A wedding dress to dance in

A few weeks ago, I was reminiscing about wedding dress choices with one of my closest friends Mandy. As a little background – both of us love (and I mean LOVE) to dance. We’re not going to win Dancing with the Stars any time soon – but man, we love to bop and shake to the beat. My friend got married several years before I did, and I always thought that she made one of the best decisions regarding her dress. She chose a dance-able dress. She did it on purpose and it was awesome. What is a dance-able dress you ask? Well…it’s just that – something that you can move in. Something you’re free to rock around the floor in without worry of tripping, ripping, or popping (out) of the thing as you strut your stuff. It’s not too tight, not too low, and certainly not too long. Her dress was beautiful – and she looked amazing. And you could just tell she was having the best time on the dance floor rockin’ that outfit.

Author’s note: Mandy just reminded me that she actually broke one of her dress straps during our particularly enthusiastic version of YMCA. Even one strap down, that dress didn’t budge. Now that’s what I call totally dance-able. (Even the bridesmaids were front and center in dance-able outfits! Can you find me in the crowd?)

Oh and she wore super comfortable shoes that she could walk around on all day. Bonus that they were PINK!

When the time came for me to choose my own dress – I was determined to have something danceable. I went in for my alterations with specific instructions about how many centimeters above the ground my dress needed to be. I was set on having a low-maintenance, wearable outfit. However, (probably because all of the negotiations were done in Italian between my husband – who sat in another room so as not to see the dress – and the nice Italian lady making the alterations) I didn’t come out with exactly what I’d hoped for. Don’t get me wrong – I loved my dress – it was flowy and swirly in all the right places. It gave a satisfying swish as I bounced around the dance floor. BUT my fatal error was allowing the dress-lady to talk me into a longer hem than I wanted. All in the name of photos. She seemed so heartbroken at the idea of my dress being too short in the pictures, that I gave in. As a result, I ended up holding my dress up all night to avoid triping, flipping and slipping.

So the moral of the story – know what you want from your wedding outfit – and make sure you go after it! If comfort and dance-ability are high on your list, then definitely give some thought to what it will actually be like to wear your outfit on the day! If you’re happy on the inside – you’ll shine on the outside. (And that will show on the dance floor.)