What to do if you don't want to do wedding parent dances
Couples often skip parent dances because a parent declines or because standing in front of a crowd feels uncomfortable. Skipping these traditions can leave a gap in the reception timeline, but couples solve this by having one partner dance while the other skips it, or by shifting directly into an upbeat group song to get everyone on the floor.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Skipping the parent dances altogether
- 2Asking the father to walk the bride down the aisle instead
- 3Doing a first look with the father instead of a dance
- 4Planning a special moment outside of the wedding day
- 5Skipping the announcement entirely and moving directly into a high-energy group song
- 6Having the DJ invite everyone to join the dance floor immediately after the mother/son dance
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My fiancé wants to do the mother/son dance. He thinks his mom deserves to have a moment like that (she is a very sweet woman and I’m not taking that always from her). However, my father and I do not want to dance 😂 we’re not the type of people to feel comfortable getting up in front of everyone to do something like that.”source ↗
“I’m trying to think of a funny way for the DJ to state that there will be no father/daughter dance. Like maybe we do a fist bump and a hug? 😂”source ↗
“I asked my dad if he would want to do a father/daughter dance at my wedding in march of next year and he said no.”source ↗
“Hearing him say no did break my heart a little though🥲”source ↗
“he honestly wouldn’t want to plan something so i’ve been trying to find ideas to pitch to him”source ↗
“I didn’t do a father/daughter dance but my husband danced with his mom. We just skipped the father/daughter dance. After their dance the band played a high energy song and I went up there and just motioned for everyone to join.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3How to schedule wedding dances without boring the guests
- 5Should we take wedding dance lessons or just wing it?
- 8How to have a wedding without a formal ceremony
- 3Wedding entertainment ideas for guests who don't dance
- 6Wedding parent dance songs that aren't super sappy
- 9Bridesmaids ignoring texts and not getting their dresses