Newlywed Hilary Swank recruited a top tap choreographer for her first dance

Hilary Swank hired an Emmy-nominated choreographer to give the actress and her husband-to-be a tap-dancing crash course so they could impress guests at their summer (18) wedding.

The Million Dollar Baby star recently exchanged vows with social entrepreneur Philip Schneider at the Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel, California, two years after the couple became engaged, and the newlyweds kicked off the reception festivities with a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers-inspired tap dance routine to Moby track In My Heart.

Hilary reveals the unique performance was all her idea, and once her then-fiance agreed, they spent hours upon hours perfecting their fancy footwork.

"I just wanted to do something unique and fun, like, people ballroom dance or do a lot of things like that (for their first dance), so I thought, 'Why don't we try to be Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers?' And the good thing is, he (Schneider) is game for stuff too, so he's like, 'OK!'" she laughed.

"So I don't know if we really look like that (Astaire and Rogers), but our guests certainly made us feel like that. They were very excited."

And instead of joining a regular tap-dancing class, Hilary hired top choreographer Chloe Arnold, who earned an Emmy nod for her work on an episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden, to walk them through their steps.

"Nobody knew we were doing it, except my dad, who lives with us, but we had Chloe Arnold, this incredible choreographer, who's Emmy-nominated this year - she's brilliant, she helped teach us and we did it!" Hilary gushed on talk show GMA Day. "I think it was 22 hours all in... over like, a four-month period, just between work and things."

The marriage is Hilary's second. She was previously wed to actor and director Chad Lowe, the younger brother of screen star Rob Lowe, for 10 years until their 2007 divorce.