Bride Has Emotional First-Touch Moment With Blind Father On Wedding Day

A bride found a way to include her blind father in her first-look moment, guiding him through a "first touch" of her wedding dress instead. Shannon Lewis, 31, a wedding planner from Fort Worth, Texas, knew the weight of first looks the moment a family member, usually the father of the bride, sees her in her gown for the first time. Her father, Gary McAfee, 68, went blind when Shannon was a teenager and has since lost his hearing too, now relying on cochlear implants. Planning her June 20 wedding, Shannon adapted the "first touch" she had arranged for other couples, where the bride and groom hold hands around a corner before the ceremony without seeing each other. She also drew on family movie nights, when everyone would describe the scenes on screen to Gary. In the bridal suite, alongside his wife of 36 years, Kerin, Gary felt his way across the dress as Shannon described each detail - the off-the-shoulder puffed sleeves, a family bracelet, the fitted waist and the full ball gown skirt. He followed the train to its end before touching the buttons down the back and his daughter's hair. Shannon then told him the flower he was wearing was yellow, something he had not known until that moment.

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