A Note About Father Daughter Dances

In honor of Father's Day, I thought I share a little story about my dance with my dad at my wedding; but this information can be applied to any special dance or song moment throughout your wedding.

As one of those women that started thinking about her wedding as a very young girl, there were many songs throughout my life that I heard and thought, "I'm going to dance with my dad to this as my wedding." If you grew up in the 90s, you probably remember Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle, that was the first. Then there was I Loved Her First by Heartland, I loved country music, my dad loves country music, the sentiment of the song was beautiful, it was a no brainer. But just like the countless first dance songs I had imaged for my wedding throughout my life, when it came time to select THE song, something about those choices just didn't feel right, they weren't special to MY dad, or our relationship.

I've always associated my father with music, mostly with Irish pub songs, and while that would have been a really fun Father Daughter dance, it wasn't the vibe I was going to. I struggled to decide on a song for weeks, there were so many songs that I associated with my dad, but none of them felt right. To bad you can't dance to Katy my mom quipped. If you're familiar with the song by Tom Paxton, it's an incredible quick beat and my father who has had issues with his leg for some time now, was definitely not in the condition to essentially jump around the dance floor with me. But I was hung up on the song, my father had sung it to me for years as a child, ironic because he had outlawed Katy as my nickname, and it was about a father and daughter; there had to be a way to make it work, so I decided to speak to my band leader and get her thoughts.

Fast forward what I think we just two short weeks at that point, and my wedding band, (shout out to The Eleven!) had rewritten the music to Katy to make it a waltz, and when the Father Daughter dance began and my father realized what song was playing, albeit at a totally unfamiliar pace, the smile on his face was priceless.

Now what is the takeaway from this story? If there's something that has personal significance to you that you want to incorporate into your wedding, talk to the team that you've hired, especially with music, and see how they can work with you. If you've hired a band, talented musicians love to create something special, DJs can create remixes, don't write something off just because you don't think that it will work. If you don't ask the answer is always no, if you do, you could create something even better than you imagined.