Zak Ulwelling opened his arms to embrace his sister Dylane for what would normally be the father-daughter dance and revealed a surprise: an image of a young Dylane with their father, Dan Ulwelling.

Ten years and a day after Dan died from complications to cancer, Dylane Ulwelling married Nico Wallat. Though her father couldn’t walk his youngest daughter down the aisle to her groom, Dylane and her family kept Dan close to their hearts all day.

Though Dylane and Nico’s wedding day was chiefly a celebration of their love, Dylane and the Ulwellings did many things to honor their father’s memory, with Zak’s revelation of his T-shirt with the picture of Dylane and Dan serving as a final, touching gesture.

When she embraced Zak and danced to a rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” Dylane recalls feeling a comfort as if her dad was close.

“I just felt like my dad’s arms were wrapped around me,” she said.

Close at heart

Since the day Dan died, Dylane wondered who would walk her down the aisle when she got married, and that didn’t change when she started planning her wedding.

“From the beginning of the wedding planning, he was always in the back of my mind,” she said. “Always.”

Dan died Jan. 8, 2006, after battling cancer for almost two years. He was 53. When he passed, Dylane was on her way home from Camp Shelby in Mississippi during a 12-year stint in the Army National Guard.

But Dan has never been far from his family’s hearts or from the mind’s of Austin residents. Dan and his wife, Katie, were co-owners of Rydjor Bike Shop, and the annual Freedom Fest Dan Ulwelling Bike Race is named for Dan.

Dylane met Nico when the two were working as jailers in Ramsey County. They now live in Brooklyn Park, where she’s a deputy sheriff with Ramsey County and he’s a police officer.

The first way the couple tied the wedding to Dan was through time. Dylane and Nico planned their wedding on Jan. 9 since it’s the month Dan passed away and he was a big cross county skier. Dylane also has many memories of playing with her dad outside in the snow.

“Every time it snows, it just reminds me of him,” she said.

When Dylane told her family she wanted a winter wedding within days of the the 10th anniversary of Dan’s passing, the family rallied behind her, even though snow and cold presented potential challenges. Her mom, Katie, said everyone had the same response: “We know how much you loved your dad and we’re all in.”

“I knew it was important always to remember him, and make it a point,” Dylane said.

Though Dan was certainly in their hearts on Dylane and Nico’s wedding day, Zak noted no one in the family wanted it to be a sad or somber occasion. The day was about Nico and Dylane, and Dan would not have wanted the day to be somber. But since the family all loved Dan so much, they didn’t want to ignore his memory during the ceremony.

“It’s been 10 years but everyone still has him in our hearts,” Zak said.

Though the family shared a few tears at times on the wedding day, Janelle Voigt — Dylane and Zak’s older sister — said the memorials to Dan created a warm presence throughout the festivities.

“He definitely was with us the whole day,” she said.

The wedding day

Each of the Ulwelling children has a memory urn with some of their father’s ashes, and Dylane and Nico spread a few of Dan’s ashes outside the venue before the ceremony, which Dylane described as a very important moment.

Later at the ceremony, a candle was lit next to a picture of Dan with a young Dylane beside words dad and daughter used to share: “I love you to the moon and back.”

“It was the cutest picture,” Katie said.

The answer to the question of who would walk Dylane down the aisle was Zak, her older brother and the middle Ulwelling sibling. Zak described it as an honor and blessing to be asked.

To Katie, one of her favorite moments from the ceremony was seeing her beautiful daughter in a princess-like wedding dress walking down the aisle with her handsome brother.

“She looked absolutely stunning,” Katie said of her daughter.

But the Ulwellings were able to mostly keep the final moment of the night a surprise, though Dylane says she had hints they were planning something.

After Nico and Dylane shared their first dance, it was time for what would normally be the father-daughter dance. Zak again took the stage with his sister, but there was a brief pause before Dylane and Zak danced to Israel Ka’ano’i Kamakawiwo’ole’s version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Zak took off his jacket and shirt — a moment that Katie admits with a laugh confused some onlookers at first — to reveal that under his tux he was wearing a white T-shirt with the picture along with greetings from Dan’s many letters to Dylane during her time in the military, including “Beautiful Dyl” and “All my love, Dad.”

Katie described it as a wonderful, touching moment.

“Dylane just started crying of course,” she said.

At one point on their wedding day, Nico turned to his bride and said the he hopes one day their children talk about him like the Ulwellings reminisce about Dan.

“We loved my dad,” Dylane said, summarizing a host of emotions for the family.