Wedding Guests Go Wild After Bride and Groom Surprise Crowd with Electrifying Grease Dance at Reception (Exclusive)

A bride and groom’s wedding reception was electrifying!

Natalie Chernow, 35, and Jesse Rodriguez, 45, channeled their inner Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) and Danny Zuko (John Travolta) at their wedding reception on Oct. 26 at Royal Palms Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona, when they broke into a choreographed dance to “You’re the One That I Want” from the 1978 musical Grease.

The high-energy, flirty routine happened immediately after the couple’s traditional first dance as a surprise to their 140 wedding guests. Social media users were just as wowed, as a video of the special surprise, filmed by Chasing Mozart Wedding Films, went viral on Instagram with over 1.5 million likes.

“They went nuts!” Chernow tells PEOPLE. “It was the only element of the entire wedding that was a complete surprise — we didn’t tell a single person. The DJ was the only one who knew.”

She continues, “My parents LOVE Grease, so I was staring at them the whole time as they were going NUTS!”

Chernow and Rodriguez transformed their wedding into a scene straight from Rydell High School’s carnival for a few unforgettable minutes as they nailed every dance move from Grease‘s final sequence.

Rodriguez even stripped off his white button-down shirt to reveal a tight black shirt underneath, just like Danny. Wedding guests went wild during the routine, with many excitedly cheering and waving their napkins.

If Rodriguez and Chernow’s infectious smiles and laughter didn’t already make it obvious, the pair tell PEOPLE that they felt “pure joy” during their playful dance.

“I remember telling Jesse beforehand that it didn’t matter if it was perfect — what mattered was that we were having fun together,” Chernow says.

Two weeks before the wedding, the couple attended another wedding together when Grease came on. At the time, they “both instantly lit up and ran to the dance floor.” That’s when their wedding surprise idea sparked.

“We already knew we wanted a sentimental first dance, but we’d been searching for a fun, unexpected moment to follow it — and in that instant, we looked at each other and knew Grease was it,” Chernow remembers. “It was both of our ideas. We went home and watched the movie for inspo, and jumped into making up the routine!”

The couple didn’t have much time to learn the dance, but it certainly helped that Chernow is a professional choreographer who specializes in NFL teams and wedding first dances.

“We choreographed it together in our kitchen, practiced for about two weeks, and then it was showtime!” Chernow says.

Chernow is the national director and founder of both Make It A Moment Dance Co. and College Dance Prep. She previously served as the coach and choreographer of the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders for six years.

Because dance has always been central to Chernow’s life, incorporating a crowd-pleasing routine into her wedding felt “extra meaningful.”

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Chernow and Rodriguez first connected in a real-life football player meets cheerleader meet-cute.

The pair were introduced at a Miami Dolphins charity event when Chernow was coaching the cheerleaders, who were performing at the fundraiser. Meanwhile, Rodriguez, who now the assistant vice president of medical development for Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, was there representing the cancer center the event benefited. Chernow and Rodriguez reconnected a few weeks later, and they quickly hit it off.

The couple got engaged in November 2024 after three years of dating.