How to Dance in a Wedding Dress: Top 5 Tips

Wedding dresses are often incredibly bulky and long, making it difficult to move around in them, much less dance while wearing one. But every bride looks forward to her wedding dance with her husband, and perhaps the father-daughter dance as well. 

How to dance in a wedding dress so you don’t end up falling on your face or tripping over the dress? Here are some helpful tips that will keep you on your toes and looking beautiful, dignified, and poised on your big day.

1. Make Slow Turns

You will have to be careful about the kind of dance you choose to do, as some dances may be difficult to pull off in a long wedding dress, particularly one with a train attached.

Also, the heavy fabric of the dress will make some movements very difficult to execute smoothly. 

Instead of making sharp turns as you dance, opt for slow ones. The slower movement allows the fabric of the dress time to catch up with your body.

If you move too fast, the dress won’t be able to move in time, and you will end up falling over it. So, take your turns slowly when dancing with a long wedding dress.

2. Go for Ballroom Dancing

What kind of dances are appropriate for you to do in a wedding dress? You can do any kind of dance you can pull off successfully, and you may want to try practicing at home first before you take your moves out on the dance floor. 

Try doing the dances in your wedding dress during practice sessions to see what you can handle and what you can’t.

Our recommendation is that you go with ballroom dancing for your wedding rather than trying to handle a salsa, a hip-hop dance, or something else that requires fast or jerky movements. (Also consider slow waltzes or even the foxtrot.) 

Ballroom dancing lets you think about your next move and your foot placement so that you can be sure your dress is out of the way as you dance.

The slower pace is more accommodating to the slower movements that a wedding dress allows.

Dances with simple movements, especially those that move in a single direction, will help you to keep track of your wedding dress’ movements more easily and keep the lengthy train behind you as you dance. 

3. Dance Sideways

You have to choose your dance moves carefully when you’re wearing a wedding dress, and you also have to choose your dance position with care.

Instead of spinning around or stepping forward and backwards again and again, you may be better off by moving sideways as you dance.

Keeping your partner at your side will help you navigate the movement of your wedding dress better, as it will stay behind you as you dance.

This makes the dress much more manageable and keeps it from getting wrapped around your feet or bundled up in front of you on the ground.

While dancing in a wedding dress can be quite limiting, it doesn’t have to limit your fun. Just choose a dance position that works well with the dress.

You will have more options if you use a smaller dress or leave the train off, but with a lengthy dress, a sideways dance can work quite well. It’s a method you will find that a lot of experts recommend to avoid trips and falls.

4. Lift as You Dance

This is probably a move you have seen done before at a wedding, where the bride will lift her dress with her hands as she dances. This pulls the dress up off the floor and keeps her from stepping on it.

Lifting the dress can work really well if it doesn’t have a lengthy train and just has some extra few inches that touch the floor and drag behind you or fall around you. 

By lifting the dress, you pull those few extra inches off the floor and keep yourself from stepping on the dress. You may even be able to see your feet as you dance by using this method, which can be helpful for people who have not had much dancing practice. 

The length of the dress will determine if this method will work very well, but even if there is a long train, lifting the dress with both hands on either side of you as you dance can make the garment a lot more manageable.

This also allows you to switch the dress from side to side, moving it out of your way as you step. It leaves your hands occupied while you dance, so you can’t do some movements you might want to.

However, this maneuver can let you at least have a dance on your wedding day even when you are wearing a lengthy dress.

5. Make Part of the Dress Removable

If you can detach the lower part of the dress when you’re ready to dance, that will give you plenty more freedom in your movement. You will have a lot more options for dances you can do and moves you can make. 

This may not be possible if you have a rental dress and are not allowed to make any modifications, although you may be able to find a rental that offers this option.

It should not be a very difficult modification to make to have the bottom of your dress detach. Snapping off or unbuttoning the bottom section will make the dress much shorter and still retain most of the look. 

This is an excellent option for people who want to have it all. You can enjoy the beauty of a flowing wedding dress during the ceremony and at picture time and then turn the same dress into a much shorter and more maneuverable version when you are ready to dance.

These are just a few tips to help you if you are hoping to dance in your wedding dress.

What many people will do is switch dresses after the ceremony, but you can make a wedding dress work as your dance clothing if you follow our tips.

Your wedding day is all about you, and you want to be able to enjoy it, even if you’d like to have a dance in your wedding dress.