Father/ Daughter Dance

The Father/ Daughter Dance is an optional dance that you can do on your wedding day. It is a very special day for any father to watch his daughter become a married women, so we like to make it a moment to treasure. The three main points for your dad on your wedding day will be walking you down the aisle/ giving you away, the Father of the Bride speech and the optional Father/ Daughter dance. During the introduction to the Father of the Bride speech, we would usually pick something characteristic about your father as an introduction and then signify his importance to you and how proud he is etc. This really helps get the speeches started and, since he’s likely to be the first speaker, it’s a great way to calm nerves and get a rapturous applause. We also appreciate alternative family set-ups: perhaps it’s your mother, brother or uncle taking on this role – either way, we’ll help you to make it something memorable. 

The Father/ Daughter Dance usually happens around the time of the first dance, but can also happen after the meal or later in the evening. It’s totally up to you. A lot of the time brides say to us, “oh my father won’t want to do that”, but 9 out of 10 times, on the day they are more than willing. We usually advise that you pick a track that signifies your relationship and that he will like. Perhaps you used to listen to Dire Straights in the car as a child, or Eric Clapton when he was putting you to bed etc? Something a bit more upbeat works very well against a slow first dance (such as Christina Perry – 1000 years) and vice verser. There are also quite a few tracks that have been specifically written with the father/ daughter relationship in mind.

A good way to do the Father/ Daughter Dance is to introduce you into the room to take the floor with your father. We usually play about half the track and then invite the groom onto the floor at which point the Father of the Bride will hand over his daughter and then you will start the First Dance. You/ we can then invite guests on to join you at a specific point in the track. After that you should have a full dance floor to carry on with the party.

Your DJ preparation and coordination:

The first dance is so often a non event at weddings because it takes quite some coordination and announcement skills, especially if guests are to be moved into a different room. We always like to prepare but also make events look like they ‘just happen’, so we always make sure that guests know what is going to occur well before the moment. We will always announce you in after making everyone come around the dance area first. That way you won’t be left with all your guests sitting down or missing out whilst they’ve popped to the bathroom. Below are a couple of great transitions showing the entrance, Father/ Daughter, hand over, First Dance and guests joining you both on the floor.

Rhinefield House – Brockenhurst:

They came in to the Rocky soundtrack (they also did this for the wedding breakfast entrance). The Father/ Daughter Dance was ‘Daddy Dance With Me’ (Krystal Keith) and the First Dance was Take That – ‘Rule the World’. We then played ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ as it has a very progressive start and was the Groom’s mother’s favourite track.

 

Careys Manor – Brockenhurst:

The Father/ Daughter Dance was ‘Tiny Dancer’ (Elton John), the First Dance was ‘I Won’t Let You Go’ (James Morrison) and then we started the party with Van Morrison, ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ as it also has a nice progressive start. We find that anything too abrupt or fast can shock guests and make them sit down. This depends on the crowd really. A classic track works well as it appeals to all ages, although tracks like ‘Uptown Funk’ also have that progressive start and then move into a more uptempo track.

 

 

 

 

Need more information? Contact us