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 canapŽs 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.