Did you envision your first wedding dance before you started planning your wedding? I know I didn’t! That was not a top priority on my list. I figured, what's the big deal? It's just dancing, right? But, wow, has my perception changed. I have to say I was completely wrong! 

I am very lucky that one of my best friends is a professional dance instructor who owns a dance studio, which offers private lessons to couples. She was there to open my eyes. Silvia was one of my friends growing up in Washington, D.C., and is now the proud owner of the Salsa with Silvia dance studio, based in our nation's capital. One of her many services is a private, five-session wedding dance class package offered to engaged couples.

My fiancé and I decided to try it out.

Silvia offered us a mini-crash course because we don’t live in D.C. I said sure, and I am SO glad we said yes! 

At Salsa with Silvia, her instructor comes up with choreography after evaluating what each couple is capable of doing. They then teach the couple a choreographed dance based on the song the couple picked. As you can imagine, all couples, and especially the brides, want to look like the pros on 'Dancing with the Stars', but the reality may be a little different. In fact, Silvia told me that ninety percent of her brides say they want to do the dance from the final scene of 'Dirty Dancing' - including the lift! I don’t want to diss anyone, but I can imagine that would be crazy hard for non-professional dancers. I mean, even the stars of the iconic film took forever to get it just right. (Side note: one of my favorite movies, I can probably recite it scene by scene, song by song.)

In any case, we showed up at Silvia's studio not knowing what to expect or how it would go. Silvia had listened to our song and knew it well in general. She showed us a very simple choreography full of grand gestures that will make a big spectacle to our audience (our guests.) She taught me to let myself go and let my hubby lead me, which may sound like common sense, but it’s very hard in reality. The dance we came up with is nothing out of the ordinary if you look at professional dancing performances, but for us is extraordinary! Now we both feel like we have a clear plan of what to do and a clear direction. I can’t imagine what we would do without the lesson! It would have been sooo boring and I’m sure awkward to watch! 

Having said this Silvia offers many more classes in her studio, so please check it out! It’s a beautiful fun space that welcomes families as they offer many children classes as well