Last updated 15:56, Monday, 08 December 2008

All eyes are on you as you take to the floor for your first dance – and for one Maryport couple it was a chance to surprise guests with a well-rehearsed dance routine.

Nicola Naylor and Richard Askew who performed a dance from the film Dirty Dancing on their wedding day

• Slideshow: Nicola Naylor & Richard Askew wedding

The song they danced to was one Nicola Naylor had always dreamed of dancing to – (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes from the film Dirty Dancing.

Her dream came true when she married Richard Askew on August 16 this year.

Nicola, 25, said: “I love the film Dirty Dancing and it was my dream to be able to do the dance on my wedding day.

“When I first had the idea I had not heard of other couples doing the same thing, but it has become quite a popular idea now.”

Nicola’s colleague from Debenhams in Workington, Carly Birkett, has been dancing since she was two and offered to give the couple lessons.

“She watched the film over and over again to work out the dance steps,” said Nicola. “Richard was quite apprehensive about the idea to start with.”

Eight weeks before the wedding, they started to learn the dance, with Carly teaching them in Parton village hall for an hour a week until the final weeks before the big day when they spent longer practising.

Nicola and Richard, who works at Armstong Watson in Penrith, hadn’t learned to dance before.

Nicola said: “At the start I thought we would never be able to do it, but once we got going and our confidence increased everything was fine.”

The lift part of the dance was one of the biggest challenges for the couple.

“We didn’t try to do the lift until the week before the wedding,” she said. “The first time we did it everything was fine and then we practised it 10 times.”

On the wedding day the couple, who have been together nine years, had a final secret practice before they took to the floor at Broughton Craggs Hotel, near Cockermouth.

Once guests realised what they were doing, they started clapping and climbing on chairs so they could see them dancing.

Richard, 28, persuaded his two best men, Andrew Barton and Craig Pickering, to join in at the end of the dance and two of Nicola’s bridesmaids, Sarah Butler and Kirsten Jeffrey, also joined in.

Nicola said: “I was enjoying the day so much that I didn’t feel nervous. It was a great feeling when everyone started to notice what we were doing.”

To view the dance, visit www.cumberland-news.co.uk.