Wedding candles

I was at a meeting the other day and ran into Aimee from Wedding sites and Services. While talking I realized she had great information to share with brides. So I asked her out to share her knowledge on my wedding tips.

7 Tips to using Wedding Sites and Services guide:

1. Wedding Sites and Services (WSS) is the #1 event resource guide – It is free of editorial articles so you have the most room for event experts.
2. You can use WSS to plan all types of events – Weddings, Anniversary parties, Birthday parties, Corporate events, Bar mitzvahs and Bat mitzvahs.
3. WSS includes an event planning guide – Part of the guide includes questions to ask your wedding professionals about their services at the end of each section.
4. WSS also has designer wedding tools on their website- Aimee describes this as ‘our version of Pinterest’. You will find thousands and thousands of pictures from our Colorado weddings. You will be able to get those beautiful things that they see from our local venders.
5. WSS includes a list of all the bridal shows throughout the year– So you can meet face to face with local vendors. So if you are looking to go to something looking to go to an open house for a venue they’re going to find that on there.
6. Extra Expert tips – Aimee also explained we have a great features for blogs, articles, and press releases from all of our venders, and we’re constantly sharing the information that our venders have to provide.
7. Facebook – The Wedding Sites and Services Facebook page always has promotions going on.

3 Common wedding mistakes:

Holly and Craig at their wedding

1. Hiring friends and family-
   When you ask your friends or family members to handle major parts of you wedding like DJ’ing, photography, floral arrangements, being the day of wedding planner. By doing this you take them away from celebrating with you because they have a job during your event. They miss out on sharing your most special moments with you.
   Solution– Hire professionals to work the essentials at your wedding so your family and friends can be guests
2. Starting you planning process to late–
   Most people have buy lives, so give yourself more time than you think it will take. Wedding planning is a full time job on top of your day job. You could do it all in a month if you quit your job.
   Solution– If you are really busy, Hire a wedding planner.
3. Running the wedding on your own-
   This is another level of stress that you don’t need. You need to have someone there to orchestrate everything, and most importantly someone you trust. It’s not going to be your caterer, it’s not going to be your photographer, and it’s not going officiant. If you got your mom, your aunts, your maid of honor, taking care of coordinating day of, they’re not there to help you personally as a bride with getting dressed, putting on makeup on or any other personal needs.
   Solution– Hire a day of wedding planner to take the heat for getting everyone where they need to be and on time. Then enjoy your party.

Hospitalized wedding guests
Aimee also mentioned that the most touching wedding she planned was a hospital wedding. Here are some ideas to include your dearest family who are confined to the hospital.

1. Invite closest family for a ceremony in the hospital with you loved one.
2. See if they can be present with the assistance of nursing staff.
3. Include them through Skype with live streaming video.

Thank you so much Aimee Palifroni, Director of Sales, Colorado Wedding Sites and Services. You can contact her at 720.398.8298 office 720.939.3227 cell 303.484.4100 fax
aimee@sites-services.com<mailto:aimee@sites-services.com>

WeddingSitesAndServices.com<http://www.weddingsitesandservices.com/>

MitzvahSitesAndServices.com<http://www.mitzvahsitesandservices.com/>

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl,
contact:

Holly Collins
WEDDING DANCE instruction
DANCE LESSONS.
author of
Holly’s hot wedding tips, 
Historically Accurate Princess Dances,
Winner of the Knot best wedding dance,
Champion Ballroom Dancer & Coach
owner of
Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com

Transcript

(Holly à) Well good morning Aimee it is so good to have you here on Holly’s Hot Wedding Tips! (Aimeeà) Good morning thank you so much for having me. (Holly à) How long have you worked in the Wedding Sites and Services? (Aimee à) I’ve been working for the company since January, so the beginning of the year, but I was actually an advertiser for many years for different venues, so I was very familiar with both sides. (Holly à) How fun is that? That is exciting. What common mistakes do you see couples making when they’re planning a wedding? (Aimee à) The most common mistake that we see is people hiring friends or asking friends and family to take over pieces that really should be left to professionals. (Holly à) What do you mean? (Aimee à) Say your uncle is a DJ, or your aunt is gonna do your flowers, your mom is gonna take over all your day of coordination. Let the professionals handle those. (Holly à) What pieces are the most important pieces to let professionals do then? (Aimee à) Anything that’s gonna require taking away your friends and family from celebrating the day with you. So if your mom is taking care of all your flower arrangements, she has a job to do she’s not gonna be able to be with the bride while she’s getting dressed, help her put her makeup on things like that because she’s got a job now. So anything that’s going to require them to not be a guest at your wedding let the professionals handle that. Because that’s why they’re there that’s why you hire them so that they can take care of those things and take that stress from anybody who really should be there as a guest. (Holly à) So your guests can be guests and not workers at your event. So don’t run an event where you ask all your guests to bring potluck and move chairs for you and things like that. (Aimee à) there are certain things you can get away with, escpecially if you’re on a budget and doing a potluck or a Bar b que or things like that. (Holly à) That still makes your guests workers they’re not truly guests they’ve now worked. (Aimee à) Exactly. (Holly à) Interesting, what’s the best tip you have for a couple planning a wedding? (Aimee à) Start early, (Holly à) How early? (Aimee à) Most engagements are around 18 months. Now of course not everybody is going to have that much time if they are on a time crunch or if there is a specific venue only has a specific date booked, but try to give yourself as much time as possible. We have lots of other things going on in our lives and that’s why wedding planning takes a long time, because you can’t quit your job and plan your wedding. You know, if you could do that then you could probably plan it in under a month, but it is almost like taking on a second job, so the most amount of time you can give yourself is best. (Holly à)Excellent! What don’t couples know about using the wedding sites and services guide that you would like them to know? (Aimee à) Absolutely. We are so much more than just a magazine. We really are the number one resource guide in Colorado. We’re set apart from the other magazines because we don’t have the articles and editorial. It’s really a resource guide for you to use from start to finish, to plan any type of event. Much more than weddings anniversary parties, birthday parties, corporate holiday parties, bar and bat mitzvah. Anything, any type of event you’re looking to plan in Colorado this is going to be your number one guide, but really what people don’t know all the time is go and check out our website. We have so many more resources on the website, and the magazine and the website really work hand in hand. So, on the website you’re going to find our designer wedding tools. Which basically is our version of Pinterest. They’re going to find thousands of thousands of pictures from our Colorado weddings. They’re going to be able to actually get those beautiful things that they see from our local venders. We also list all the bridal shows that happen throughout the year. So if you are looking to go to something looking to go to an open house for a venue they’re going to find that on there. We also have a great feature for blogs, articles, and press releases from all of our venders, and we’re constantly sharing that information that our venders have to give. A lot of the time the do give always. They can check out our Facebook page. We’ve always got promotion going on. (Holly à) Excellent! So they should go like you on Facebook. (Aimee à) Absolutely! (Holly à) How fun! What is the most unusual wedding that you’ve ever been on (Aimee à) The most unusual wedding that I’ve ever worked on was actually at Craig Hospital. It has a very sad back story, but it ended up being a very beautiful celebration. There was an unexpected death in the family. The bride’s father was at Craig Hospital. He was paralyzed. So the wedding that they had been planning for a year for about three hundred guest all got changed in the blink of an eye. So we worked very hard to move everything as much as we could. Scale that down to just friends and family. We were to have that wedding at Craig Hospital (Holly à)Wow! (Aimee à)And her father was able to take her down the aisle (Holly à)Really? (Aimee à) From his wheel chair. Defiantly the most unusual, but one of the most rewording as well. (Holly à) Wow that is amazing! What questions couples should be asking that they don’t know to ask? (Aimeeà) I think “who runs everything” is the best question to ask. So again the day of, if you got your mom your aunts, your maid of honor, taking care of all these things, they’re not there to help you personally as a bride with what your needing. (Hollyà) You wouldn’t recommend the bride to run everything herself? Because I see that some times. (Aimeeà) That’s never going to happen. (Hollyà) Well it does, and I’ve seen it. (Aimeeà) Yeah (Hollyà) An interesting…It creates its own problems. (Aimeeà) And it dose. It gives you another level of stress that you don’t need. (Hollyà) I mean I saw a bride that she and her groom decided they were going to run everything day in they didn’t have a coordinator day out and she lost her itinerary, and then they just started winging it. The champagne sat on the table for two hours because it didn’t get to the toast. (Aimeeà) Yeah you definitely need to know who is there to orchestrate everything. It’s not going to be your caterer, its not going to be your photographer, it’s not going officiant (Hollyà) Yeah. They ended up an hour behind because the photographer had to go and find all the family members. (Aimeeà) Right, and the photographers job is to capturer those moments and take those pictures.(Hollyà) They started with the bride and groom. Took those pictures and then was like where is everyone else (Aimeeà) Yeah. (Hollyà) It was herding cats.(Aimeeà) Having a day out planner is one of the most important thing that I think you could do, because you’re dedicating somebody to run everything, to make sure your venders are there on time, to make sure you’re sticking to a plan. Probably the biggest complaint that I hear from guest is that everything took to long. There is too much down time in between events. There is a lot of lag, so keeping on your schedule knowing when you’re going to have your first dance, when you’re going to cut the cake. When you’re going to do your toast and keeping that flow moving makes it a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable for your guest. And then once those things are done you have the rest of the night to have fun. (Hollyà) Right. Right. What is the most memorable wedding you have worked? (Aimeeà) The most memorable would be a gay couple I worked with a couple of years ago and it was just a beautiful celebration. One of the grooms his parents were not accepting and so they decided that they were not going to come and celebrate with them. About two weeks before they decided they were going to come. So during the toast the mother stood up and everybody was kinda on the edge of their seats waiting to see exactly what she was going to say since she had recently had a change of heart. And it was. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. She was very candid moment. It was just about her realizing how much love was in the room for these two people, and that that was all that really mattered. So having them be able to have a beautiful celebration, and truly have all their friends and family there. Just really made it a memorable occasion. (Hollyà) Excellent! Well thank you so much. I’m so thrilled to have you here. (Aimeeà) Thank you Holly I appreciate it!

The post 7 planning guide tips and 3 wedding mistakes on Holly’s Hot Wedding Tips first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

Recently I made my daughter a mermaid tail to swim in. When it was done, I wondered if anyone had made a swimming Ursula octopus. After looking online, I found no one had done one yes. So I went down to my sewing room and I made one. After putting it together, I have decided to share what I have found. Happy swimming!

Ursula Octopus Supplies:

1. Dress Pattern with 6 panels
2. Chalk
3. Approximately 2 yds. Of stretch or swim fabric, ( I used black stretch velvet and purple sparkle lycra)
4. Peanut worms
5. A package of black waistband elastic
6. A backless bra
7. Leggings to set into the internal waist.

Ursula Octopus Directions:

1. Lay out your pattern for a floor length sheath 6 panel dress.
2. Lay out your fabric doubled over, place your pattern over it, and follow the pattern directions for cutting.
3. Put your pattern together according to the directions sewing the seams to the bottom of your bum, and leave the rest open, like car wash strips
4. Fold the strips in half and measure up to where the seam ends a diagonal line from bottom to top. Repeat on the purple fabric.
5. With right sides together sew the purple and black together forming eachtentacle. Repeat on each on until all 6 are done.
6. Try it on to be sure it fits!
7. Face the top of your octopus with elastic so it stays in place in the water.
8. Put your backless bra on and pin in place, using its straps as straps for the dress.
9. Slip on the legging and pin where the waist hit on the dress. Tack in place.
10. Fill each tentacle with water resistant peanut worms. You can tell if your worms are water solvable by licking one, or running under water.
11. Zig zag closed each tentacle.
12. Take it for a swim!
13. Remember you are now part of the sea hag society where old age and experience wins out over youth and enthusiasm. Swim on!

Holly Collins
WEDDING DANCE instruction
DANCE LESSONS.
author of
Holly’s hot wedding tips, 
Historically Accurate Princess Dances,
Winner of the Knot best wedding dance,
Winner of top 50 Dance Blogs
Champion Ballroom Dancer & Coach
owner of
Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com
For dance tips,
join my email

The post How to make a swimming Ursula octopus, Sea witch or Sea hag Costume first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

dancer wedding gown

with Brilliant Bridal on Holly’s Hot Wedding Tips

Every girl dreams about her wedding gown. From playing dress up in lacy flowy dresses to drawing pictures of them. Dress shopping for your wedding is the most exciting dress up a lady can do.

I traveled to Denver to meet with Malea from Brilliant Bridal to find out more about picking your perfect wedding gown. Malea has always loved wedding gowns, from sketching them in her homework margins to getting excited with brides about finding their dream dress. Brilliant Bridal is all over stock and discontinued dresses, so brides get amazing designer gowns brand new at a really reasonable price.

Wedding gown tips:

1. Do be open– don’t tell yourself, “I have to try on only this style.” Wedding gowns fit totally different than regular clothes. So be open to letting your stylist help you find the right dress and be open to the idea that it might be different than you expected.
2. Don’t take too many people with you to your wedding dress appointment. Too many opinions can overwhelm and frustrate you.
3. Know your budget. Be up front with you stylist, say- “This is what’s comfortable for me.” Then we can pull you the right things for you and keep within your budget.

The hottest trends in Wedding gown for 2015:

1. Lace! It is classic, it’s traditional, it’s something you mom wore your grandmother wore, and you get to wear it too. Lace it has been updated and its modern and beautiful.
2. Flowy romantic dresses! Look for a lot of tulle and things that can move really beautifully.
3. Great neck lines! Not everything is strapless anymore. You are going to see straps, illusion neck lines, and a little sleeve. You get a lot more options.
4. Not just white. We have Ivories, and champagnes, and blushes, and grays, and blues. Your options are more open on colors.
5. Hottest selling color– a darker ivory. It compliments more skin tones.

Unique wedding Ideas:

1. Design your own gown. I had a bride who took the bottom of one dress, the middle of another dress, and a top of one dress and combined it into her own custom gown. She then designed all the custom wedding pieces around her gown. It all started with the dress and did not look like anybody else’s wedding.

While I was talking with Malea she told me about an amazing wedding in an apple orchard. Here are some tips for an

intimate wedding in an apple orchard.

Apple orchard

1. Set up your tables and chairs all the way down in one long table all the way down the length of the apple orchard. So when people came in it was one long table and was just really beautiful and special. It felt more intimate because everyone was at one table.
2. Include bobbing for apples,
3. Use jars of apple Jelly as table #’s
4. Carmel apple wedding Favors
5. Apples separating the tiers of the cake.
6. Serve apple cider

Best wedding tip:

Don’t forget this is about a whole marriage. We’re not just talking about one day. It’s a lifetime together so just keep that perspective when planning your wedding.

Thank you so much Malea from Brilliant Bridal. You can contact her Brilliant Bridal 326 S. Broadway Denver, CO 80209 720-420-0858 https://www.brilliantbridal.com/

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl,

contact:

Holly Collins
WEDDING DANCE instruction
DANCE LESSONS.
author of
Holly’s hot wedding tips, 
Historically Accurate Princess Dances,
Winner of the Knot best wedding dance,
Champion Ballroom Dancer & Coach
owner of
Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com

Transcript:

(Holly à) Good morning Malea! I’m so happy to have you here on Holly’s hot wedding tips and here at your beautiful bridal shop. (Malea à) Thank you! (Holly à) So first question is that I’m gonna drop on you is what inspired you to open a dress store? (Malea à) I have always loved wedding gowns, I used to sit in class and sketch them and I’m not a designer and I will never be a designer that is above me. But, I’ve always wanted to do it and when I was trying on my gown I went to a couple of stores and I felt like people working with me weren’t excited for me and I was like, “I’m getting married! Somebody be excited!” And I was like, well I could be excited for people, so I’ve been in the wedding industry for years and years and years. I just recently opened brilliant bridal, what I love about brilliant bridal is the concept. So, we’re all over stalk and discontinued dresses and the great thing about that is I can sell them at a discount because I get them at a discount. So brides get designer gowns, perfect gowns, brand new but at a really good price. (Holly à) Awesome and one of a kind right? (Malea à) Yes, and there’s only one dress in the store so you’re gonna be the only one in Colorado that’s gonna take that dress and wear it, so that’s pretty special too. (Holly à) Sweet. That’s really good. So what’s the most valuable tip you have for a bride and groom getting married? Seeing as you’re in the wedding industry. (Maleaà) I think one of the most valuable tips I can leave with brides and grooms is, don’t forget this is about a whole marriage. We’re not just talking about one day. It’s a lifetime together so just keep that perspective when planning your wedding because it can be really overwhelming really fast and there are so many decisions to be made but if you remember the end goal is to be married at the end of it, then it makes it all a little bit easier. (Holly à) Awesome, what tips do you have for brides picking their wedding gown. (Maleaà) On their wedding gown. Lots of tips. Be open, don’t tell yourself I have to try on only this style because wedding gowns fit totally different than regular clothes. So be open to letting your stylist help you find the right dress and be open to the idea that it might be different than you expected. Don’t take too many people with you to your appointment. Too many opinions can be really overwhelming really quickly. And I would say kind of have an idea of where you want to be price point and be really open with you stylist say, “This is what’s comfortable for me.” So we can pull you the right things and keep within the budget. (Holly à) Awesome. Those are great tips. What is the most unique wedding you’ve ever done? (Maleaà) I had a bride who took the bottom of one dress, the middle of another dress, and a top of one dress and combined it into her own custom piece gown and then had it for her wedding. Which ended up being incredibly custom and unique and different but it all started with the dress. It all started with her really focusing on what she wanted and knew that what she wanted wasn’t in one piece it was going to be a lot so then that spilled over into everything for her wedding and had a really custom wedding that nothing looked like anybody else’s wedding. (Hollyà) That is exciting, how neat. What is the most romantic wedding you have ever done? (Maleaà) you know there are so many romantic weddings you have gotten to be a part of but have to say one of my favorites was in an apple orchard. (Hollyà) Apple Orchard how fun. (Maleaà) Yeah, and the bride and groom set up their tables and chairs all the way down in one long table for 250 people all the way down the length of the apple orchard (Hollyà) WOW! (Maleaà) so when people came in it was one long table and was just really beautiful and special and even though there were so many people, it felt a little bit more intimate because we were all at one table. It was really fun. (Hollyà) Wow how fun was that. (Maleaà) Delightful. (Hollyà) So what are the hottest trends in dresses? (Maleaà) the hottest trends in dresses for 2015 Lace is a big trend it is classic it’s traditional it’s something you mom wore your grandmother wore, and you get to wear it too. But it has been updated its modern it’s beautiful, and I would say another trend in bridal right now is a lot of romance and flowy dresses. (Hollyà) Great, flowy how fun. (Maleaà) a lot of tulle and thing that can move really beautifully. So those are great trends right now. (Hollyà) Great. (Maleaà) another trend is not doing just white. We have Ivories, and champagnes, and blushes, and grays, and blues, and so your options are more open on colors (Hollyà) So, you have different colors, Wow! Which is the hottest selling color? (Maleaà) Oh, like, a darker ivory, most people can’t where White it’s too harsh. (Hollyà) Good option, Right. (Maleaà) And another is great neck lines so not everything is strapless anymore. (Hollyà) Good. (Maleaà) you are going to see straps, you are going to see illusion neck lines, you are going to see a little sleeve, so you get a lot more options up front to. (Hollyà) Awesome great trends. (Maleaà) Thank you.

The post 5 dress trends, 3 Gown tips, & Apple orchard weddings with Brilliant Bridal on Holly’s Hot Wedding Tips first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

Fun and finery can be found on the side of the mountain in Larkspur. Saturday my family and I journeyed to

hobbit and fairy

the Colorado Renaissance festival to check out their Love and marriage weekend. We donned our hobbit wedding outfits as Samwise Gamgee and Rosie Cotton from “Lord of the Rings.”

The day started with the pre-show at the castle gate. Promptly at 10 am the gates opened as the full orchestra played. We stopped and danced a jig of happiness as they played. We proceeded to check out many of the new acts. At 1 pm the royal court processed through the fair.

Besides being known for turkey legs and jousting, the Colorado Renaissance festival hosts weddings and vow renewals in their Canterbury chapel, just uphill from the Joust. This is a quaint chapel is an oasis in the hustle and bustle of the fair where lovers can exchange their vows and be wed.

We joined the other fairgoers and members of the royal court at 3:30pm for the renewal of

Exchanging of vows as Rosie Cotton and Samwise Gamgee

the vows. Maids were handing out red roses and ribbons to be used in the vow exchange. The officiant arrived in his kilt and cap and led the royal court to the front of the chapel where he invited everyone to participate in their renewal of their vows. At the end the rose was handed to the ladies and it was optional to tie the knot with the ribbon around the couple’s hands. It was a lovely experience. I recommend lovers young and old take advantage of this joyous event.

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl,
contact:

Holly Collins
WEDDING DANCE instruction
DANCE LESSONS.
author of
Holly’s hot wedding tips, 
Historically Accurate Princess Dances,
Winner of the Knot best wedding dance,
Champion Ballroom Dancer & Coach
owner of
Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com

The post Find Love and Renew your Vows at the Colorado Renaissance Festival on Holly’s Hot Wedding Tips first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

and Wedding Dance

Hustle in and Club dance with a partner. The hustle ushered back the romance of touch dancing to the Disco scene. This all American dance is great to take out on the town to any nightclub or social occasion.

Hustle history

Hustle began in the Disco’s. Discotheques means a record library. Discotheques began in Paris in the late 1940’s. The first Disco in New York was called “Le Club” and by 1965 there were over 5,000 in America.

Hustle is the Dutch word for “shake” and a hustler is someone who shakes you up to pick your pocket. In America, hustle refers to a ‘go getter’. The Hustle dance began in the Latin Harlem of New York around 1972 and quickly took over the Discotheques.

Young people would gather at Disco’s to compete in dance and exchange ideas. Recorded Disco music would be played between sets and the youth would combine moves from Mambo, Salsa, Cha-Cha and Bolero. In “The Grand Ballroom” in 1973 and new touch dance was developing. This simple 6 count dance was a return to touch dance, romance, and a way to meet ladies.

By 1975 Marty Angelo created the first all disco television show, Disco step by Step. Van McCoy recorded “the Hustle” after sending his partner to check out the “Adam’s Apple” club in New York. “The Hustle” Was the number one hit by July of 1975. Other popular Hustle songs include “I Will Survive” Gloria Gaynor, “Last Dance” – Donna Summer, and “Night Fever” – Bee Gees.

In 1977 Hollywood caught the disco fever. “Saturday Night Fever” hit the theatres and accelerated the Hustle dance craze across America. There were many kinds of Hustle, and they include but are not limited to the Latin Hustle, the New York Hustle, the Line dance Hustle (even the Electric slide came out disco and Merengue) and the Tango Hustle, created by the cast for “Saturday Night Fever.” The Hustle was here to stay.

TV shows picked up talented Hustle dancers. Eddie Vega with his partner Lisa Nunziella Hockley won the Ed McMahon Star Search. Many other great dancers gathered to get down and Hustle.

Characteristics:

The Hustle is similar to the rock and roll swing, however it is danced more in a slot and begins with the rock step. Swing dancers had an easy time picking up the hustle in the 70’s. The Hustle is a fast smooth dance that draws partners together, then apart. Turns, spins, and wraps are then added to the Hustle basic. As dancers advance they use syncopated timing and fakes along with elaborate arm styling.

Hustle is danced to fast contemporary music in 4/4 timing, at a rate of 104-121 beats per minute. It can be danced to a 4 count, 1,2,3,4, but it is most common to dance it to the syncopated 3 count, & 1, 2, 3. The syncopated Rhythm will not break on the musical phrase.

Overview:

1. Hustle is an all American dance
2. Hustle originated in New York
3. Hustle is a partnership dance and also a line dance
4. Hustle begins with the rock step
5. Hustle is a fast smooth dance that draws partners together, then apart.
6. Hustle is danced to fast contemporary music
7. 4/4 time, at a rate of 104-121 beats per minute.

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl,
contact:

Holly Collins
WEDDING DANCE instruction
DANCE LESSONS.
author of
Holly’s hot wedding tips, 
Historically Accurate Princess Dances,
Winner of:
The Knot Hall of Fame best wedding dance instruction,
top 50 Dance Blogs
Champion Ballroom Dancer & Coach
owner of
Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com
For dance tips,
join my email

The post Hustle-A Popular Social and Wedding Dance first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

Alyona and Ryan Wedding Dance Graduates

Couple: Alyona Gemeleva and Ryan Watkins
From: Thornton
Wedding Date: July 15^th, 2015
Venue: Dominican Republic
Wedding Colors:
Song: “You’re My Number One” Enrique Iglesias
Dance: Viennese waltz
Special notes: Their honeymoon is in France.

Thank you all for being a blessing in our lives! Dance with happy feet now and forever. Do feel free to leave a comment, or let us know how your wedding went. I love hearing about in and seeing the pictures after! Always feel free to send pictures.

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl,
contact:

No High School sway wedding dance class

Holly Collins

Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com

The post Alyona Gemeleva and Ryan Watkins Dance Graduates at Adventures in Dance summer 2015 first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

I love castles and enchanted locations, I have been exploring castles in Colorado since 2008. This week I had the opportunity to meet with the wedding coordinator Anasa Shank from the Cherokee Castle.

wedding white at Cherokee Castle

Anasa’s 3 top venue tips:

1. Know your venue restrictions.
   Cherokee castle is a museum and is under the Douglass county wildlife reserve restrictions. Open flame like candles and fireworks are not permitted, and no vehicles close to the castle entrance.
2. Ask about weather contingency.
   If you are planning on being outside will there be a tent available? Talk to your site planner about your vision and if it will work as well inside. Cherokee castle has 3 options, a large tent for 250 people, and a small tent for 200, and the great hall inside the castle.
3. Pick your team.
   Doing all your place cards, bouquets and centerpieces sounds like a good idea, but can become cumbersome vs. the outcome. Pick a good team of professionals that you love and trust to help you achieve your vision for your wedding day, then be stress free and able to enjoy it all. Always remember a day of coordinator to ensure a smooth flow.

Anasa Shank is the wedding coordinator for the Cherokee Castle, and I asked her what was the most unique wedding she had ever coordinated? She replied that it was a cat wedding. Here are the highlights of how this bride included her furry friends at her wedding, as well as other cat wedding tips.

Cat (or furry friend) wedding ideas:

1. As table centerpieces put a picture of each of your Cats
2. Post pictures of your favorite cat in front of your cake. You can also buy cat wedding cake toppers
3. Tuxedo cat place card holder
4. Cat wedding rings
5. Cat thank you cards
6. Include catnip in your Bouquet
7. White Satin cat faced slippers
8. Cat shaped candy dish.
9. Run a video of you with your furry friends.
10. Dance your first dance to “Memory” from Cats, “Everybody wants to be a cat”, or “What’s up Pussycat”

Thank you so much Anasa Shank, Wedding Planner at Cherokee Castle. You can contact her at 303-688-5555, or 720-627-7176, ashank@cherokeeranch.org www.cherokeeranch.org

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl,
contact:

Holly Collins
WEDDING DANCE instruction
DANCE LESSONS.
author of
Holly’s hot wedding tips, 
Historically Accurate Princess Dances,
Winner of the Knot best wedding dance,
Champion Ballroom Dancer & Coach
owner of
Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com

Good morning Anasa it’s so good to see you here at Cherokee Castle. I’m so glad to have you on my Hot Wedding Tips. Talk to me about the best pointers you have for brides and grooms getting married here at the castle? (Anasa à) Definitely, as far as vending goes it’s knowing all the details and restrictions for the vending. We’re very specific because we have a lot of fire restrictions, we cannot have any open flames, any sparklers, and fireworks, any sort of flammable items. (Holly à) Due to being a fire sensitive area or because of the preservation organization? (Anasaà) We are under a Douglass Wildlife Reserve. (Holly à) So whatever Douglas County says about restrictions that’s it huh? (Anasa à) It applies to us for sure. Also if we were to have any sort of fire issue it would affect the museum and the artifacts in the museum immediately so that’s our initial concern. So the fire restrictions are a big one, the second is we are a historic site so we cannot allow any cars at all drive up on the facility, it could damage the property. So everything that comes here has to be carted in from the parking lot. So that’s another big restriction that I tell people. You can’t drive up and drop off your grand piano. So anything that comes up here has to be carted or able to be carried. It’s a little restricted for caterers but they’re used to it. (Holly à) I’m sure they have lots of ways around it. What questions should brides and grooms be asking you? (Anasa à) Rain Plans, Ceremony site locations, Reception site locations, the biggest part of planning a wedding is being able to visualize the ceremony and reception. The last thing you want is to have a little rain and have to completely change your vision on your wedding. So ours is an outdoor ceremony, that’s plan A and we will do that no matter what if they want to be outside and if there is rain and you do want to do plan B it’s inside here. (Holly à) So you have the backup of inside the Grande room to be able to do your ceremony and then take your reception back out to the tent because you have the two huge tents on the property. One here right at the castle and then one further up the road. (Anasa à) We do yes. We have a smaller tent which can do about 150-200 and then the greater tent which can do up to 250. (Holly à) Wow that’s great! (Anasa à) So in terms of options you just have to be prepared. We had a bride last weekend and it started to rain and they had a horse and it had to stay outside. So she was in tears and it really needed to be outside so we waited and it was about 45 minutes but we had it outside and she was very happy. (Holly à) What’s the most unique wedding you’ve ever done here? (Anasa à) The most unique, I’m gonna have to say my cat wedding. (Holly à) Your cat wedding? Oh I have to hear this! Tell me about your cat wedding. (Anasa à) Well we had a bride that was in love with her cats. Those were her best friends, she had very few bridesmaids her cats were her life and her best friends. So on each table on each centerpiece it was a different cat picture, all about her cats. Even in front of her wedding cake was a picture of her cats. She wanted so desperately to have her cats there but unfortunately its our policy to have no animals on the property. (Holly à) So no animals with the exception you mentioned of the horse, you have the cows on property. (Anasa à) We have the cows, we are a working ranch I saw a couple cows this morning and stopped and took a picture of the cattle on the way up and there are tons of little babies that are adorable. But we can have horses so long as they are brought by a licensed horse caregiver so they bring their own liability insurance and we cover that through the license on the horse. (Holly à) Great. So you can have horses but not cats and dogs. (Anasa à) No domestic animals (Holly à) Domestic ok. (Anasa à) Yeah it’s kind of a personal preference after the ceremony after you leave, mainly because of liability, but if they don’t take the animals directly home we don’t want them heating up in the car. Our wildlife can be very domestic. (Holly à) Do you do dove releases here? (Anasa à) You can. (Holly à)Ok because they’re not domestic animal. Got it. What other special tips or interesting tid bits do you have for us? (Anasa à) Well I was thinking that through and what I would recommend for a bride and groom and I think the biggest issue that brides run into is that they’re trying to do it all. And they try to plan every single detail and try to do their own centerpieces and do their own escort cards and do their own bouquets and they get to be a little cumbersome vs the outcome. But I always recommend to bride and grooms pick your team, hire your team. (Holly à) Hire a team of experts, hire a coordinator at least. Its good to have a wedding coordinator throughout so that everything runs smoothly and you can attend your wedding and not run it. (Anasa à) So hire vendors that you love and you trust that understand your vision and let them do their thing. That’s what they do that’s their expertise. (Holly à) Excellent! Well thank you so much this is so wonderful.

The post Cherokee Castle venue tips and Cat wedding ideas, on Holly’s hot wedding tips first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

bishop’s castle

For the 4^th of July weekend my husband and I went camping. Our journey took us all the way to Bishop’s Castle in Rye Co. Rising up in the San Isabel National Forest is the artistic Bishop’s Castle. We stopped in and I had the pleasure of talking to Phoebe Bishop about wedding ceremonies at the castle.

The most unique wedding Phoebe remembers at Bishop’s castle was a backward western wedding. I looked up backward weddings and the order for this is to do the pictures to be first, the reception or party to be second, and the ceremony to be last. For the Phoebe’s western wedding the guests and wedding party all dressed in authentic western wear, then, they did everything in reverse. At the conclusion they jumped on their horses and rode off.

Phoebe’s Castle tips:

1. Wedding ceremonies are welcome at Bishop’s Castle
2. The castle is open to the public so be aware you will have extra audience for your vows.
3. You are responsible for your own set up and tear down.
4. You are welcome to set up the morning of your event. Ask Phoebe for some of her excellent decorating ideas. She has decades of experience with weddings at her castle.
5. You are welcome to set up the night before, but it is recommended to have someone spend the night with it to watch over it.
6. You will need to rent your own seating.
7. You will need to order an additional portable restrooms if you have more than 25 guests
8. No receptions.

To plan your castle ceremony you can contact Bishop’s castle at (719) 485-3040 http://www.bishopcastle.org/ and ask for Phoebe to plan your enchanted wedding experience.

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl contact:

Holly Collins
WEDDING DANCE instruction
DANCE LESSONS.
author of
Holly’s hot wedding tips, 
Historically Accurate Princess Dances,
Winner of the Knot best wedding dance,
Champion Ballroom Dancer & Coach
owner of
Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com

The post Backward Weddings at Bishop’s Castle on Holly’s hot wedding tips first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

ballroom dance flowers

Couple: Lainey Hawk & Ryan Dore
From: Highlands Ranch
Wedding Date: June 27^th, 2015
Venue: The Pines at Genesee
Wedding Colors: Navy, Coral, Beige
Song: 1) “I Dan’t Dance” 2) “Footloose” 3) “Honey I’m good” 4) “Uptown Funk”
Dance: a mix-up of County Swing , Line dance, country triple, music video moves
Special notes: Craig special cut their song’s for the dance and Holly researched extra line dances J We really look forward to working with them again. Check out their first dance video below.

Thank you all for being a blessing in our lives! Dance with happy feet now and forever. Do feel free to leave a comment, or let us know how your wedding went. I love hearing about in and seeing the pictures after! Always feel free to send pictures.

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl,
contact:

No High School sway wedding dance

Holly Collins

Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com

The post Lainey Hawk & Ryan Dore contend for best first Wedding Dance at Adventures in Dance first appeared on Adventures In Dance.

wedding music angel

Music can make your party. And picking the perfect music for your event can really express your personality. So I met with Suzanne Barlow from Masterful Musicians to get her advice on getting the best music for your wedding.

Tips for Booking live music

1. Volume— you may not need as many musicians as you think, your guests want to socialize, so keeping your volume to a level where your guests can talk over aids in the flow of your event.
2. You are the star. -Your music is there to support your event, not to be the center of your event. Pick musical groups that will not upstage the bride and groom.
3. What music and instruments make you happy? Make a list. Choose what makes you feel special.
4. Specific Song Selections – for music outside of a musician’s repertoire, make requests 3 months in advance to allow the music to be transcribed and the group to have the opportunity to rehearse your song. Some songs do not work for certain instruments. For instance, bagpipes have a limited range, and do not do rock and roll well. Work with your music coordinator to be sure your request will sound good with your chosen instruments.
5. Size of your Ceremony location– the length of the isle will determine how long your musicians need to play for each member of your wedding party to make it to the end. Also some family members could take longer, like grandma in a walker, or if your flower girl melts down. These are things to consider when planning how much time you will need your musicians.
6. The appropriate amount of Ceremony music.-Plan on 30 min of prelude while your guests are arriving, then another 20 min of ceremony and postlude music
7. Invite departed guests through a special song. Pieces of music that remind you of departed family can bring their memory to your event.

Reception music tips

1. Keep the volume and size of your group down. If your band is playing at the volume you would hear in a night club, it will drive some of your guest’s home early.
2. Pick music that will compliment many generations. All your guests want to celebrate with you. So having music that you enjoy intermixed with favorites for previous ages allows everyone to enjoy the party.

Thank you Suzanne Barlow for sharing your expertise. You can contact Suzanne Barlow with Masterful Musicians at 303-670-6756, 720-272-5742, suzanne@masterfulmusicians.com, http://www.masterfulmusicians.com . You can read the complete transcript below.

For more dance tips, join my email
or for personal wedding dance instruction, coaching or adult dance classes and lessons in Littleton located South of Denver, North of Highlands Ranch, West of Cherry Hills & Greenwood Village, East of Ken Caryl, contact:

Holly Collins
WEDDING DANCE instruction
DANCE LESSONS.
author of
Holly’s hot wedding tips, 
Historically Accurate Princess Dances,
Winner of the Knot best wedding dance,
Champion Ballroom Dancer & Coach
owner of
Adventures in Dance
720-276-0562
info@adventuresindance.com
www.adventuresindance.com

Transcript

(Holly à) Good morning Suzanne! (Suzanne à) Good morning Holly. (Hollyà) It’s so good to have you here from Masterful Musicians. How long have you been booking? (Suzanne à) Booking? Six years. (Holly à) Amazing! What got you into this? (Suzanne à) Well our youngest son is a master classical guitarist and he kept wanting help with gigs and I kept saying no. Because, I’d managed his life for 20 years and didn’t want to do it anymore and then we met so many musicians and the professors at DU that were all saying the same thing. That they needed help tracking, contracting, protecting themselves, and making sure the client got what they needed. (Holly à) Wow that’s interesting through DU what a fun group. (Suzanne à) Well they have an entrepreneurial office there and they really encouraged me to give this a try. (Holly à) Good how exciting! So you work with a lot of brides and grooms booking live music. What common mistakes do you see them making when trying to book live musicians for the event? (Suzanne à) They often think that they need to have far more music and musicians then they do. They’re not aware of the room size or the dynamics or the fact that grandma really wants to speak to her niece that she hasn’t seen. And that having overly loud music or too many instruments is going to keep the flow of the event and cause people to raise their voices rather than just enjoying the music and being part of the event. And bands are not usually for ceremony or cocktail they are but it’s not a show it’s their event and we’re there to support it. (Hollyà) So you’re supporting the bride and groom looking wonderful but you’re not taking over the show (Suzanne à) Never (Holly à) So you don’t want a group that dominates that is so great that it upstages the bride and groom. You want something that compliments them. (Suzanne à) and actually fulfills the vision that they would like but they’ve never done this before and they want it to be so magnificent that they can over magnify (Hollyà) What is the best tip you have for a couple planning a wedding? (Suzanne à) Sit down and really think about what kind of music and what kind of instruments makes their hearts happy. This is their coming together and they should choose anything from steel drums to oboe. But it should be something that makes them feel special (Holly à) What don’t couples know about what it takes or how far in advance they need to book loud musicians or special songs. (Suzanne à) Special songs, we often get, often, almost everybody has a special request and for instruments like guitars it’s not as much of an issue if it’s a pop song. But transcribing a fully orchestrated country western song into a string trio takes about 12 to 15 hours of actual work. They have to break that song apart into melody tunes, harmony, and rhythm and make it work for three instruments rather than maybe 4 dominant instruments and eleven that you don’t really hear behind them behind the scenes. And it’s my job to listen to what the client wants and literally tell them, “I’m sorry that song is going to suck as a string trio. May I suggest an alternate set of instruments?” or an alternate song. But it usually takes 2 to 3 months to get a song transcribed by a professional and get it to musicians in time for them to rehearse it. (Holly à) How much time before for them to rehearse it? (Suzanne à) Usually it’s literally about 2 weeks ahead of time. Our musicians are working full time as musicians, they can read music quickly they get together usually once before a wedding and run through all the songs, how many people are walking? How long is the isle? Describe is grandma on a walker is she gonna take longer? What about your little ring bearers and flower girls? Are they gonna bail and melt down on the isle and do we need to keep playing until everyone get’s where they need to be? (Holly à) Right, those are good questions. I had not thought of that. (Suzanne à) Right, so there’s all these little things that we want to be prepared for so that the performance is seamless. (Holly à) Awesome. What questions should couples be asking that they don’t know to ask? (Suzanne à) They need to ask “Is this an appropriate amount of music?” I often get requests for 20 minutes of music because they don’t realize that it’s not just the five songs they’re gonna play during the ceremony. Our musicians are gonna play 30 mins beforehand while the guests are being seated, all of their special songs. Family songs, family favorites, the parents love song all these things that they can build into a ceremony and they have no idea that we can make it that personalized. And then another 10 or 15 minutes then our musicians have to get up and move to the cocktail parlor, not always, but most of the time and that is going to take a couple of minutes and so our clients have no idea on the timeline how long it takes our people to get to the top of the mountain. With all their gear, their sheet music, their music stands, their actual instruments, lighting sometimes, get set up be prepare for the guests as they arrive and then make it follow through right into the reception. And so those are questions that I wish our clients knew to ask but they never do. (Holly à) Well if it’s your first time planning events you don’t understand timelines. (Suzanne à)And so they don’t understand how the pricing is structured and so it is my job to try and explain why all these things cost what they do. (Hollyà) Right that makes perfect sense and then what about for the reception music? (Suzanne à) We do a lot of reception music but we also work along with DJ’s. And so it depends on the size of the wedding party and how many guests, I will often recommend a DJ if they love a variety of music that a string Quartet or quintet is not gonna be able cover in a beautiful way. My goal is for the client to get the wedding that they really want and not what someone else puts in their mind. (Hollyà) So you’re more classical musicians and less rock bands. (Suzanne à) Less rock bands, although we have several, we do blue grass, we do steel drum, we do violin music. But less of the large reception band and unless our client is gonna have anywhere from two to three hundred guests, chances are both their budget and the space they’re using a huge band for a reception all you’re gonna hear is the band. (Holly à)Right and you were mentioning earlier even during the reception you wanted people to be able to have conversations. (Suzanne à) Exactly and we do a lot of weddings and dinner music that maybe for 60 guests and under and our musicians will switch instruments because I guess these people play more than one, they all have their master’s degree, they will switch instruments from a jazz guitar to jazz guitar and upright bass and a saxophone and a keyboard. And have a small combo that still encourages people to celebrate as well as dance but we are not trying to recreate a club scene. Many clients don’t realize how many generations are going to be represented at their celebration and they’re only thinking of their friends and their peer group instead of the entire picture. (Holly à) Interesting so you need music that compliments multiple age groups not just your peer group. (Suzanne à) Exactly, we had one beautiful bride she wanted all raygay music all the time and I love raygay music and we can provide raygay music but you really want to put in a couple of jazz standards something from the 80’s something from the 90’s. people that something your little sister and your grandma can both enjoy at some point during the evening because you’re gifting a lot of this to your guests. (Hollyà) Right, that’s fabulous! What’s the most unusual wedding you’ve ever done? (Suzanne à) We’ve done a lot of unusual weddings. We’ve done an all beetles all the time wedding that was supported by a very large production company, it was called star keep productions at the time and they brought us in with basically a miniature orchestra with vocals and they had about 16 brides maids and grooms men actually stand on risers in the grand ballroom. They also had magnificent cover band which was not from us but they were magnificent, and they had like a hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of flowers hanging from the ceiling. And we came in with this little tiny part and I actually got to go to the rehearsal because most of the musicians that we have playing were playing in the symphony that night. So for the rehearsal I actually had to go and time how many sets it would take the grooms men and bride’s maids would take coming down a really long isle. We had violins at the bottom and top of the stair way greeting people and walking them in. and the family was hilarious they were so much fun and I’m literally standing there with a stop watch counting, “one, two, three…” and writing out this down so that the musicians knew how to loop the music and finish it out within a few seconds of each other. So that was an unusual one, and we’ve also done the steel drum and acoustic guitar recently for Wendy Bass at the Westin Westminster and people think, “Oh that’s all island music.” But it wasn’t they played jazz they played contemporary music and it was just two musicians but it was just right for what was happening during that event. So we do all kinds of fun weird things. (Hollyà) Was there one that was more memorable than the other? Or one where the memory just stands out? (Suzanne à) Well since I don’t go to the actual events our musicians would be better to answer that, but for me I remember there was two. One that the bride switched up her bridal processional from cannon in D to Puff the Magic Dragon on top of Veil Mountain with two classical guitars and that one made me cry because Puff the Magic Dragon was a special song to my children. And she said, “My daddy sang this to me before I went to bed for years and years.” And she wanted to surprise him and I said, “You do realize you’re going to be crying before you get to the end of the isle.” And she goes, “Yeah.” And I went, “Done.” So our musicians prepared this secretly came in and played and I guess it was absolutely lovely. So that’s one and then we had another wedding where there were the groom brought in a harp just for the prelude and just for his mother and he played a song that was played at his father’s memorial who had died something like 25 years before. And I was on the phone with this young man going, “Are you gonna make your momma cry?” and he goes, “Yes and no. But this brings my father with me to my wedding.” And so we had this other string trio that brought in the harp just for this one song which took about 15 minutes to play and it was just such a sweetness to include a member of the family that was not with us physically but could be brought in through the memories. (Hollyà) Aw how beautiful that’s amazing. (Suzanneà) So we do something like 120 wedding a year so you ask what are memorable ones and I’m like well I’m never on site but there are a few. (Hollyà) They are beautiful because as you were booking them you know this is a really touching emotional meaningful song. (Suzanne à) Yes, and all I did was email and talk on the phone. But I love being able to help someone that way. (Hollyà) Well thank you so much this was truly fabulous Suzanne. I look forward to hearing from you again later.

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