Tear-jerking moment deaf dad sees daughter in wedding dress

By Brelaun Douglas via SWNS

This is the tear-jerking moment a deaf father saw his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time.

Rachel Saby, 24, shared the beautiful interaction in sign language with her father Mark Abercrombie, 60, on her wedding day.

“I mostly felt joy and gratitude,” said Rachel, a stay-at-home mom from Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

In the video, Mark turns around for his first look at Rachel in her wedding dress exclaiming ‘Wow.’

The two fall into a conversation in sign language with Rachel thanking Mark for all he’s done and him telling her how special she is to him.

“There was so much surrounding our wedding that both my parents had done to support Mac and I, that made me all the more grateful,” said Rachel.

“There was so much emotion in what my dad said to me in those moments.”

Rachel and her husband Mac, 25, married on September 27th, 2020, kicking off the festivities with Rachel giving her father his first look.

“The first look with my dad was the start to our wedding festivities,” Rachel said.

“I knew he would cry, my dad is a big softy when it comes to these things!”

Both Rachel’s mother and father are deaf, so she and her siblings grew up using sign language.

“I grew up learning American Sign Language (ASL) just like we learned English,” Rachel said.

“We’re called CODA’s which stands for Children of Deaf Adults.”

Rachel said communicating in sign language is an experience all of its own.

“It’s definitely different,” she said.

“We’re in our own little world when we communicate, ask my husband at family dinners, he’s still learning ASL.”

Rachel said she’s glad she was able to share the moment with those who saw her video online.

“What many who commented saw was a beautiful moment that they would never get to experience with their own fathers - some because theirs are no longer living, and many because the relationships with their dads are not in a good place,” she said.

“I resonated so deeply with them and, as I shared in a few comments, just a few years prior I could never have imagined having these moments with my dad. We weren’t close at all.

“He had been absent with work the majority of my childhood and the only times I really remember of him then was when he was angry.

“It wasn’t until many years later when God really opened his eyes and heart to see he needed to make some changes.

“Our relationship now is a result of tons of grace, a whole lot of forgiveness, and a God who can redeem all things to make them beautiful.”

The moment was filmed and shared by Wildwood Films on TikTok.