I Was Gonna Buy Wedding Dancers a Gift But...

Chris Brown was thiiiiiiiis close to doin' something totally awesome ... and then his thoughts got in the way.

Brown went on the air with Hot 97.7 yesterday and admitted the legendary YouTube video of the wedding party who danced down the aisle to his song "Forever" brought him out of his darkest days -- but there's a reason he didn't get the happy couple a wedding present.

Brown claims he would have bought them a "whole like living room set or something" -- but didn't because he knew media "like TMZ" would find out and accuse him of concocting the whole plot for publicity.

Actually, it would have been a pretty cool move ... but don't worry Chris, wedding gift etiquette states you have a whole year to pick out the furniture ... and we'll give you props when you do....