PLANNING Take to the Floor 5385 views

Worried about shuffling around the dance floor with your new husband, treading on each other’s toes and generally looking uncomfortable? Let First Dance UK turn you from Two Left Feet to Strictly Come Dancing. Our resident bride, Cheryl, put them to the test for her own first dance…

First Dance UK is a nationwide company offering couples the chance to learn a professionally choreographed routine for the first dance at their wedding. But unlike those salsa classes at your local pub, these are completely one-to-one sessions with your tutor, held in the privacy and comfort of your own home.

Despite our nerves and the fact we were total dance beginners, our choreographer, Annette, instantly put my fiancé and me at ease. She showed us the steps she’d choreographed to our first dance, Better Together by Jack Johnson, and repeated them with us patiently until we’d learnt them. She took it in turns to dance with me and my other half so we both understood our own steps – and dancing it through with a professional really helped!

The lessons were lots of fun and even when we ended up in a tangle of feet, we had a good laugh about it. The steps were a mixture of salsa, rumba and waltz, which were put to our music in a way that was easy to remember and fun to learn.

You need enough space that you can both move around in so you may have to rearrange some furniture in your front room – or alternatively you can look into hiring out your local church hall for the hour. And you do need to practise!

On our wedding day, we rehearsed the dance a couple of times so we didn’t feel quite so nervous. It was fantastic to be able to do a proper dance in front of our friends and family, and everyone was clapping and cheering as we waltzed our way across the dancefloor. We had loads of fun learning and doing the dance, and it was definitely one of the most memorable moments of our day!

Prices start at £250 for five hours but you can book single lessons too. For more information call 020 8743 7469 or check out the First Dance website.

Images © iStockPhoto