My wedding is in 1 month, and last week, my mom called and said my dad has cancerous tumor (stage 4). My parents live in Japan (I am Japanese) and my wedding is in US (my fiance is American) so my dad absolutely cannot travel to US anymore for my wedding. It is shocking, and I honestly thought about postponing my wedding as I couldn't imagine having a wedding without him. But I decided I will have a separate small family wedding in Japan in the future hoping he will recover at that time.
I would like to find a way to honor and acknowledge my father at my wedding in some way so I know that he is with me. Of course I don't want to make our guests depressed by the news, and it may be inappropriate, but I want all my guests to know and acknowledge my father so they can send prayers too, and it will make me happy that everyone will be preying and be supportive for us rather then completely ignoring him at my wedding.
My few ideas right now is:
1. charm on my bouquet with his picture
2. Skype him in during the ceremony
But with this, guests would be extremely confused, and I want to explains why he is not there in appropriate way.
I have few additional ideas that I need your suggestions/ comments/ advise on:
1. Have a small section at reception to acknowledge my dad: I already have a "memorial" table with pictures of our grandparents who are deceased with a message saying "In loving memory of those who are forever present in our hearts." Obviously my dad is still alive, so I do not want to include him there. I want to have another small area to put his picture with some appropriate message. Any ideas?
2. Is it appropriate for our officiant to acknowledge my father in the ceremony? If so, what should it be? English is my second language so I have no idea what to include in the ceremony (we are providing the ceremony script to our officiant).
Any advise are much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
