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Dad refuses to give daughter away at wedding

An Illinois man walked his daughter down the aisle, but refused to give her away. The bride says it was actually a very sweet gesture by her loving father. Newl...

An Illinois man walked his daughter down the aisle, but refused to give her away. The bride says it was actually a very sweet gesture by her loving father.

Newly wed couple Danellia and Kyle Vancil are still on a wedding day high and while they got married over a month ago, their wedding is now getting attention.

"I've gotten emails and phone calls from all over America," said Danellia's father Mike Connell, a professor at Monmouth College.

Their wedding started out as every normal wedding with the rehearsal dinner the night before.

"We sent probably a good 40 minutes of the rehearsal practicing my dad saying you know 'her mother and I do' and then walking me up," said Danellia.

However, on the big day, Mike decided not to stick with the script.

"I wanted to tell her how I felt about her and reaffirm her right to choose," said Mike.

Instead he made a speech in front of everyone saying he wasn't going to give his daughter away.

"I said our daughter is not our property. She's not mine to give. I'm not giving up anything. I'm going to keep loving her, I'm not giving her away," said Mike.

Mike wrote an article about it and sent it to the Wall Street Journal, who then published it. Mike says he's already received a lot of positive feedback, especially from other fathers. A message Danellia hopes other dads give a second thought.

"I think so much of it is a script. So it was really cool that he got to say what he meant," said Danellia.

 

 

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