Dad and daughter switch it up after hatching secret plan to ditch their traditional slow dance at wedding

A dad having the first dance with his daughter at her wedding is a popular tradition in most Western weddings. Where other brides and their fathers take this opportunity to dance with some slow and emotional track playing in the background, a 4th-grade teacher, Rebecca Gordon—who goes by @beccers_gordonn on TikTok—decided to switch things up a bit. In a popular video that garnered nearly 2 million views, the bride and her dad, Robert Gordon (@boxdaddyz), lit up the dance floor when it was their chance to have a father-daughter dance session after Gordon got hitched to Carton Peterson. The event occurred at the Saratoga Springs Temple in Utah, with the reception in nearby Highland.

By no means did the duo want to let all their prep go to waste, so they started energetically matching steps to the song "American Pie" by Don McLean. The song held a special meaning in their lives and the crowd erupted to cheer the duo. "What inspired the unique daddy-daughter dance is when I was young, me and my dad would always be dancing. We would put on music, as young as when I started to walk and we would dance to songs such as 'Bye Bye Bye' by NSYNC and 'American Pie,'" Gordon told Newsweek in an interview. "My dad is such a fun-spirited guy, and I felt that a dance like that would be a perfect fit. I also didn't want to do a slow dance because I know I'd probably cry the whole time and cry off all my makeup."

The father-daughter duo had only two nights to prepare their dance routine and they dedicated their time and focus to match their moves. Gordon's aunt was the one who planned the routine since she was a professional choreographer. Both father and daughter stayed up late till 1 a.m. at one point to continue practicing for their big performance. "Me and my dad aren't the best dancers, so we had to practice many times," Gordon admitted and referred to the song they started their performance with. "This is our song. We grew up dancing to this, but we wanted to add a spin to it." But Gordon and her dad had to make some changes in the tracks they were using in the dance routine.

Since they are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or the Mormon Church, Gordon and her dad had to keep the music tracks clean and free of any inappropriate language. The songs they played during their dance performance ranged some snippets from "American Pie" that transitioned into "Fire Burning" by Sean Kingston and later to "Yeah!" by Usher. However, they wrapped up their dance with an emotional song from The Beatles. "We wanted to end by slow dancing for about 30 seconds, and we chose 'Let It Be.' My grandma suddenly passed in 2019, and 'Let It Be' reminds me of her. It also magically played on the radio at the ice cream shop we went to after her funeral and again at Sam's Club right after that," Gordon shared.

"The crowd loved it. I think people are used to a slow father-daughter dance, so I think everyone was shocked. I loved it—I had been looking forward to doing something like this before I was even engaged," she continued. "My dad is my best friend. He makes me want to become a better person in every aspect. I love that he is always willing to do silly dances with me or help me film TikToks. When he would visit me at college, everyone would be more happy to see him than me," Gordon mentioned. The comment section loved her dad's energy and dedication to the dance routine as well. @baileyannashton wrote, "Wait, why was he so good at remembering the choreography though? I'm so impressed." @emily.e126 added, "I am so obsessed with your dress and I am getting married in June and honestly might copy you."

You can follow Rebecca Gordon (@beccers_gordonn) on TikTok for more lifestyle and teaching content.