If you’re almost at the end of wrangling wedding plans, haranguing over honeymoon locals, and generally becoming Queen of Bridezillas (ok, ok, maybe not the Queen, maybe just the duchess…), the bride to be might take a breather and slip away for an evening with another man. No, no! I mean your dad!

A short time before the big day, mark an evening out of your calendar and invite your father to dinner. (It might be a good night for the groom to take his mom to dinner too!) It could be at home and you could make his favorite meal. It could be out on the town at his favorite type of restaurant. Pick something you know he enjoys and make it time for the two of you.

I’ll bet even if he’s complaining about the wedding bills (or the groom hehe), he’s also been thinking about his little girl. I bet he’s been thinking about her first day of school, her first missing tooth, her first formal dance or her first broken heart; just to name a few. I bet he’s wondering where the time went and how it happened that that little girl is no longer playing with Bridal Barbie, but is the bride herself.

While we all know one dinner isn’t even close to saying thank you for everything he’s done, the gesture will speak volumes. Let him know even though there’s another man in your life, you still love him and no matter how grown up you get, you’re still his girl, even if you aren’t little anymore.

Here’s to my Dad - the first man I ever loved and the only man with a heart big enough to let me love the “other man” in my life.