Mother/Son dance at wedding

[friedgold1]

I will be getting married in a couple of months and am helping to plan aspects of the reception. My mother has ALS and is able to stand for brief periods of time, but for the most part is seated in a chair or her wheelchair. This obviously makes the traditional Mother-Son dance difficult. I don't want to do anything that would make my mother feel uncomfortable, but I would also like to do something special with her as an alternative to dancing.

Have any of you dealt with this scenario and come up with a good option? Thanks for any suggestions you can offer!

 

[lgelb]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! You most certainly can dance with her, if she wants to. Bet she would love it.

Google "combi wheelchair dance" or "world para dance sport," where one person is in a chair and the other not. There are some very beautiful videos and pics. Of course, in your case you may want to do more of the work than what is shown.

Best,
Laurie

 

[WendyWooG]

Dance with her in the wheelchair if she is comfortable with it.
My daughter got married last September, I was in my power wheelchair but got into the dance floor and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I did warn people to watch out for the wheels though didn't want to damage the guests toes.

Wendy :-D

 

[JimInVA]

This was from the wedding reception for our niece. Pictured is our son (Jim) dancing with his Mom (Darcey) at the reception. This was a very special moment for both of them and it still comes up in conversation nearly 2 years later.

Jim

https://sharesync.serverdata.net/us/s/m5mTDB9LdxTTxph0Ol2xNS0033ddd7

 

[friedgold1]

Thank you all so much for your advice.

JiminVA -- that was beautiful. I really appreciate you sharing that with me. I'll certainly be talking with my mother to see what she would be most comfortable with.

 

[NothingButLove]

I just got married to my wife who has ALS. How do you get married to your wife? Well, we lived together for 25 years. March 1st, 2017 was our 25th anniversary of living together. On March 5th, 2017 we got married.

When discussing the traditional dances with the DJ, his suggestion was to fade the song out part of the way through. After fading the song out, the DJ would announce, "Ladies and gentleman, let's give a big applause for Mr. and Mrs. ___". This way, you don't have to dance for the whole 2 to 3 minutes of the song. Since your mom can still stand, this would probably work good. You should have someone ready with the wheel chair in case you need to fade the song out sooner than you thought. Nobody cares that you didn't dance the whole song. They clap, cheer and smile and everything is great.

Of course, me being the big strong man that I am, I told the DJ at the last minute to play the whole song without fading it out. Bad call... My wife is in a wheel chair but she can still lock her legs and "stand". (not on her own, but with me holding her up) Well, everything was going OK but I really didn't account for the weight of her dress and the added difficulty of holding her up in a tux. About half way through, her legs unlocked and I was carrying her full weight! I started sweating profusely. Next, I started signalling my nephew for the wheel chair. As she began to sit down, the DJ faded the song out and said, "Ladies and gentleman, let's give a big applause for Mr. and Mrs. ___". In the end, it all worked out.