...or wherever the heck it came from! When I remarried and moved to Central Illinois (from KS), my in-laws held a reception for everyone and we had the dinner, dancing, etc. There I was, in my wedding dress, enjoying myself, when I was informed that it was time for the dollar dance. The WHAT? Seems I was supposed to dance with every single male in the building, for a dollar. I was appalled! I told my new dh that there was no way I was going to do that, and then he pointed to the line forming, of men grinnng and waving money at us... I had no choice. I hated every minute of it! I'd never, ever heard of such a tradition where I came from, but it seems pretty common around here.

By Vicki on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - 10:50 am:

I don't know where it came from, but the weddings I have been (and my own), it isn't only single men, it is all men. LOL And all women dance with the groom also.

By Tink on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - 10:52 am:

It's called the Money Dance and is a bit different here but yep, we do it too. The bride dances with different men while holding a purse and men that want to can dance with the bride after giving her money to use for the honeymoon. The future father in law and sometimes godfathers usually uses this dance to contribute a couple hundred dollars to the newlyweds.

I hate this dance too, but I've seen it performed at small, casual weddings and at some fancy formal affairs so I think it's a pretty common thing in this area.

By Kernkate on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - 11:52 am:

Here we also have the Money Dance but everyone at the reception dances with the bride, the father of the bride is last and when everyone is done they form a big circle around the bride and her Dad, then her new husband has to get into the circle and take his new bride. Just a traditions around here I guess.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - 11:58 am:

I've never seen it myself!

By Hlgmom on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - 12:28 pm:

It is pretty common here too- though I did not do it!

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - 12:38 pm:

I've heard of it being done, although don't recall even seeing it done at any wedding I've attneded!

By Hol on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 12:06 am:

They do it here, too. My DD didn't want to do it either. She thought it was tacky. However, the same thing happened at her wedding. People started lining up. Once she relaxed, we all had a good time.
My oldest DS married a girl from the West Virginia/Ohio area. It is coal mining country. They had a custom I had never seen. Shot glasses of alcohol were lined up in a tray. If you were a man, you paid a dollar, took a shot and danced with the bride. If you were a woman, you did the same, only danced with the groom. Many people kept getting back in line, so they got a little intoxicated.
The other custom they had was that the guests would throw all of their pocket change into the middle of the dance floor. The bride would put on an apron. The groom would sweep up the floor with a broom and dustpan, and put the money into her apron. All the while, the older women banged pan lids on pans. It happened after the "shot glass" thing, so it got pretty silly. People were throwing in their car keys, etc. Even though DH and I are not drinkers, we had a good time.

By Pwmamma on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 03:29 am:

We have the 'Money Dance' in CA too! We always do it at weddings and it's never a 'scandalous' thing for us. All the guys dance with the bride, and all the girls dance with the groom...even down to the toddlers and little girls standing on the groom's shoes! We always pin the dollars on their clothes with safety pins. It was always a fun family thing that gave the new couple some extra cash, for us! But then again, we also have backyard weddings and potluck weddings, lol.

By Karen~moderator on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 07:40 am:

It is done and accepted here but I didn't do it either.

By Dana on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 11:28 am:

I've never even heard of it!

By Tonya on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 11:37 am:

We do it here. All of the time. We wil ldo it at ours. It is fun and exciting and always give teh bride and groom extra cash for the honeymoon. For us it wil be cash to replenish after the honeymoon. Our wedding and reception are 2 weeks apart with honeymoon in the middle.

By Marcia on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 08:08 pm:

I've seen it at Italian weddings, and maybe Portuguese.

By Reds9298 on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 08:38 pm:

We also have the money dance here, but it seems like it's gone "out" in the last few years of weddings I've been to. It was really "in" when we got married 8 years ago, but we didn't do it because I thought it was tacky and sounded very boring.

I've been to two weddings with money dances and I thought it was a big lull in the fun.

By Hol on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 09:45 pm:

Nicole - I LOVE backyard weddings and potluck weddings!! Sometimes they are the most fun. Of course, I live in a rural area.
When my cousin got married the year before I did, it was a VERY hot day for June. So hot, that her pregnant matron of honor passed out in front of the church during the vows. After the wedding, we had sandwiches, punch and cake in the fellowship hall of the church. Then, we all went to the bride's parents house, changed into shorts, and had a barbeque and played volleyball, badminton etc. It was great.
A friend of ours comes from a real big family, two brothers and six sisters. They had a nice church ceremony, and then we went to the American Legion hall, where all of his sisters had done the food. There was a DJ, dancing and fun.
Weddings have gotten so outreageously expensive, its nice to have options.