from our dating relationship. We didn't really have a song. There were lots of songs that we could have picked, but they weren't very wedding dance-y so we went with a classic. 

It finally came time for the dance. Before it started, I was only a tiny bit nervous, but that was only because everyone was going to be watching. I'm not exactly one who likes a ton of attention (I know ... I write a blog ... riddle me that). I was surprised that it was actually comforting when I noticed that so many guests got up out of their seats to line the dance floor rather than staying in their seats to watch. This was our family, these were our friends, this was my groom. 

Chris, of course, is an excellent dancer. I'm thankful for his mom's insistence despite their protests that he and David do cotillion when they were younger. While dancing, I remembered that he once told me that the cotillion teacher would have them dance with a balloon in between them. I was giddy that I was his bride so who cared if we had the proper spacing in between us! 

All photos by Yue Wu. 

If you want to see our wedding dance, here is a little wedding video made by Chris' best friend and one of our favorite people. 
What was your wedding song? I'm playing along with Grace. I hope you do, too! 


10 comments :

  1. Could you be any more gorgeous? I have a girl crush on you, I'm not going to lie.

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  2. Um. Video = only a little bit AWESOME =) That contagious joy radiates right out of the video and all through your blog! Seriously, this is so precious. Thank you for sharing!

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  3. Katrina, I love your blog, and your wedding video totally made me cry! My husband and I were also married in 2011, and all the joy of that day is still so fresh with us--I hope it always will be! I wrote this post a few years ago about our first dance, just wanted to share!

    http://krugthethinker.com/2012/08/the-luckiest/

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  4. As explained in my post, we didn't/don't HAVE a wedding-dance song... But my goodness you two were cute! And still are :)

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  5. So sweet!
    The Best Man insisted that after the rehearsal dinner we practice our dance too; so the CD with the song on it was left at the dinner site. Two wonderful friends of ours graciously agreed to go retrieve it for us.

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  6. My dad and I danced to the Frank Sinatra song. Excellent choice :)

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  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7T9HKmERv0&feature=kp
    That's How Strong My Love Is - Otis Redding.
    We didn't have a "song" while we were dating/engaged and we picked this about 10 days before the wedding. We did get two dance classes out of a Groupon and I think they were a good idea. :)

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  8. You are adorable and this blog is amazing! Stopping by from Grace's link-up. Such a sweet story and fun memories. I love reminiscing about my wedding day. Tender moments and feelings felt that day that we will always cherish. Thanks for sharing your memories!!

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  9. I posted on Grace, too. Ours was "In This Life" by Colin Raye.

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  10. I have watched a few peoples wedding videos and usually find them kind of boring when I don't actually know them or don't know the people in attendance, but yours was so sweet. I actually enjoyed watching it. What a gorgeous wedding and what a beautiful bride you were.

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