Florida bride Alaina Heston knew her terminally ill father Dennis wouldn’t survive long enough to be able to share a traditional Father-Daughter dance at her March wedding, so she did the next best thing – she (and he) got all dressed up months before and pre-recorded the precious moment, only sharing it with guests on her big day.
Called Alaina + Dennis/Daddy Daughter Dance, that emotional video was posted on video sharing site Vimeo for friends and family to watch but, just five days after the wedding, more than 20,000 people have tuned in to watch the touching 30-second clip.
In it, Dennis, who died of terminal cancer in November 2012, is seen dancing with his little girl to The Temptations song My Girl.
The video was filmed by Alaina’s cousin, Caroline Maxcy, at a local ballroom one month to day before he succumbed to his illness.
Caroline told NineMSN, “It was a really special gift to our entire family to be able to be a part of Dennis and Alaina’s daddy daughter dance together.”
However, the video has garnered criticism from some of the tens of thousands who have viewed it on Vimeo and now YouTube. Most notably, some viewers have asked why the couple didn’t just bring the wedding forward so that Dennis could attend in person.
Alaina’s sister, who also posted the video on social news site reddit, has responded to the criticism saying, “I understand why you might be confused, but like some other people have pointed out a wedding is a LOT of work.
“And at the point the video was taken my father was already very weak.
“Even if they had been able to pull something together, he still wouldn’t have been able to dance when they finally did.”
Alaina + Dennis / Daddy Daughter Dance from Caroline Maxcy on Vimeo.
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