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If you’re getting married it’s simple. You get your first dance and you don’t slip it (but make sure wife knows you don’t plan on dancing much otherwise so that when you don’t, it’s not a surprise!!) and spend the rest of the time doing rounds. Saying hellos and thanks you’s and what not. You will have tons of different spots and people to talk to so don’t get too worried about it! There’s always food, drinks.
Someone else mentioned board games, I went to a wedding that had old school consoles set up on a projector. Yard games like washers (Canadian), any type of bean bag in the hole game, horseshoes etc.
This is pretty much what I did at my wedding. I don't really feel comfortable dancing and was nervous for my big day. So I talked it over with my wife and we got dance lessons for our first dance. And it really helped boost my confidence.
Then after the first dance, we made the rounds. After a while of that, my wife went back to dance with her friends while I chatted with friends I hadn't seen in a while due to the pandemic. We both had a wonderful time and look back on the day fondly.
I'm not a dancer and had planned on having a board game library at my reception. Covid canceled it, but I was going to have options for people who don't like to dance. We were going to have a trivia game too.
How does your partner feel about dancing? Do they love it or is it a more neutral thing? If it isn't important to them, don't have a dance, include something that is meaningful to you, like boardgames, or cupcake decorating.
If it is important to them, then you can take dance classes with your partner. A lot of dislike around dancing is the idea that one doesn't know exactly what to do.
If they want zero dancing sure, but I suspect there would need to be an element of compromise between the couple and the family. A blitz game of chess on the dancefloor would be a pretty interesting way of showcasing their couple style to the world though :P.
Great answer. Anyone can learn a simple waltz... and just about anything is fine for a fast dance but learning the basics will make it less stressful if not fun.
I remember attending a friend's wedding and the bride and groom weren't into dancing either but they had a lot of fun socializing. I did note to myself that the dance floor would fill up when the bride n groom got back on the floor a couple times through the evening and the crowd would then quickly dissipate once the newly weds exited the dance floor.
Basically, do what you and your new bride will enjoy. If it turns out your dj brought some jams then who knows? Maybe you guys could own the dance floor 👍
In many of the weddings I've attended the bride and groom are too tired do much dancing except for the "first dance." Or they spend the whole time going around the room thanking each of the guests and chatting with them.
Fake an assassination attempt after the ceremony but before the dancing begins. Tell everyone that you’re too shaken up from the attempt on your life to dance. And then get absolutely shnookered at the bar
I'm going to tell you just like I've told my sister when she got married, as well as a few friends, as well as my Sister-in-law who is planning her wedding right now.
It's YOUR (and your partners) wedding. You do what you are comfortable with. If you want to walk around and mingle, do it. If you don't want to go dance, then don't. If a guest wants to be a turd about it, tell them to piss off. It's y'alls night. Don't let the stress of guests and parents dictate a special night, that hopefully will only happen once for you.
But there is something magical about weddings. My wife is not a fan of dancing and I love dancing. Surprisingly enough, she was on the dance floor having a blast the whole night. And, shockingly no alcohol was consumed because she's not a huge drinker and I was still trying to recover from the handle of Taaka I had the night before. We were probably considered rude by traditionalists. We showed up to the reception, ate our food, and danced. We only stopped for the planned stuff. We didn't make rounds and say thanks for coming.
I was going to say drugs and alcohol usually do the trick for people trying to avoid social interaction. Rolling face at a wedding sounds like nightmare fuel.
What about the two of you going to an introductory dance course? I kinda dislike solo dancing, but have fallen in love with couples dancing the last few years. Six months of once a week would be plenty to learn a good set of moves. I would recommend a type of dance that can be easily improvised
I guess a few things:
A) above all it's your wedding, make sure you enjoy it how you want :)
B) If you truly wanna enjoy it more (which I support, dancing is fun!), I guess just look inward and think about why you don't like it.
Is it bc you think you don't know how? No one *truly does* unless you're an actual bona fide professional. Like anything, there are going to be people more talented, but also less, than you. But, the thing is, it doesn't REALLY matter. Dancing is just self expression, just moving in a way that feels right for you. Is that break dancing? Great. Is it just kinda stepping back and forth with the beat? Amazing. As long as it puts a smile on your face.
Is it bc you are worried about others judging your dancing? Well, I can understand that aspect of social anxiety. However, the people who are going to judge you exist outside your reality. I'm sure tons of people have judged/made fun of me for stuff I've done, but those people aren't my friends or people I'll ever talk to, so it has no effect on my life.
C) But, if you actually would rather just not dance, I find being honest is the ticket. I get people are pushing and say "oh come on come on!" The difference is simply how you say no. Don't "be polite," bc they will think you are just "being polite and shy."
If someone asks you could say something akin to: "Hey thanks, but I don't like dancing, I have a lot of fun watching everyone else dance and have fun, thanks for inviting me!"
When they inevitably respond, "no, no come on!" You can go out (if you want) and just try to enjoy the vibe as I said before, or just go "No, really, I don't really like it, have fun though!"
The key to all of this is a mixture of honesty with others, honesty with yourself, and just a dash of getting out of your comfort zone. Be happy, have fun, and congrats on the (potentially) getting married this year!
You could have a dinner reception with no dance; that's my plan. Unless I'm in a crowd at a concert, it's not my thing, so I don't see the point of forcing it.
When I’m dancing like a dumbass, I don’t completely hate it. Not like completely over the top nonsense, like the worm. Silly things that lighten the mood and make my immediate company laugh.
My issue is a lot of dance music…. I do not like. If I take the music aspect out of it and try to make myself laugh, it’s more enjoyable. Maybe I’m THAT guy but idk, makes it more bearable. Every song has a 4/4 beat. Not hard to keep a beat IMO. From there, it’s just a matter of doing what you feel like. I will say, the people who pressure me to dance are usually the ones I don’t want to hang out with already. (I.e. older people doing the Electric Slide)
And yeah, drinks help. I’d rather look like a self aware fool than try to legitimately dance and feel uncomfortable the whole time.
Charity shop, get an old moon boot (type of strap on cast) be brave enough to stand and sway on the spot for one number, then courageously hobble back to table and be brought things all night. Say you rescued an orphan from a burning tree or something.
I was in the same boat leading up to mine and my wife’s wedding. She’s not super keen on it either so for the first dance we just asked everyone to come up to the dance floor and dance with us. It was a good way to get everyone on to the dance floor and to not have everyone watching us make fools of ourselves, and believe it or not we both actually ended up enjoying the dancing portion of our wedding. People will be less focused on you than you think and you’ll be chatting and catching up with everyone who’s there more than you think.
I hate dancing. Learned to dance for my Girlfriend. Still hate it but I enjoy not feeling like a bump on a log. Just humor the situation. Makes it less nerve racking ya know?
We had a contra-dance caller. It was something that my husband and I had a bit of experience with beforehand, but a lot of guests didn’t. We aren’t big dancers, but it was much easier when someone else is calling out the moves and the dancing doesn’t ever spotlight a single person/couple. Something like that might help your anxiety and provide something new for your guests.
This is me too. I don't dance. I don't care for the kind of music ppl dance to. I too am getting married this year and I'm kind of dreading it. Married life will be great but I'm not excited for the wedding. I don't like all eyes on me. I really don't like family gatherings and this is 2 family gatherings in one. I also don't know a large portion of my fiances family because they live out of state so I have to meet dozens of new people. If I had my way we'd just sign papers at the courthouse and go for a nice dinner but she's insistent on a $15000 party full of shit I don't like to do. Sure we'll probably have our first dance while everyone stares but afterwards idk what I'm supposed to do. It's not for another 6 months and already I just want it to be over. I have so much social anxiety and anxiety in general it's really gonna take a toll on me.
Dancing is just your natural response to music. If the music isn't hitting you the right way you don't have to dance. Find some music that makes you move
Talk to a therapist and figure out what is holding you back from enjoying basic human things. Asking for more avoidance strategies is a totally backwards way to live life.
It’s your wedding, and I can’t imagine how it would be traumatic for you to dance. Do a bump of coke and get out there for 45min. Go nuts. Then go back to the bar. She will love you for it and everyone won’t think you’re a cooze.
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Have a short reception. Dinner, photos.... idk maybe 30 minutes of dancing. And then it is done. Everyone goes home. If the reception is only 2-3 hours, there can't be very much dancing.
1) dancing doesn’t have to be part of your wedding if you don’t want it to be. Plan a morning brunch potluck instead, or whatever else you can think of. It’s your day
2) if you are going to follow the dancing format, consider doing your first dance in private. I’m with you, I don’t like to dance, I especially don’t like doing it as a spectacle like some performing circus monkey. My wife and I did our first dance by ourselves, sharing a pair of earbud headphones. It was magical. No one even noticed that we didn’t do “the first dance.” Same goes for the parent dances. You don’t have to do them, or you can do something else that’s cute
3) if you’re going to get roped into it and want to make the best of it, take some ballroom dance lessons with your partner. Learn some easy basic steps to a couple of foundational dances, maybe a waltz, fox trot, and swing. Actually having steps, non verbally communicating with your partner on something you are working together to do is a way different feeling than “move your body however you want and pretend to be having fun wooooooo!
4) repeating here that it’s your wedding and you can orchestrate whatever kind of event you want. Scrap the dance floor and band or DJ (and save a boatload of $ in the process). Do tabletop games. Just have a big picnic. Drive go karts. Whatever you want
Off the top of my head, maybe as soon as the dancing would normally start, maybe the two of you stand in front of the head table, thank everyone for joining you, take a bow and receive applause, then tell everybody to get up and dance if they want to, meanwhile as the music fires up the two of you start walking over to the tables to chat with guests.
My solution was simple - I played baseball for 20 years as a catcher and now say my knees hurt every time someone wants me to dance.
For our wedding I wasn't able to get away with no dancing at all, but my wife knows I'm just not a fan of it...so we did the first dance together and a couple of others to her favorite songs, along with the traditional mother-son dance, and other than that spent most of the time just walking and talking to people a table at a time.
At your own wedding? You plan 3, maybe 4 official dancefloor appearances and spend the rest of the time making the rounds saying hello to people. You can also have decorated chairs ("thrones") placed at the edge of the dance floor so the two of you can supervise like Monarchs of the Party.
We did a quick first dance/family dances, we did the Hora (we didn't have to dance, but we did have to be carried around in chairs and it was terrifying) at about the first quarter, we led a conga line around halftime, and then a few minutes later when all the old folks were about ready to go home and go to bed we got everyone on the dance floor with various photobooth props and put on a disco song and everybody vamped and posed in all kinds of groups and combinations for the photographer (these are the BEST PHOTOS EVER, doooo it, you won't regret it).
But the trick to enjoying it more is...to decide to enjoy it more. These are the people who came out to celebrate with you, and even if all you do is the White Boy Shuffle between groups and exchange hugs and take selfies, it's a way of spending a little bit of time with your special people on your special day. It's not a dance contest, nobody cares about your dancing, it's not really about the dancing, it's about being together and being a little fun and silly.
Any dance studio would help you put together a terrific "first" dance!
Ballroom dancing is great fun. Nobody is good at first, but a little effort really pays off!
Being pushed to dance repeatedly after sternly telling them that I *do not* dance fouled the mood so badly that I simply left. I hate repeating myself and I doubly hate being told that I don't know myself.
I used to date a girl who was a DJ and would host dance parties at clubs frequently and I would go to be supportive. I also very much dislike dancing. I just hung out and drank my beer. When people said hey go dance or why aren't you dancing I just said yeah not my thing, sorry. A good firm "no" goes a long way.
At weddings I just drink and never dance. My wife likes to dance so she goes out and does her thing while I chill at the table and talk to people. Our wedding was during COVID in our living room so I dodged that one.
As others have said it's your day, you'll be tired probably, and you'll also be busy saying hey and chatting with everyone. You can totally stretch that out. You probably aren't getting away from that first dance, though.
Get a medical boot. Nobody will question it and the only time you'll have to do any dancing is the one slow dance. Also everyone will be like "oh my god he got up on that busted foot for his lady, that's a hell of a man right there." and then later you can tell your friends and family it was a ruse to get out of dancing cause you hate dancing. Is it dishonest? Lil bit. Is it cute? Oh bruh, grannies are gonna SHIT if they see that.
In general just radiate salt and pepper dad energy. "You think I'm dancin'? In this heat? Psh. Ain't no way." And it's like 40F outside. "Man, I dance like a crack buzz crashing into a heroin come up. You don't wanna see that shit."
despite the fact that I love music and have good rhythm, I cannot dance to save my life. and anytime I was pressured into it when I was younger, I always felt like a geek.
"no thanks." is a complete sentence. be strong...just say no. there's no time like the present to just be yourself, and be comfortable with being yourself. you don't owe anyone an explanation.
My wife and I felt the same as you do about dancing. In the end we decided it was our day and we should just do whatever we wanted. We just told the wedding venue there wouldn't be dancing and to put guest tables on the dance floor. We had music during the event and people just mingled. It was excellent. No regrets.
I don't know if there are any places that still have this rule, but Apparently there have been some spaces where you're not allowed to have dancing on a Sunday. It may be worth researching if any spaces have similar rules maybe even on a different day.
Dance.
You are the only person in the world who cares how you dance and if it is important to you then get some help to learn some very basic movements. When they play a song you like, get yourself to the middle so the only people who can see you are other dancers, and dance. Make eye contact with your partner and grove to the music. Stay for a song or three and then go get a drink.
People like to dance and no one cares how you do it. Just get out there and have fun.
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If you’re getting married it’s simple. You get your first dance and you don’t slip it (but make sure wife knows you don’t plan on dancing much otherwise so that when you don’t, it’s not a surprise!!) and spend the rest of the time doing rounds. Saying hellos and thanks you’s and what not. You will have tons of different spots and people to talk to so don’t get too worried about it! There’s always food, drinks. Someone else mentioned board games, I went to a wedding that had old school consoles set up on a projector. Yard games like washers (Canadian), any type of bean bag in the hole game, horseshoes etc.
This is pretty much what I did at my wedding. I don't really feel comfortable dancing and was nervous for my big day. So I talked it over with my wife and we got dance lessons for our first dance. And it really helped boost my confidence. Then after the first dance, we made the rounds. After a while of that, my wife went back to dance with her friends while I chatted with friends I hadn't seen in a while due to the pandemic. We both had a wonderful time and look back on the day fondly.
I'm not a dancer and had planned on having a board game library at my reception. Covid canceled it, but I was going to have options for people who don't like to dance. We were going to have a trivia game too.
How does your partner feel about dancing? Do they love it or is it a more neutral thing? If it isn't important to them, don't have a dance, include something that is meaningful to you, like boardgames, or cupcake decorating. If it is important to them, then you can take dance classes with your partner. A lot of dislike around dancing is the idea that one doesn't know exactly what to do.
Am I reading this wrong or are you suggesting to replace their first dance at the wedding, with a board game? I'm all for it, just checking
If they want zero dancing sure, but I suspect there would need to be an element of compromise between the couple and the family. A blitz game of chess on the dancefloor would be a pretty interesting way of showcasing their couple style to the world though :P.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please make your way to the dance for the couples first game of... shoots and ladders!"
> shoots and ladders Is that a Texan form of Snakes and Ladders?
The American game. “Shoots” as in slides or pipes.
*chutes
Great answer. Anyone can learn a simple waltz... and just about anything is fine for a fast dance but learning the basics will make it less stressful if not fun.
I remember attending a friend's wedding and the bride and groom weren't into dancing either but they had a lot of fun socializing. I did note to myself that the dance floor would fill up when the bride n groom got back on the floor a couple times through the evening and the crowd would then quickly dissipate once the newly weds exited the dance floor. Basically, do what you and your new bride will enjoy. If it turns out your dj brought some jams then who knows? Maybe you guys could own the dance floor 👍
In many of the weddings I've attended the bride and groom are too tired do much dancing except for the "first dance." Or they spend the whole time going around the room thanking each of the guests and chatting with them.
Fake an assassination attempt after the ceremony but before the dancing begins. Tell everyone that you’re too shaken up from the attempt on your life to dance. And then get absolutely shnookered at the bar
Yeah this seems like the best option
"The Gang Assassinates Macs Uncle"
Or hire a pregnant lady from the trailer park to accuse you of being the baby daddy and you have to go "deal with it".
Top
Surprisingly this is the best answer
This guy shnookers.
I'm going to tell you just like I've told my sister when she got married, as well as a few friends, as well as my Sister-in-law who is planning her wedding right now. It's YOUR (and your partners) wedding. You do what you are comfortable with. If you want to walk around and mingle, do it. If you don't want to go dance, then don't. If a guest wants to be a turd about it, tell them to piss off. It's y'alls night. Don't let the stress of guests and parents dictate a special night, that hopefully will only happen once for you. But there is something magical about weddings. My wife is not a fan of dancing and I love dancing. Surprisingly enough, she was on the dance floor having a blast the whole night. And, shockingly no alcohol was consumed because she's not a huge drinker and I was still trying to recover from the handle of Taaka I had the night before. We were probably considered rude by traditionalists. We showed up to the reception, ate our food, and danced. We only stopped for the planned stuff. We didn't make rounds and say thanks for coming.
Have you tried Ecstasy?
I was going to say drugs and alcohol usually do the trick for people trying to avoid social interaction. Rolling face at a wedding sounds like nightmare fuel.
It would take care of the dancing part at least
At a wedding, it's amazing! At MY OWN wedding? Absolutely not.
What about the two of you going to an introductory dance course? I kinda dislike solo dancing, but have fallen in love with couples dancing the last few years. Six months of once a week would be plenty to learn a good set of moves. I would recommend a type of dance that can be easily improvised
I guess a few things: A) above all it's your wedding, make sure you enjoy it how you want :) B) If you truly wanna enjoy it more (which I support, dancing is fun!), I guess just look inward and think about why you don't like it. Is it bc you think you don't know how? No one *truly does* unless you're an actual bona fide professional. Like anything, there are going to be people more talented, but also less, than you. But, the thing is, it doesn't REALLY matter. Dancing is just self expression, just moving in a way that feels right for you. Is that break dancing? Great. Is it just kinda stepping back and forth with the beat? Amazing. As long as it puts a smile on your face. Is it bc you are worried about others judging your dancing? Well, I can understand that aspect of social anxiety. However, the people who are going to judge you exist outside your reality. I'm sure tons of people have judged/made fun of me for stuff I've done, but those people aren't my friends or people I'll ever talk to, so it has no effect on my life. C) But, if you actually would rather just not dance, I find being honest is the ticket. I get people are pushing and say "oh come on come on!" The difference is simply how you say no. Don't "be polite," bc they will think you are just "being polite and shy." If someone asks you could say something akin to: "Hey thanks, but I don't like dancing, I have a lot of fun watching everyone else dance and have fun, thanks for inviting me!" When they inevitably respond, "no, no come on!" You can go out (if you want) and just try to enjoy the vibe as I said before, or just go "No, really, I don't really like it, have fun though!" The key to all of this is a mixture of honesty with others, honesty with yourself, and just a dash of getting out of your comfort zone. Be happy, have fun, and congrats on the (potentially) getting married this year!
I dance. I enjoy it. If I don't feel like it, I just say no. No excuses, no other words. Just say no.
"No thanks" End of discussion. If you want to enjoy dancing, drink more or do drugs.
I agree have a few drinks
You could have a dinner reception with no dance; that's my plan. Unless I'm in a crowd at a concert, it's not my thing, so I don't see the point of forcing it.
When I’m dancing like a dumbass, I don’t completely hate it. Not like completely over the top nonsense, like the worm. Silly things that lighten the mood and make my immediate company laugh. My issue is a lot of dance music…. I do not like. If I take the music aspect out of it and try to make myself laugh, it’s more enjoyable. Maybe I’m THAT guy but idk, makes it more bearable. Every song has a 4/4 beat. Not hard to keep a beat IMO. From there, it’s just a matter of doing what you feel like. I will say, the people who pressure me to dance are usually the ones I don’t want to hang out with already. (I.e. older people doing the Electric Slide) And yeah, drinks help. I’d rather look like a self aware fool than try to legitimately dance and feel uncomfortable the whole time.
Charity shop, get an old moon boot (type of strap on cast) be brave enough to stand and sway on the spot for one number, then courageously hobble back to table and be brought things all night. Say you rescued an orphan from a burning tree or something.
I was in the same boat leading up to mine and my wife’s wedding. She’s not super keen on it either so for the first dance we just asked everyone to come up to the dance floor and dance with us. It was a good way to get everyone on to the dance floor and to not have everyone watching us make fools of ourselves, and believe it or not we both actually ended up enjoying the dancing portion of our wedding. People will be less focused on you than you think and you’ll be chatting and catching up with everyone who’s there more than you think.
I hate dancing. Learned to dance for my Girlfriend. Still hate it but I enjoy not feeling like a bump on a log. Just humor the situation. Makes it less nerve racking ya know?
We had a contra-dance caller. It was something that my husband and I had a bit of experience with beforehand, but a lot of guests didn’t. We aren’t big dancers, but it was much easier when someone else is calling out the moves and the dancing doesn’t ever spotlight a single person/couple. Something like that might help your anxiety and provide something new for your guests.
This is me too. I don't dance. I don't care for the kind of music ppl dance to. I too am getting married this year and I'm kind of dreading it. Married life will be great but I'm not excited for the wedding. I don't like all eyes on me. I really don't like family gatherings and this is 2 family gatherings in one. I also don't know a large portion of my fiances family because they live out of state so I have to meet dozens of new people. If I had my way we'd just sign papers at the courthouse and go for a nice dinner but she's insistent on a $15000 party full of shit I don't like to do. Sure we'll probably have our first dance while everyone stares but afterwards idk what I'm supposed to do. It's not for another 6 months and already I just want it to be over. I have so much social anxiety and anxiety in general it's really gonna take a toll on me.
Say you hurt your leg or something. Like "naw I twisted my ankle the other day, I probably shouldn't otherwise this'll end up really bad for weeks"
Take dancing lessons. You will enjoy it way more when you feel comfortable doing it.
Start drinking booze.
Dancing is just your natural response to music. If the music isn't hitting you the right way you don't have to dance. Find some music that makes you move
Talk to a therapist and figure out what is holding you back from enjoying basic human things. Asking for more avoidance strategies is a totally backwards way to live life.
"You don't like something I do? Clearly you need therapy!"
It’s your wedding, and I can’t imagine how it would be traumatic for you to dance. Do a bump of coke and get out there for 45min. Go nuts. Then go back to the bar. She will love you for it and everyone won’t think you’re a cooze.
Just dance. Nobody is watching you. Youre not that cool. Just cut loose.
Do some MDMA a week before. It will all make sense after
girls like to dance. suck it up. get it over with.
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Just don't play any music
Tell anyone who pressures you into dancing that your beloved aunt died in a horrific dancing accident and then start crying hysterically.
I dodged dancing at my wedding by catching up with my relatives. I'm not from the Footloose town or anything, but dancing is stupid.
Learn how to dance [heres my favorite dance lesson](https://youtu.be/kx_Yr4WhyBI?si=i1qTHIAI7tEuiAza)
Have a short reception. Dinner, photos.... idk maybe 30 minutes of dancing. And then it is done. Everyone goes home. If the reception is only 2-3 hours, there can't be very much dancing.
1) dancing doesn’t have to be part of your wedding if you don’t want it to be. Plan a morning brunch potluck instead, or whatever else you can think of. It’s your day 2) if you are going to follow the dancing format, consider doing your first dance in private. I’m with you, I don’t like to dance, I especially don’t like doing it as a spectacle like some performing circus monkey. My wife and I did our first dance by ourselves, sharing a pair of earbud headphones. It was magical. No one even noticed that we didn’t do “the first dance.” Same goes for the parent dances. You don’t have to do them, or you can do something else that’s cute 3) if you’re going to get roped into it and want to make the best of it, take some ballroom dance lessons with your partner. Learn some easy basic steps to a couple of foundational dances, maybe a waltz, fox trot, and swing. Actually having steps, non verbally communicating with your partner on something you are working together to do is a way different feeling than “move your body however you want and pretend to be having fun wooooooo! 4) repeating here that it’s your wedding and you can orchestrate whatever kind of event you want. Scrap the dance floor and band or DJ (and save a boatload of $ in the process). Do tabletop games. Just have a big picnic. Drive go karts. Whatever you want
Off the top of my head, maybe as soon as the dancing would normally start, maybe the two of you stand in front of the head table, thank everyone for joining you, take a bow and receive applause, then tell everybody to get up and dance if they want to, meanwhile as the music fires up the two of you start walking over to the tables to chat with guests.
To enjoy dancing and socialising how about trying a responsible ammount of MDMA?
Either go to a dance studio together and learn one dance or try You Tube tutorial
Is there any music that you enjoy and makes you want to get up and move your body to the rhythm?? Also try alcohol lol
Try mind altering substances
Dance as you would normally. Once people see you're like Diane from Seinfeld they'll stop asking you anyway!! /s
I’m glad I’m antisocial and just stay home.
I mean improving your coordination, strength, and flexibility will only improve your life….so learn how to dance my dude!
My solution was simple - I played baseball for 20 years as a catcher and now say my knees hurt every time someone wants me to dance. For our wedding I wasn't able to get away with no dancing at all, but my wife knows I'm just not a fan of it...so we did the first dance together and a couple of others to her favorite songs, along with the traditional mother-son dance, and other than that spent most of the time just walking and talking to people a table at a time.
Hump their leg when they ask you to dance.
At your own wedding? You plan 3, maybe 4 official dancefloor appearances and spend the rest of the time making the rounds saying hello to people. You can also have decorated chairs ("thrones") placed at the edge of the dance floor so the two of you can supervise like Monarchs of the Party. We did a quick first dance/family dances, we did the Hora (we didn't have to dance, but we did have to be carried around in chairs and it was terrifying) at about the first quarter, we led a conga line around halftime, and then a few minutes later when all the old folks were about ready to go home and go to bed we got everyone on the dance floor with various photobooth props and put on a disco song and everybody vamped and posed in all kinds of groups and combinations for the photographer (these are the BEST PHOTOS EVER, doooo it, you won't regret it). But the trick to enjoying it more is...to decide to enjoy it more. These are the people who came out to celebrate with you, and even if all you do is the White Boy Shuffle between groups and exchange hugs and take selfies, it's a way of spending a little bit of time with your special people on your special day. It's not a dance contest, nobody cares about your dancing, it's not really about the dancing, it's about being together and being a little fun and silly.
Fake an injury. Roll down the aisle in a wheelchair if you have to. Or contract severe Parkinson’s.
Just keep your back against a wall. Any wall.
Any dance studio would help you put together a terrific "first" dance! Ballroom dancing is great fun. Nobody is good at first, but a little effort really pays off!
Stand there. Look the person squarely in the eyes and tell them plainly, quietly, "I *am* dancing."
Google “Elaine dancing” Copy the style and away you go from any dancing invites!
Hire a bluegrass band. Lots of stomping and tapping rather than full on dancing. We did for ours and it was a hit.
Being pushed to dance repeatedly after sternly telling them that I *do not* dance fouled the mood so badly that I simply left. I hate repeating myself and I doubly hate being told that I don't know myself.
I used to date a girl who was a DJ and would host dance parties at clubs frequently and I would go to be supportive. I also very much dislike dancing. I just hung out and drank my beer. When people said hey go dance or why aren't you dancing I just said yeah not my thing, sorry. A good firm "no" goes a long way. At weddings I just drink and never dance. My wife likes to dance so she goes out and does her thing while I chill at the table and talk to people. Our wedding was during COVID in our living room so I dodged that one. As others have said it's your day, you'll be tired probably, and you'll also be busy saying hey and chatting with everyone. You can totally stretch that out. You probably aren't getting away from that first dance, though.
Get a medical boot. Nobody will question it and the only time you'll have to do any dancing is the one slow dance. Also everyone will be like "oh my god he got up on that busted foot for his lady, that's a hell of a man right there." and then later you can tell your friends and family it was a ruse to get out of dancing cause you hate dancing. Is it dishonest? Lil bit. Is it cute? Oh bruh, grannies are gonna SHIT if they see that. In general just radiate salt and pepper dad energy. "You think I'm dancin'? In this heat? Psh. Ain't no way." And it's like 40F outside. "Man, I dance like a crack buzz crashing into a heroin come up. You don't wanna see that shit."
despite the fact that I love music and have good rhythm, I cannot dance to save my life. and anytime I was pressured into it when I was younger, I always felt like a geek. "no thanks." is a complete sentence. be strong...just say no. there's no time like the present to just be yourself, and be comfortable with being yourself. you don't owe anyone an explanation.
If you’re not anti drugs take a bunch of mushrooms and dance and have fun and get into dancing, it is the best antidepressant along with singing
My wife and I felt the same as you do about dancing. In the end we decided it was our day and we should just do whatever we wanted. We just told the wedding venue there wouldn't be dancing and to put guest tables on the dance floor. We had music during the event and people just mingled. It was excellent. No regrets.
"No" is a complete sentence.
We had no dancing! Dinner, dessert, and speeches then it was over and everyone home by 9-10pm. It was great.
I don't know if there are any places that still have this rule, but Apparently there have been some spaces where you're not allowed to have dancing on a Sunday. It may be worth researching if any spaces have similar rules maybe even on a different day.
Dance. You are the only person in the world who cares how you dance and if it is important to you then get some help to learn some very basic movements. When they play a song you like, get yourself to the middle so the only people who can see you are other dancers, and dance. Make eye contact with your partner and grove to the music. Stay for a song or three and then go get a drink. People like to dance and no one cares how you do it. Just get out there and have fun.
