Ally & Alec’s Wedding!

My daughter just got married! Congratulations Ally & Alec- we love you both! 

It’s too bad that it’s so impractical to invite every single person you know to a wedding, but since it is, here are a few of my favorite moments from a beautiful day.  

The Song

Once she was all dressed, with hair and make-up done, I got to meet Ally alone for a few minutes.  Of course, she looked fantastic! But as I stood there admiring her dress, a familiar song began to play- Taylor Swift’s The Best Day.  Only it wasn’t Swift singing- it was Ally!  She had taken the time and effort to record her own version of the song as a special gift to me. She even dusted off her guitar and recorded her own accompaniment!  It’s a song we both love and relate to for the parent/child relationship it describes.

I didn’t know if you knew
So I’m taking this chance to say
That I had the best day with you today.

Only the word “today” meant her entire childhood and life so far.

I felt a mountain of reciprocated love, mixed with joy and gratitude that we are part of each others lives. It was a powerful, moving, and beautiful moment I’ll never forget.

The Father-Daughter Dance

As my daughter Bailey said in her speech at the reception-“growing up in our house, acting goofy was a family value”. So when it came to the father-daughter dance, Ally and I had to break tradition and get goofy after about 12 seconds- it was fun!

The Day Itself

It was beautiful! Not just the ceremony, vows, reception, flowers, dresses, etc, but the whole day itself.  We live in Lancaster County, PA, where an August wedding in a barn is almost a sure bet to be very humid with highs in the upper 80’s or worse.  Not this time.  It was a beautiful, sunny day with almost no humidity and a high of 80.  Those of us that wore jackets even kept them on comfortably for much of the day.  Nobody’s make-up melted on their faces, at least as far as I know.

A Condensed Love Story Toast

It took a while for the couple to get to their big day. They had to finish high school, survive a long distance college relationship, get jobs in the same city, and establish their lives together.  I tried to describe that to the wedding guests in my Welcome Toast at the reception, while being sure to fill my role as Dad by roasting my daughter a little bit. Here it is:

Thank all of you for coming. We’re glad you’re here to be part of this day with Ally, Alec and our families.

When I look back at Ally’s life so far, and reflect on how we ended up here at her wedding day, a few scenes standout.

First, was one night at dinner when Ally was probably in about seventh grade. We’re all at the table talking about what we had coming up the next day, and Ally said that she was planning to go to the park. When we asked with who – she named a boy from her class. 

“Is it just the two of you?” we asked. She looked a little uncertain, but said, “Yeah – he just asked if I wanted to come and hang out- just the two of us.”

We said – “Ally – that’s a date !”

She looked shocked and horrified, her gaze dropped to the floor, and she mumbled some mild profanity .

Then several years later when Ally was a senior in high school, I accompanied her to the Warwick high school cross-country banquet. Shortly after we got there, she went to talk to some friends. As I looked around the room to see who she was with, I saw her hanging out with a tall, thin boy. 

She was very engaged in animated conversation, and doing stuff like this (flinging her hair around ….) I had never seen her do this before. Plus, she was giggling and smiling- a lot!

When she got back to the table, I asked her who lover boy was. She said “Oh no, was it that obvious?!”

That boy, of course, was Alec .

Shortly after the banquet Ally and Alec began dating. They were boyfriend and girlfriend all through their senior year of high school, but we were’nt sure how things were going because they didn’t seem to spend that much time together. Both were busy with a heavy academic load and lots of activities. We weren’t sure how serious their relationship was.

Then came high school graduation night .

After the ceremony was over, Alec found Ally across the auditorium, standing around with us and some family members. When he came to meet her, they fell into an embrace that we now call The Hug. There’s a photo of The Hug on display over there….

It might sound sappy, but that hug was magic. There was a special energy about it that you could feel.

When I felt it, I knew that Alec would be my son in law.

And here we are today. Ally isn’t mumbling profanity under her breath. She & Alec are as happy with each other now as they were flirting at that cross country banquet.

And so (glasses up)

Ally and Alec- May the love and special energy of that graduation night hug be present with you every day of your lives together.

Are You Good?

I heard this question a lot during wedding week and wedding day. I had to laugh when people repeatedly asked me
“So, how are you doing?”  It was almost as if I had been diagnosed with a disease or something! 

I appreciated the concern, but the wedding had no practical effect on my everyday existence.  It’s not like when I got married way back on June 29, 1991.  That was the day I moved out of my parents house and in with my wife for the first time.  They were big changes, and a lot of the details just got worked out on the fly.  With Ally & Alec, things are much more stable.  They’ve been living together for a few years and Ally moved out of our house a few years before that.  So yeah- I’m good; extremely happy , grateful and good!😊

I’m sure I’ll be unable to stop myself from sharing official wedding photos and video clips when they become available- but in the meantime, please enjoy some more amateur shots from family and friends.

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