It was a tender moment. Two people, brought together by fate and coincidence, about to be introduced as husband and wife at their wedding reception at the picturesque Redondo Beach (Calif.) Historic Library.

Approximately 250 friends and family members made a circle as Todd Harris, a 38-year-old Brandon native, and his bride, Marti, entered the room for what the crowd figured would be a typical first dance.

What happened next is best summed up by Harris' sister, Paige Hunter, of Brandon: "Utter shock."

The walls began vibrating to the opening bars of Jet's 2003 thrashing, driving, energetic rock hit Are You Gonna Be My Girl. And suddenly there were the newlyweds, twirling and sliding and leaping and twisting together as if they were in the finals of Dancing With the Stars.

It was all part of a new TLC series, Rock the Reception, which premieres at 8 p.m. June 1. Todd and Marti will be one of three couples featured.

"What made this so shocking was that Todd is the last person on Earth you would ever expect to do this," says Todd's dad, Bill Harris, a residential and commercial contractor in the Jackson area. "He's always been the reserved one who never seeks the spotlight."

"I could actually relate to Todd," says Fernando Mills, the show's executive producer. "I'm a behind-the-camera guy who could never pull off what Todd did. But he has a stick-to-itness that I haven't seen before. He was determined to do it for Marti.

"I think the women of America will swoon when they see him do this. Men can buy their wives jewelry or take them out to dinner. But when they invest that amount of time to get a dance right at their wedding reception ... that's raising the bar."

*

Their relationship began with a what-are-the-odds meeting on eHarmony, the online matchmaking site.

Marti, a 39-year-old professional singer who also teaches voice and piano in Los Angeles, was about to move back to New York, where she had worked for 10 years.

"But my mom wanted me to stay in the L.A. area because a lot of my family have relocated here," says Marti, who grew up in Minneapolis. "I guess she figured if I could meet the right guy, I might stay. So she said, 'Why don't you give that eHarmony thing one more try.' I hadn't been on (the site) in months. But to get her off my back, I did."

Three days later, in October 2006, she and Todd had their first date. Both were just getting out of relationships.

They were married this year, on March 8.

"A few weeks before the wedding, our florist had been approached by TLC, asking if she had any clients that might be suited for the show," Marti says. "She e-mailed me about it. I filled out the application, then asked Todd if he would be willing."

"It wasn't something I would usually agree to," says Todd, a 1987 graduate of Northwest Rankin and now an assistant film editor with Sony Pictures, "but I knew Marti really wanted to do it. And if they would teach me the dance, then I was willing to do it for her."

They did an on-camera interview. Answered "what seemed like 500 questions," Marti says. A couple of weeks passed without any response from TLC. "I was actually sort of relieved," Todd says. "There is enough pressure just planning a wedding."

But then the call came.

"Their chemistry as a couple stood out," Mills says. "They literally lit up the screen. And when you find a couple like that ... just the way they look at one another ... it's going to translate to viewers."

Marti and Todd agreed to do the show. They had one week to learn the two-minute routine.

"I was in panic mode," Todd says.

*

The first rehearsal, on a Saturday, lasted eight hours under the tutelage of a husband and wife professional dance team.

Two members of the wedding party also were scheduled to take part in the routine - Michol Sherman and Jennifer Perry, both schooled in theater and dance.

They breezed through it - all except Todd. "I only learned about half of it," he says, "and now I'm really panicking."

The following Monday, Todd phoned Michol. "I said, 'Man, you've got to help me.' He knew Marti's part, too, so he agreed to come and work with me the next day during my lunch hour.

"Now, you have to picture this: We walk a couple of blocks over to a park. It's a beautiful day. Kids are playing soccer. People are walking and talking. And then there's me - a (5-foot-7) white guy dancing with this 6-foot-2 African-American guy with dreadlocks."

Todd laughs. "Oh, he had a towel wrapped around him, too. There was one part in the routine where I had to rip Marti's skirt off, and that's all I had to use at the time."

But Todd and Michol danced as curious onlookers and a camera crew captured every move.

At night, Todd would move furniture so he and Marti could practice at his home. During a lull at work, Todd ducked into an empty meeting room that had a mirror. "I'm practicing my steps, and in walks the cleaning guy," he says. "What else could I do but shrug my shoulders and keep dancing?"

The hardest part, Todd and Marti agree, was lying to their friends and family. "We had to keep this whole thing a secret," Marti says. "So Todd would say he had to work, and I just played the crazy bride card and said I had wedding stuff to take care of. I am not a good liar, but we really had no choice."

Not even the horde of cameras or people asking for consent forms to be signed on the day of the wedding caused suspicion.

"They told us they were doing a documentary on the wedding chapel," says Hunter, referring to Wayfarers' Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., where such celebrities as Jayne Mansfield, Dennis Hopper and Brian Wilson have said their vows. "Plus, Todd works at Sony Pictures. I just figured he was going to have an awesome wedding video."

The actual performance was everything the TLC cameras - and the newlyweds - had hoped for. "And even though I was locked in and focused on the dancing, I remember hearing all this screaming and people going nuts," Todd says. And because it is reality television, they had to do it twice more so the cameras could get all the necessary angles and crowd reactions. The only noticeable glitch: "I couldn't get Marti's skirt off the second time," Todd says.

*

Even with all the hoopla, the event was bittersweet. Todd's mother, Phyllis, died of a brain tumor New Year's Day 2007 at the age of 63.

Of all things, she was a wedding planner.

"She would've loved this," Todd says. "Absolutely eaten it up."

Phyllis fought the disease for 18 months. And though the cancer had stolen her ability to speak, Phyllis was able to meet Marti, just one week before she passed. Though she and Todd had been dating only two months and Phyllis was gravely ill, Marti insisted on meeting his mom.

From a wheelchair on Christmas morning, Phyllis listened to Marti play the piano and sing Barbra Streisand songs such as Evergreen and The Way We Were.

Phyllis had showed little emotion in the days and weeks prior to that. "But as Marti played, tears came to Phyllis' eyes," Bill Harris says. "She made a spiritual connection with Marti that day, and I think she was happy Todd had found someone like her to share his life with. To dance with."