How a Bride Honors Her Deceased Father

In American tradition a father is to walk his daughter down the aisle and give her away to her new husband. However, circumstances happen and this is not always possible. In some cases the father is involved in his daughter's live. In other cases the father may be deceased. Either way a bride can greatly miss her father's presence on her wedding day.

As a daddy's girl it was devastating when my father passed away with cancer. His death occurred shortly after I turned 21 years old and one year before my wedding. I had always imagined my father walking me down the aisle and being a part of my wedding day.

However, the terrible disease changed my dream. I could not imagine my wedding day without my father. Yet due to his death, I had no choice. Therefore, I felt a strong need to pay special tribute to my daddy.

There are many ways that you can honor a loved one on your wedding day.

Some brides choose to add a special flower to her bouquet. For example if your bridal bouquet is made of white roses, you may decide to add a red rose in honor of your loved one. You could then add in your program who the red rose honors.

In other instances a special vase of flowers is placed in the chapel along with a picture of your loved.

I have also seen a single rose placed in the seat of the missing loved one. Often the bride will take the rose down the aisle with her and then place it in the pew.

All of these are excellent ways to pay special tribute to the one that you miss so dearly. However, I wanted to think of something different. I tried to think of something very personal that truly showed how I felt and how much I missed my father.

One way that I honored my father on my wedding day was by writing a poem. I wrote a poem that discussed how I knew that he was watching me from above. I then placed the poem inside my wedding program and noted that it was for my daddy.

Another way that I honored the memory of my father was through a song. Right before the ceremony began, I played a special song for him. The song, "Music of My Heart" was listed in the program as a special tribute to the bride's father.

I also felt that I honored my father's memory by asking my mother to walk me down the aisle. It is tradition for the father to walk his daughter down the aisle. IN the absence of a father, the bride usually chooses a different male figure. I have many close male family members that I know would have been honored to give me away. However I felt that they would somehow be taking my father's place. Therefore my mother walked me down the aisle. When asked, "who gives this bride away?" My mother simply responded, "Her father and I".