How to Have the Perfect First Dance

When I was a little girl, I had images of myself and my husband doing a beautiful waltz as our first dance for our wedding.  Unfortunately, as the date of our wedding started to get closer I was reminded that my husband-to-be had two left feet and had never danced in his life. My aspirations of a vienze waltz worthy of the strictly final flew out the window.

However, Michael knew how important dance was to me and suggested that we did a surprise Charleston dance as our first dance as our guests would never suspect it. I was already taking on  huge craft project by making all the decorations and stationary for the wedding, I was not sure that I also had time to teach him to dance. 

To help Mike get the basic moves mastered, I put him in the trusty hands of Elena and Fiona and he attended the beginners Charleston course with MyCharleston. He quickly realised why I love the Charleston so much and I was impressed with how quickly he picked up the moves.

I caught him practising his Charleston everywhere, while doing the washing up, in the garden, brushing his teeth, you name it he was charlestoning. Not only did he perfect the basic Charleston, he was also doing the 1930s Charleston too! 

We practised in our living room, which at the time was filled with craft projects for the wedding, so we didn’t have much space. When it was sunny, we pracised in the garden, and our neighbours must have thought we were crazy.  Rehearsing together was so much fun, and was easily one of my favourite parts of wedding planning. We laughed so much and it was a great way to de-stress from all the difficult parts of wedding planning.

As the wedding drew closer, Mike started to get a bit nervous but I knew he was going to be great. The only people that knew about the first dance were the girls from Savoy Kicks, MyCharleston's dance troupe and I was so pleased that we had managed to keep it secret. 

Our first dance was one of our favourite parts of the wedding. The Charleston is the a perfect dance for us as it is silly and fun, and we just had such a great time performing it. Our guests were so surprised and they were all cheering and clapping the whole way through. As soon as we started Charlestoning, I could hear my sister scream, it was lovely to see our guests so happy.  When we did the lift in the middle of the routine, our friends and family all went wild.

We did our Charleston dance to ‘Yes sir that’s my baby’ by Firehouse Five plus two as this was the music that Mike first saw me perform with Savoy Kicks. Before the Charleston, we danced to a cover of The Book of Love by Airborne Toxic Event. Mike introduced me to the band when we first got together, and this song means so much to us.

After our first dance, my friends who run the company MyCharleston got all our guests on the dance floor and taught them how to Charleston. It was incredible to see all the people we love all doing the Charleston together. It was a great way to kick off our evening celebrations. No one could use the excuse that they could not dance to avoid joining in, as if Mike could do it. Anyone could do it.

How to get the perfect 1920s Bob

Having long thick blonde hair is far cry from the traditional flapper girl bob of the 1920s but when it came to our photo shoot earlier this year I needed to make my hair a lot shorter without taking a pair of scissors to it.

Usually for performances we tie our hair up with a Heidi roll which is perfect for events as it keeps hair in a place for energetic shows but when it came to the photo shoot we wanted to capture the 20s look in a more authentic way.

To make my hair bobbed I followed this guide where I divided the hair into two sections. Firstly, with the undercut I made a small bun then with the rest curled each section using moose and spray the night before the shoot.

In the morning I look all the clips out and brushed them out and clipped the curls into the bun. After a few cans of hairspray the look was complete and just about stayed in place.

Once the shoot was all over and all the clips were out, my hair decide to try another look and embrace my inner Bonnie Tyler…

Elena

Goodwood Vintage Revival

When you run a vintage business, you might think the last thing you want to do with your day off is go to a vintage event, but not me! I’ve heard of Goodwood Revival and this year I finally went with a group of friends.

We had all carefully planned our outfits but when it came to the festival itself no one knew what to expect. Surprisingly, a lot of people still seem to be in the dark about Goodwood Revival, so here is my guide to this event.

Central to the day is the car racing, but if the idea of vintage cars revving their engines and doing laps doesn’t appeal, don’t worry there’s lots more to do and see. 

Our day started in the Butlins tent, which we’d ducked into to shelter from the rain. All the staff were dressed in 1950s Butlins uniforms and they had a roller disco with skates which were free to hire. We popped them on and soon discovered that our skating skills had somewhat diminished since we were twelve years old!

We then went for a wander, admiring as we went the wonderful vintage outfits on display. If you’re thinking of going then you should know this is most definitely a dress-up event. On display were the full range of vintage styles, from land-girls (very practical for that days weather) to sixties chic and some super stylish 30s, 40s and 50s inspired outfits. A quick stop for the loo (and it was quick, the facilities were spotless and we felt extra happy to see the men queuing while the women didn’t have to wait!), then we crossed over the bridge into the main site.

Now none of us our petrol heads but the array of vintage vehicles had us all oohing and posing for pictures by these fabulous old cars. We then found an area with live music by a wonderful band called the The Class of 58  they are a family outfit and really got the crowd going with songs like Hand Jive.

More wandering took us to the fabulous Betty’s Vintage Hair and Beauty Salon where you can get your vintage makeover.  The vibe was so friendly; when my sister used the mirror to fix her hair one of the ladies offered to style her for free!

The whole day was full of similar friendly encounters and if I were to rate this festival on friendliness it was a definite 10 out of 10. Other activities on offer were dance classes in swing and jive, fairground rides (all included in the price of your ticket) and a fashion show that was brilliantly staged with dance, projections and of course amazing outfits.

After a fun-packed day we took the free shuttle bus back to Chichester station and met even more lovely people on the journey.  So we had a final drink with our newfound friends (a group of BA pilots no less) before catching the train home. All in all a great day out and excellent value for money.

Fiona