This was a question that ran through my mind right up front, “When do I have to give my father of bride speech?” Perhaps it was just a carryover from my grade school days where I always wanted to be the last one to give my oral report.
However, my wife was also giving a wedding speech, so I needed to coordinate content with her to avoid duplication. I was informed that it was traditional for the father of the bride to give his speech first, so I swallowed hard and took it like a man!
Since I was going first, I decided to do a little research on the internet to help me decide what I should include. I searched under “wedding speeches father” and found some helpful information, but nothing really comprehensive.
To be truthful, I’m not an overly emotional guy, or at least not one who feels real comfortable openly showing a lot of emotion.
So, as you can imagine, I was really stressing over this speech which, I thought was going to have to be real emotional. I’ve since learned that “from the heart” doesn’t necessarily mean something that will choke you up and bring a tear to the eye.
One thing I did take care of up front was to make sure that the Master of Ceremonies knew that I was going first and how to introduce me. It was a little tricky since technically I’m my daughter’s step-father. She calls me Dad, since I’ve been around since she was very small, but has just recently reconciled with her birth father, who will also be attending the event.
Since I was going first I thought I would start off with a bang and then just let my daughter know how I felt about her and her new husband. But, it ended up being my wife that did the emotional “heavy” lifting as she followed up my father of bride speech, a touching tribute to a special daughter and new bride.
If you are wondering what a father of the bride speech should contain, you are not alone! I didn’t have a clue until I got my hands on a little resource that made it all perfectly clear. So, this is what I learned from this guide as far as the basic parts of a successful and well written father of the bride wedding speech:
1) Since the bride’s father is traditionally the host of the event, it will be up to you to warm up the crowd. I did this with a little joke that I picked up from my research. I was quite happy that I thought of a way to personalize it which made it a big hit and got the audience laughing.
2) Welcome all of the guests to the reception and pay special attention to those guests who had to make that special effort to attend. We had a few guests that really made that extra effort to get to my daughters wedding. I think that they really appreciated the little call out that they got and recognition for their efforts.
3) It helps put everyone at ease if the father of the bride can include a few words about what to expect next in the program and a brief schedule of events for the evening. I just gave a little quick and dirty run down of what was coming.
4) Any personal comments are included at this point in most father of the bride speeches. I took this part of my father of the bride speech to acknowledge by fabulous wife. Since I’m technically a step-father I wanted to make that extra effort to thank my wife for bringing our wonderful daughter into my life.
5) The most important part of the father of the bride speech comes next and that is delivering a heartfelt few words about your special daughter. As always I accomplished this reach out to my daughter on her wedding day with humor. Since humor has always been our special way to communicate and has always accompanied the good times and helped us communicate during the not so easy times.
6) A little wisdom for the new happy couple comes next. I dialed down the humor during this segment since, as we all know, a marriage is not all fun and games. I did wish them much love and laughter in their new life ahead.
7) Wrap up your father of the bride speech with a toast to the bride and groom. I just did a real short traditional toast.
I found this video and thought it was a great father of the bride speech, so watch how the bride’s father covers all the components nicely:
I’m glad that I took the time to do some research on bride’s father wedding toasts and father of the bride wedding speeches. I read a lot of articles, made lists, took notes and developed an outline. But it wasn’t until I found a wedding speech guide online that it all came together for me.
With the help of this valuable resource, I then fleshed out my outline by adding personal antidotes about my wonderful daughter and a little married wisdom for the happy new couple. I wished them well and asked them to have patience with each other as they get adjusted to their new life.
My name is Ben Watson and when my daughter, Cheryl, recently got married, I was tapped to give the father of the bride speeches. Like most fathers, I found that writing my wedding speech started out as a traumatic experience. Lucky for me, I found these helpful tips and resources that made it a breeze and wanted to share them with other fathers-of-the-bride!
Since I was going first, I decided to do a little research on the internet to help me decide what I should include. I searched under “wedding speeches father” and found some helpful information, but nothing really comprehensive.
