The Father of the Bride

There are only two things about weddings that I don’t like. The first is dress socks. I think they’re creepy but I wear them anyway. I guess my wife doesn’t have to worry about coming home early to find me wearing her panty hose. Yuck!

The second is the thought of giving my little girl away on her wedding day. She once asked me, “Daddy, are you going to perform my wedding when I get married?”

I replied, “No way! I’ll have a completely different job to do on your wedding day. I’ll be playing the part of ‘Daddy’ on that day.”

I often say that there is no end to the variation in the ways that people think about weddings. The same is certainly true in regards to the reactions of fathers walking their daughters down the aisle.

Many are stoic and reserved, seeming to just go through the motions as if shell-shocked by the whole experience. Some are nervous and flub their lines and trip over the dress as they go to their seat.

Other dads seem rather relieved, as if to say, “She’s YOUR problem now, buddy.”

The fact of the matter is dads have a tough job to do and they are the unsung heroes of the wedding day. Most of the focus is on the bride, obviously. Next in line is the mother of the bride. The groom comes in at a distant third.

Dads are almost completely overlooked as they give away their most precious gift in life. I’ve seen many a tear-filled eye as I look at them and ask, “Who presents this woman to be married to this man.?”

What I have found in my experience as a wedding officiate – some seventeen years now – is the bigger the father and the more he jokes around at the rehearsal, the more likely he is to be crying as he answers my question, “Her mother and I.”

It took me a few years of performing weddings to get over that lump in my throat as the bride first appears in the back. Now the only time that lump forms is when I think about being that guy who has to answer that tough question and give up the thing I love almost more than anything else in the world: my precious little girl.

At least I have a few more years to prepare for that moment.

-Rev. Sam

www.revsam.com