I Hope You Dance

Every couple of years, I find myself drawn to a new aspect of weddings. When I started as editor, it was all about the fashion for me. When I was engaged, it was the elements of planning, from florals to dining. In the years following my marriage, I sought the wedding portraits, specifically first looks or saying vows at the altar. 

This year, when looking at wedding galleries, I find myself scrolling to the reception and lingering on the mother-son dance. I take in their smiles, their tears, the special, monumental moment shared between mother and son. 

By the time this issue is out, I will have welcomed my second son. 

Music has always had particular influence on my life. While I love him for a multitude of reasons, it checks out that I married a musician. 

At our wedding, much attention was paid to the music from the songs we danced to, walked down the aisle to, and were on the set list for our band compiled of hand-picked Nashville musicians. 

I danced to “Letting You Go” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit for my father-daughter dance. Hearing the song will always make me teary-eyed, accompanied by a smile. The song’s lyrics reflect a man who raised his daughter to be her own person, doing the best he could, but knowing one day she would forge her own path—exactly as my own father did for me. 

I wonder what songs I will dance to with my sons. Will it be a song we both loved since their youth? A song they discover on their own? A song they write themselves? 

I am curious about what their music tastes will be and how their brains will work to make the ideal choice. If they will want to choreograph a dance or simply sway, relishing in the moment. But happily, there are many years of getting to know them until that time. 

For now, I will hold these small boys in my arms, doing all that I can to make them loving, kind, strong, committed partners one day. 

That’s my wish for mothers, fathers, and those who fill those roles for children: that they find comfort in knowing they raised someone loving and those children marry someone who will in turn love them well. 

For the couples reading this who are recently engaged or in the process of planning, the decisions you make for your wedding day should be intentional and reflective of you. As they say, trends come and go. What stays? The sunflowers in your bouquet because they are your favorite, wearing your dad’s watch, serving a recipe that rivals your grandma’s for the reception dinner, dancing to the song you and your mom used to blast full volume in the car. 

All my love, 

Rebecca Padgett Frett, Editor

Photo by Zan Frett Media