'Can You Have a Wedding Shower Without the Bride and Groom?' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "Can You Have a Wedding Shower Without the Bride and Groom?"

• “As the wedding gets closer and closer, you realize that your time with having Tori as your little daughter is going to be shorter and shorter,” says Gil. He takes Tori out on a daddy-daughter date for some quality time one month before the wedding.
• First, Gil takes Tori to Fountain City Park. They go swinging at the playground where Tori used to play as a child. “Tori and Dad have a very special bond,” says Erin. “Tori is very sentimental and funny, sometimes a little bit spacey, and I think her and dad just really hit it off together.”
• Gil surprises Tori with a gift, a vase filled with branches. Paper bills and purple ribbons are tied to the branches. “I know you’ve always thought that money grows on trees, so I got you a…money tree,” explains Gil. “On these sticks right there are thorns. I got the ones with thorns on it so you realize if you’re living for money, it’s going to cause you pain.” Tori loves it.
• Gil and Tori walk across the street to Litton’s steak restaurant. While they wait for their food, Gil brings out photos of Tori as a child. “I was not going to cry because I’m saving that for the wedding,” says Tori.
• “It’s going to be really sad when you’re gone,” Gil tells Tori, choking up.
• “Even though I didn’t necessarily express it, the memories I made with him that night…it was the sweetest thing,” says Tori. “I think of everything internally. I don’t always express it outwardly, but deep down, it means a lot to me, and it’s a big deal.”
• Later, Whitney brings Kaci to Crown Cosmetology School so Josie can give little Kaci her first haircut.
• Josie is about to graduate and is eager to find a job. “I just absolutely loved walking in that salon and seeing Josie there,” says Whitney. “She’s blossoming into her own person and her own career, and she’s good at what she does.”
• Michael and Brandon come into town to help throw Tori and Bobby a wedding shower at Valley View Baptist, the church that Erin and Chad attend. They are expecting 70-100 guests.
• Erin recalls her own wedding shower, as she and Whitney help the Keilens decorate: “I don’t know if I take it as a personal thing because we planned for 150 to 200 people to be at my wedding shower, made all this food, sent out all these invitations. Nobody came except for nine people, y’all.”
• The guests arrive, but Tori and Bobby are nowhere to be found. “Tori and Bobby and Josie and Kelton are all missing,” says Gil. They are out shopping for groomsmen attire. Finally, they arrive. “Tori has always been known for being late,” shares Erin. “She’s just like dad, she’s pretty much late to everything.”
• While the guests eat, Kelly brings Tori and Bobby to the front to answer questions about each other. Tori freezes up and can hardly speak.
• “Tori’s very outgoing, but when you put her up somewhere where she’s the center of attention, she doesn’t like that at all,” says Jackson.
• Bobby breaks the ice by talking to the guests on the mic while Tori opens the gifts.