If you have been searching for father of the bride speeches in preparation for your “big” speaking engagement at your daughter’s wedding, you are probably as frustrated as I was. I was able to find dribs and drabs of information, but couldn’t locate a “one-stop-shopping” resource – something that offered a step-by-step guide to walk you through the entire speech writing process.
When my daughter, Cheryl, asked me to give a father of the bride wedding speech, I swallowed hard and with a loving smile told her, “Of course I will sweetheart!”. The next thought that passed through my mind was sheer panic! I thought, “I’m not a public speaker and what the heck do I say anyways?”
This is what launched me into my search for information and resources that would help me prepare for this memorable moment. I searched the internet and local bookstore but pretty much came up empty handed. The free wedding speeches I found were a bust.
It wasn’t until a friend of mine told me about this resource he found that almost took him by the hand and led him through all the steps in drafting a great father of the bride speech. He liked the fact that this guide was written specifically for the father of the bride and provided wedding speech examples, a step-by-step process to follow, and father wedding toasts. It even provided invaluable tips on giving your speech, something most of us welcome.
Well, this turned out to be my “secret” weapon and really took all the stress out of writing this very important speech. Any confusion I had was eliminated quickly as I followed the simple directions and covered all the required components of the best father of the bride speeches. Needless to say, my speech went off without a hitch and best of all, my daughter was extremely proud of her “old” man. The wedding guests saw a father confidently giving his wedding speech while telling them how much his daughter and new son-in-law meant to him. It just doesn’t get any better than that!
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!
This is what launched me into my search for information and resources that would help me prepare for this memorable moment. I searched the internet and local bookstore but pretty much came up empty handed. The free wedding speeches I found were a bust.
