A Midsummer Night’s Dreamcatcher: Emotional Mother Daughter Dance
The main events of the reception were super fun, but my absolute favorite part was all the dancing we did. There are the traditional dances of course. Our first dance as husband and wife:

Probably the first time I said, “I love you so very much, husband.”
Mr. D with his mother:

And me with mine:

I intended to write a whole post about how much my father was missed in wedding planning. I could never find the words to finish it, though. Not having him there was so painful, but I am really grateful my mom was there for this dance. Taking these moments to miss Daddy Dreamcatcher on my big day is something I’ll always cherish. Especially because we have these sob-fest photos.
These dances were all special, but by far, my absolute favorite part of our entire wedding was when we opened up the dance floor. I made a tiny announcement:
“We really can?t thank you all enough for coming! My father couldn?t be here, but I know he is smiling down with a Coor?s Light in hand ready to join the party. So if you knew my father, or even how much he meant to me, I invite you to come up and celebrate his legacy with one of his favorite songs.?

The Eagles’ ?Take It Easy? began to play, and I swear almost everyone in the entire room started to dance. Even a bunch of the waitstaff joined in at the tail end of the song, since they knew my father from his 30 years working at Linden Hall. I got...