Father of the bride, part 2

Believe it or not, I do try not to let this column get too personal, but since my column asking for help on a song for the father-daughter dance at my little girl's wedding drew such a great response, I hope I will be forgiven for doing a follow-up.

First of all, I want to say thank you very much to all of those who took the time to respond with a song suggestion or just a "Good luck to the newlyweds." All much appreciated. As it turned out, we did dance to a song that several CST readers suggested - Stealing Cinderella by Chuck Wicks. I don't remember who suggested it first, but to whoever that was and to the other readers who echoed that selection, I can only say, "You guys are good." I don't know I managed to miss that one, since according to Wikipedia it reached number five on the country charts, but I'd never heard it until someone suggested it. But y'all were right - it was perfect.

How perfect was it? Well, there were a lot of tears shed at this wedding, as is the custom I suppose, but the only time my eyes got wet (not counting when I wrote the check for the reception) was when this song started up, and it all of a sudden hit me that my little girl was neither little nor mine anymore.

I do have one suggestion for those of you planning a similar event. Music is an important part of the wedding service and, of course, the reception afterwards. But that wasn't enough for us. We looked for and found a spot to add more music, and everybody told us what a great idea it was.

You know, when the wedding is over but the wedding party has to stick around for yet another round of picture-taking. Everybody is a little tired and a lot anxious to get to the reception, but they can't leave yet and they're worried that all the good canap�s will be gone by the time they get there. My wife and I made a special mix CD of some of our daughter's favorite songs, and some other upbeat fun wedding-y songs like Brooks and Dunn's Put a Girl In It, Paul Thorn's Ain't Living in Sin No More and Trisha Yearwood's She's In Love With The Boy and played that during the mandatory post-nuptials photography session, and all the bridesmaids and groomsmen and family members enjoyed it very much.

So, that's the best advice I can give if you're planning a wedding - well, actually the best advice I can give you is try to arrange to have a brother or a cousin who is a caterer and who owes you a huge favor, but if you can't manage that, then keep that wedding-photo mix CD in mind.

And thanks again.