Marriage is a very exciting occasion for a couple, but the couples aren’t usually the only ones that get excited about it. The parents of the couples would also feel the same way, as they will see how happy their son or daughter is to build his or her own new family with someone they love very much.
The father of the daughter getting married may feel reluctant to let go of his child at first, but he will eventually learn to understand that his daughter has her own goals in life and that one day, the daughter will need the support of her husband once the father is no longer there for guidance. If you are a father of a daughter that is getting married soon, you may find the experience frightening and nerve-wracking, but you will need to stay focused in order to perform duties as the father of the bride and also give the best advice for your daughter. To know more, here are tips for dads with daughters getting married.
What Should You Do as the Father of the Bride?
As the father of the bride, you may have certain tasks to accomplish to provide support and guidance for your daughter and her groom. However, these tasks are often optional, but if you want to help out and make the marriage better, it would always be best to lend a hand to the couple. Here are the things that you may need to do as the father of the bride.
Provide Financial Help
If the couple has a difficult time financing their wedding, particularly in hiring photographers or renting a venue for their wedding reception, you may need to provide financial help. In the past decades, it was usually the father of the bride that covered the cost of everything at the wedding, but in today’s era, the bride and the groom are now the ones that handle the expenses. But, if you want the couple to have a stress-free time planning and preparing for the wedding, you can just help out financially if you have the budget.
Help in Contract Negotiations
Planning the wedding can be quite hectic, so the couple may have a hard time talking to some of the people they need to talk to when it comes to renting a venue or hiring caterers and photographers. So, if you have a lot of free time, you can help them in contract negotiations that involve renting and hiring people needed for the wedding.
You can provide the best help for your daughter and her groom since you may have already done contract negotiations for weddings before, so you already have knowledge on what to do. So, if you know what to do for negotiations, the couple will have a faster time getting contracts for the wedding.
Be the Mediator in Stressful Situations
Planning and preparing for the wedding can be quite stressful, and the couple may often get into fights due to the stress and the various misunderstandings they may face. So, as the father of the bride, you may need to act as the mediator of the couple during stressful situations.
Whenever they get into fights, you should lend an ear to the couple and hear their opinions about anything and everything. Then, you should do your best to repair the relationship of the couple, although all you really need to do is to listen to the couple’s struggle, and they will eventually mend their relationship on their own.
Walk the Bride Down the Aisle
Once the wedding is already prepared, all you have to do now is to start the wedding day in a good mood and walk your daughter down the aisle. Before the wedding, there probably are rehearsals on what the family of the bride and the groom will do during the event, so you may already know what to do to walk the bride down the aisle.
However, during the wedding itself, you may feel too excited or nervous that you will have a faster walking pace than your daughter, who is most likely wearing a very long dress. So, be calm and keep an even pace with the bride. Walking slower and calmer would also give the photographer a lot more time to take a photo of you and your daughter walking down the aisle. When you and the bride are at the altar, you are free to kiss or hug your daughter and give her away to the groom afterward.
Give a Toast and Dance the Bride at the Dinner
After the wedding, you can then give a toast to the newlywed couple at the dinner or wedding reception. The toast can just be a simple toast of wine glasses with the couple and the guests, but you can also add a short speech that will surely touch the hearts of everyone at the venue. Then, there is usually a part of the dinner where the father of the bride would dance together, and then the father would give her daughter to the groom. During the dance, you can congratulate your daughter and give advice on how to make their marriage last long.
Return the Rented Suits and Gowns from the Wedding
If the groomsmen and the bridesmaids are already quite tired Should you wear cowboy boots with shorts?or hungover from the wedding and the dinner, you can volunteer to return the rented suits and gowns along with the ones that you and your wife have worn at the event. It would be best if the clothing pieces were all rented in the same store or establishment so that you can all return them in one go.
Being the father of a bride is arguably one of the proudest moments of a man’s life, so you should cherish the moment and be happy that you were able to raise a daughter that will be able to stand on her own in the future. We hope that this article has helped you become a little bit calmer instead of nervous about the wedding by knowing what to do and what to offer as help for the couple.