Father/daughter Dance: To Skip or Not?

I don’t have any advice but I am so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine how hard it must be and I’m sending you positive vibes for your big day!

My deepest condolences.
My advice is to work with your DOC to maybe call an audible. Feel out the night as it progresses and decide if you want to do it just before. It hard to know how you’ll feel ahead of time. If you don’t have a DOC, just connect with your DJ ahead of time. They can easily adjust and skip it if needed.
Another option is do the mother son dance first and maybe have the DJ say “to honor [the bride]’s father she would like to ask everyone to join her on the dance floor for a group dance”.

Additional: if you do the group dance, maybe you can make it an upbeat song, one of his favorites.

I'm so sorry about your dad. I lost my dad, who meant THE WORLD to me, a few years ago, and it has been very hard to think about certain aspects of the wedding knowing he won't be there. I get so choked up when I imagine key moments. My brother will walk me down the aisle, but my fiance and I decided to forego any special dances because it would be too emotional to think about what *should* be happening, if that makes sense. FH list his mom too so we thought it best to skip that whole part of the traditional wedding timeline. But everyone's situation is totally unique so you might find it comforting to have that moment with your uncle and might even distract from not having him there. You'll just have to play it out in your mind to see which feels right. I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to have my brother walk me down the aisle but then I realized that, for me, in that scenario, I needed my brother with me because I would be having such a hard time without my dad. I hope this helps and I'm very sorry. Hugs.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

I agree with Kim’s idea of making kind of a last minute call the day of. As long as you talk to your DJ ahead of time it wouldn’t be that hard to either do or not so the dance. I’m sure your uncle would be honored if you asked him and also understand that you might not be up for it the day of.

This entirely depends on your family dynamic and whether or not you'd feel comfortable doing this, but...
I had a friend in a similar situation a few years ago. She had an empty seat with a flower for her dad at both the wedding and reception. When the father-daughter dance came up, her DJ announced that it would be in memory of her dad. She danced to "I Loved Her First" with her mom. It was a really moving, sweet way to remember him.

I went to a wedding recently where the dad had passed and the bride and her mom danced together.

My mom passed away in August, dad never in the picture and Fh mom passed in 2007. We are have a table with both our moms picture on it with sign that says"In memory of those watching from heaven" as for the dances we are doing 1 danceto "You should be here" where I dance with my son and Fh dances with my daughter's. And we are inviting guest to dance with us with their children.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I'd be devastated if this happened, so I completely understand where you're coming from.

For me, I'd probably have to skip it. I'm a complete daddy's girl and although I have uncles and other people I'm close to that would be honored if I asked, I wouldn't be able to do it.

You can always honor your father a different way. Maybe have a charm on your bouquet that has a picture of him, or do a toast to him at the reception if the dance would be too difficult for you.

My mom's father died right before they got married. They actually got married in Hawaii and had a reception back home. She skipped the father/daughter dance all together, and does not regret it. She gets super emotional during father/daughter dances now though

Sorry for your loss

We are toying with the idea of NEW Father/Daughter dance & Mother/Son dance where you would dance with your new in law parent instead. My mother loves my FH to pieces so it would be a great thing, especially with his relationship being on the rocks with his own mother. And then I would dance with my FH's father, who actually has been renewing his relationship for the past year or so with my FH. So in the end it all comes together, hope this could work for you.

I'm sorry for your loss. I am currently struggling with a similar situation. My father passed when I was 9 and I have always had a hard time with weddings when the father-daughter dance happens. My FH and his mom have a close relationship and I can't ask them to forgo the mother-son dance, so I am planning to dance with my mom instead. We are also having our open cocktail bar be a sort-of memorial to my dad and my FH's grandfather, where we have signs saying "Have a drink on ___!" and put their names in the blank. I would love to have a dance with the men in my life as well, but my mom is worried it will be too sad, so I'm not sure if we will have anything like that.

We did a "family dance" instead of having a father/daughter and mother/son dance. I didn't want to have a "fill-in" for my dad, but I also didn't want to deprive my MIL of the special dance with her son (my husband). What we did is essentially assigned about 10 couples to dance together--I ended up switching off partners throughout with my uncle and male cousins and brother, (and my mom, aunt, etc. as the female partners) while my husband danced with his mom, and his dad danced with his sister. It was really fun and memorable, and for me took away from the sadness that my dad wasn't there.

I went to a wedding where the bride lost her dad as well, and all of her uncles, including the grooms uncles lined up and danced with her for a few seconds each. There wasn’t a dry eye anywhere.

You could play his favorite song as a tribute and invite everyone to dance

I'm so sorry for the loss of your father. It truly is terrible to lose a parent. I lost my mother in 2006 and am having little breakdowns every now and again because she won't physically be there to see me marry the man of my dreams.

I do not have a relationship with my father and am going to ask my Pop to do that dance with me as I lived with him and my grandmother for 12 years. He's the person I look up to .. he is just simply amazing and I'm his little girl. It'll be tough though because he's also our officiant and he's an emotional person.

Definitely consider asking your uncle and keep it as a day of decision and see how your emotions are. Best wishes!

I am sorry for your loss. The dance is such a personal thing so I don't really have advice. It would be tough for me to decide if I were in your position. I hope you find your peace about it, either way.

First I want to say I am so so so so sorry about your father! My father passed away a year and half ago and it is the hardest thing I have to deal with. I still get mini cry sessions too, and the wedding stuff is what pushes me over the edge sometimes.

My mom and I have decided for the dance me and her will. My dad would want us to still have fun be happy and not skip it all together. So we are going to start off like a normal dance then we will bust into some fun upbeat dance and my sister will join us too. So the three of us will dance and be happy together! Plus this way when my dad is looking down watching us he will be smiling and happy because it would be something he wanted us to do.