Dollar Dance Confusion!

Where I am from(Northeastern MA) you just give the money to either the bride or groom or the MOH or BM and just dance a few moments with the bride or groom.

I dislike the idea of it because I do not carry cash and it's awkward to do. We probably won't have one because it's not something we like.

I've only been to a few weddings and I've never seen this done but my FMIL insists that I do this for my wedding. She said that it's were the men pay money to dance with the bride, she said she wants me to do it so it's easy money to make. I just think it's tacky though, so I'm going to steer clear from this.

We just always have a basket or a satin bag that money gets put into before they come up to dance. Its a huge tradition in my family.. I remember doing it with my older cousins when I was little and it was so fun. I understand that its considered "tacky" nowadays but my family members are already mentioning it. I have one great aunt that has been known to plop in a couple hundred bucks in that bag.

I’m from central PA and the ones I’ve been to, someone usually has a bag to collect money and people donate what they want to the bag in order to dance with the bride and/or groom.

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That is similar to how we do it as well. Putting the dollar (or more in your aunt's case lol) in the satin bag. Do you do the shots and hankies after too?

I have never seen this happen at a wedding... but I am awesome they also fall under the general term money dance.

Can anyone explain these? I just assumed dollar dance meant what our tradition is.

I've only seen the money pinned on the wedding dress. Yes, I think dollar dances are very tacky. I've been to weddings where there weren't enough chairs or food for half of the guests. The couples invited so many people just to get money, and later boast about how much money they got. My husband and I refused to do a dollar dance.

In my Mexican family, we pin (literally) money to the bride and groom. I will be having a dollar dance but I think I'm gonna have my MOH or mom stand by and put it like in a bag or something, I don't want someone to accidentally poke me lol.

I'm from Pittsburgh and at most (not every) wedding I've been to they have one. My parents even had one when they got married in 1990. We don't tie the dollars into knots or anything though. Usually the maid of honor collects it in a bag or something, you dance with the bride for a few seconds to polka music (traditional in that area) while everyone stands around clapping to the music and then you usually get a shot of liquor and maybe a small favor or something. I live in Florida now and FH family is from here. I don't particularity like the dollar dance and it would be inappropriate to do with FH whole family around, as they are not familiar with it. As a child I loved the dollar dance, as an adult I'm not a huge fan of it so we are skipping it at our wedding. To keep some Pittsburgh tradition, we are having a huge cookie table along with our cake.

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That is crazy that the dollar dance really is different!! So they aren't all the same. This is so interesting to know.

Oh my I would be scared of getting poked as well!

Hey, PA friend! We're in Pittsburgh here, and my family is in south-central PA. Both my family, and FH's family expect us to do the dollar dance, so we're in a similar boat.

My family always just does a shot, pays $1, and each person dances with the bride or groom for 30 seconds or so, then someone taps them out. But that's it, then it's over.

FH's family is Polish and they do a more "authentic" version. People pay $1 for a shot, and then the guests start forming a circle around the bride. The groom has to bust through all of the guests to get to the bride. Very scary, haha.

But it leaves me with the question - should we just do the simplified version, or do the authentic version that his family did at their weddings? I like the simple version because it gives everyone the chance to check in with the bride and groom, dance a bit, and have some fun. But after a few drinks I think it would be super funny to have FH try and break through everyone.

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Yay!! Pittsburgh people!!

My finance's family is from Central Pa so they will be familiar with it.

So in the "authentic version" do they not dance with the bride and groom? We usually do a combination of all of the above. Pay a dollar, sometimes tied in knots, dance for 30 second, proceed to get your shot when you tap out, grab you hanky, clap and dance in a circle until the mom does the last dance, then try to block him out.

Oh I know!!! I have seen things get super rowdy when the guy tries to get in! My BIL was diving over people very aggressively!!

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I don't think they actually dance with the bride in the"authentic" version. It sounds like the polka music is playing, and they just start to form a circle around the bride.

I've been trying to find a video on YouTube just for my own reference of what to expect, but I can't find one!

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I can see that if you are not in the area. Especially after reading the boards how crazy against it some people are. Since we both come from the general area everyone in both our families is familiar with it and would expect it.

Our friends may be confused since many are out of state. However, you do not have to pay a dollar. You can still dance and take the shot. I've been to weddings where you have to track the money bag down. It is more for the fun of it for us!

I've never been to a friend/family wedding that did this, but I've worked a few that have. My experience with it, is usually in sweeping up the money afterward, LoL, so I've never been all that happy with it, nothing is more awkward then running after dollar bills for the bride and groom and putting the money into garbage bags (none of the ones I've seen have ever been prepared) while guests watch you. They throw dollar bills and are then cautious like we're going to pocket the money, trust me I don't want your singles...

My confusion comes from the fact that people spend a lot of money to attend a wedding, likely bring a gift, then are asked to give the couple more money.

Where I am from (Missouri) you give the money to the BM and MOH, who collect it during the dance and give it to the couple at the end. They facilitate the dance and let people know when to switch out.

You basically form a line and pay for the dance. Usually $1 or more and around here they will announce that you can get to the front of the line by paying an amount (usually $10-20).

Ive been to some wedding where it is just one song and others where it’s a few in a row if the line is long. Usually it is a slower song.

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I have never heard of getting to skip the line by paying more.

View Quoted Comment Every wedding I’ve been to since I can remember, we’ve had the dollar dance. It’s a traditional thing I guess and pretty normal in our family. So, we don’t see it as tacky either. I wouldn’t complain about a little extra money from great Aunt money bags either. 😂

In Colorado you pin the money on the bride and or groom