When it comes to wedding planning for his daughters, Mark Gilliam is determined to live up to the standard set by Steve Martin in his 1991 movie, “Father of the Bride.”
And if the tales from his daughter Ellie’s bachelorette weekend — which went viral on TikTok and Instagram — are any indication, Gilliam has achieved his goal.
It all began with a simple request: Ellie wanted a relaxed bachelorette party weekend with minimal cost and maximum hangout time. Together with 15 friends, Ellie and her big sister Courtney Bowman rented a vacation house in Florida and planned themed dinners onsite.
They enlisted their dad to head up hibachi night, which was not exactly his field of expertise. But if his daughter wanted hibachi, then by gosh, he was going to figure out how to do it.
“I YouTubed to make sure I had the volcano onion down,” Mark tells TODAY.com.
Mark Gilliam is certainly living out his “Father of the Bride” fantasies. (Courtesy Courtney Bowman)
(Courtesy Courtney Bowman)
Mark and his wife Leslie traveled from their home in Nashville to the bachelorette destination in Florida, and rented a house a few doors down from their daughters. Dinner went off without a hitch. While Mark fired up the onion volcano, Leslie made the rounds with sake squirt guns.
“It was so good,” Courtney says. “It was seriously delicious. The girls raved about it.”
The bride’s friends “raved” about Mark’s delicious cooking. (Courtesy Courtney Bowman)
(Courtesy Courtney Bowman)
Just as Mark and Leslie were wrapping up the night, disaster struck.
On his last trip down the stairs, Mark didn’t bother to turn the lights on — even though his arms were full of servingware.
“I thought I was on the last step, and I wasn’t,” Mark explains. “I hit the last step, and my foot went behind me and I tumbled and I felt this snap in my leg.”
Luckily, Ellie is a nurse, and she and her friends were armed with painkillers and icepacks. While they tended to Mark, Courtney ran to get her car … but she turned around when she spotted a giant bear rifling through the garbage.
Courtney ran inside and screamed, causing the guests to briefly abandon poor Mark, delaying his hospital trip. Courtney shared a photo of the bear on Threads, causing the tale to go viral on a third social media site.
At the hospital, Mark discovered that not only did he break his fibula, but that he also needed surgery once he returned to Nashville. He and Leslie flew home the next day.
Ellie, the bride, says that when her friends saw Courtney’s viral posts, they kept saying how “wholesome” her parents are.
“But that’s, like, the definition of my parents,” Ellie says.
“When you grow up having good parents, it’s just very normal, and you realize a lot of people don’t have that,” Courtney says. “So we’re grateful.”
Mark’s surgery was successful, and on the day of the interview with TODAY.com, Mark had just found out that he was able to drive again.
“I’ve been driving him everywhere, so I’m so excited to tag out,” jokes Leslie.
“I’m on cloud nine after this doctor’s visit because I’m ready to go,” says Mark. “I told them my goal was to walk Ellie down the aisle with no boot, and they said, ‘You’re free to go!’”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
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