The history of the Signature Honeymoon Dance Competition

Many entertainers have asked me about my "signature honeymoon dance" and the whole story is rather interesting in how it started and then transformed over the years.

The honeymoon dance is actually a traditional dollar dance, with a twist. It started in 2011 as many people were asking me to do the dollar dance at their weddings. Back then, and now, we had two packages for weddings, the classic and the signature. The signature package had extreme personalization in it requiring more work on the back end, and the price difference was 500.00 more. In offering this package I also told the client I would make that money back for them on their wedding day, guaranteed! $500.00 was the goal.

Now a regular dollar dance on an average wedding of 100 people would generate about 100-150.00, that's normal. But when we execute a signature version, we pit the two sides of the wedding party against each other. In a traditional wedding (girl and boy bride and groom) it's boys versus girls, simple. I'll use that language for this blog even though girls marry girls now and guys marry guys too! The object is for one side to raise more money than the other, and that side is safe. The losing side does either a silly dance, or serenades the other side, and in most cases, it's positioned in the set to move right into the dance party and continue the dance floor fun. It's really simple!

To begin, have both sides of the wedding party come up, and explain to the party it's their job to make sure people are in line with money. Explain to the guests that the couple is hosting a dollar dance and they are keeping all the money raised and it's their opportunity to share a quick dance with the bride or groom. (Side note: it's now called honeymoon dance since 2014. That's the year I started selling Sandals and Beaches Luxury-Included (r) honeymoons and the money was to go towards paying for the honeymoon, and it sounds better!) Let them know they have about 10 minutes to join in, and then it's over!

We use upbeat fun songs, not ballads; it keeps the positive energy higher and makes for more fun. It's also more of a dance party versus slow turning ballads. By doing a competition, the wedding party is vested into getting money because they do not want to lose and do something silly. As an MC, you have to keep the flow going and let the wedding party know they need to keep getting people up with cash to dance and help their side.

Once you have done 2-3 songs maximum, you then have the sides count the money, tell you the totals and announce the winner. The losers now do whatever is planned and then you spin off into dancing. This process to this day generates at least 500.00 for the couple on the same 100 people wedding. Higher amounts in the past have been 800-1000.00, with the two highest being over 1100.00 and 1400.00...all in 15 minutes. Talk about paying for the difference! Key here is it's only available in the signature package again. The second key thing is that it's no longer a dollar dance, it's entertainment. The guests are involved, they paid, a lot of money too, and they want to see who wins and what they have to do. The pictures are great, all the guests are watching, involved, having fun seeing something different and the couple makes 3-5++ times the amount of money.

This is what a signature MC does, provides solutions to regular events and puts a spin on them making the overall outcome better for the guests, and in this case, sweeter for the couple. For more info on Signature MC tricks, email me at mark@markbrenneisen.com Happy dancing!