THE FATHER OF THE BRIDE SPEECH

How time flies. It seems like only yesterday you were changing her nappy and now here you are making a speech as the Father of the Bride!

There is a special bond between father and daughter that is difficult to explain for anyone who has never experienced it before, but you must remember that today is not the end of that bond, it is simply the beginning of a different one. Sure you are giving her away to the man of her dreams, but hey, at least she won’t be bleeding you dry and borrowing your car all the time!

When it comes to the speech, the good news is that you are first up and you get to set the standard that others must follow. The bad news however, is that you’re the first up and you get to set the standard that others can’t fail to beat (only joking!). But on a serious note, for those of you who are dreading the impending oration, take a look at the various help articles scattered throughout The Speeches section – they are crammed full of useful tips to help you get through the speech unscathed and we’re sure that you can’t fail to find them of use.

If there is one word to sum up the speech by the Father of the Bride, it’s not ‘humorous’ nor ‘brief’, but ‘sincere’. The speech gives you a chance to reminisce about times gone by and speak of how you look forward to the good times that lay ahead. For those few moments that you stand with the eyes of the guests firmly focussed on you, you get to wax lyrical about just how brilliant your daughter is and how lucky the Groom is to be taking her as his wife. You also get a chance to speak about the Groom – your first thoughts, how those thoughts have changed and how the relationship between your family and his has developed over time. No matter how much you would like to, this is not an opportunity to say what a mistake you think your daughter is making!