Father-of-the bride uses sign language to give a rendition of the song ‘I Loved Her First’ – leaving his daughter in floods of tears

By SARAH FINLEY FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 08:02 EST, 6 November 2019 

A father, who was giving a speech at his daughter’s wedding, surprised her with a tear-jerking rendition of a song through the medium of sign language – leaving his daughter in floods of tears.

During the wedding of bride Ali Kiman and groom, Mitch Kiman, from Ashland, Kentucky, on October 11th, her father Al Jones signed an intimate and meaningful rendition of ‘I Loved Her First’ by Heartland.

Andrew Stevens, a Videographer from Always Hope Creative, captured the special moment, where Al began his speech and referenced the time in 2017 where Ali suffered a serious car accident in which she had her jaw wired shut and tried to communicate with her parents via sign language.

A father who was giving a speech at his daughter’s wedding, surprised her with a tear-jerking rendition of a song through the medium of sign language 

After Al performed the song via sign language his daughter was emotional and they hugged at the reception

Ali was only able to communicate through non-verbal means and began signing to her family to which they did not understand resulting in use of a whiteboard to converse.

‘Ali was pretty good at sign language, so she started signing and telling me and Jenny what she wanted,  and we were just standing there guessing  – didn’t have a clue.’

During the reception of bride Ali Kiman and groom, Mitch Kiman (right) her father Al Jones (left) signed an intimate and meaningful rendition of ‘I Loved Her First’ by Heartland

Bride Ali (right) suffered a serious car accident in which she had her jaw wired shut and tried to communicate with her parents via sign language

During his father of the bridge speech Al (left) told how he had learnt sign language for his daughter

‘She would get frustrated – so we had to go to plan B – so we got a white board and that’s how we communicated. But I’ve been practicing my sign language Ali, still not that good at it.’

What followed at the reception was extraordinary, Al had the poignant song playing and he started to interpret all of the lyrics into ASL, to which Ali began tearing up.

The rehearsed piece brought the room to silence as the guests watched and listened intently until the end where Al was met with huge applause and an emotional hug from daughter and newlywed.

The rehearsed piece brought the room to silence as the guests watched and listened intently until the end where Al was met with huge applause and an emotional hug from daughter and newlywed

Both the bride and groom got emotional when they saw her father perform the song via sign language  

Videographer for Always Hope Creative, Andrew Stevens said: ‘The mother of the bride told me they were planning it as a surprise.

‘I teared up as I was filming it.

‘It was in suspense and a lot of tears flowing.’