Father of the Bride Speeches – Make Yours a Success

August 1st, 2009 by admin

-->

Father of the Bride Wedding Speeches - How to be Witty and Well Prepared!

********************************

The expectation from long ago is that the father of the bride is the host of his daughter’s wedding breakfast. In times past that meant paying for the reception too, though the costs are usually shared these days. In keeping with that tradition, the bride’s father is usually expected to act as the master of ceremonies for the wedding reception.

Sometimes a professional wedding MC is engaged, especially for celebrity weddings. For most weddings the father of the bride is expected to give an opening speech and propose the toast to the newly wed couple at the beginning of the wedding reception.

There are five key steps to a good father of the bride speech.

The first step is to say a few welcoming words to set the tone and create a celebratory mood for an enjoyable wedding reception. The primary aim is to get the guests to relax. A good way to do this is to talk about the wedding ceremony, how gorgeous the bride looks, the venue for the reception or even the weather — anything that everybody has an opinion about — and how much you are looking forward to meeting everyone and enjoying the reception.

Secondly, as the host, the bride’s father welcomes all of the guests. It is usual to introduce any special guests, especially the groom’s family and those who have made a special effort to be at the wedding. Missing guests are often acknowledged at this stage also, especially family members or friends with close links with the bride or groom who have been unable to make it to the wedding. A much loved grandparent or favorite uncle who has recently passed away is often mentioned at this point.

A third key component of the speech is to build some anticipation about what will happen during the reception, such as the always popular best man’s speech and any entertainment planned for during the reception, and for afterwards. Your guests will relax more when they know what lies ahead for the reception.

As a fourth step in their wedding speech, most proud fathers take the opportunity to say a few kind words in public about the bride, their daughter. This is often the most difficult part of the speech to prepare for many fathers. There are no rules about how to express your own feelings. Telling funny stories about your daughter meeting the groom and quoting poetry are popular approaches, among your choice of other ways to express yourself.

Finally, to focus the attention of the wedding reception firmly on the newlywed couple it is usual for the bride’s father to call for guests to join him in a toast to the bride and groom. Choosing the right words for the toast is important.

Every father of the bride will inject his own personality, humor and feelings into their father of the bride speeches around this or a similar basic five step speech framework.

Most fathers will be giving their father of the bride speech for the first time, and most will find a few speech tips and resources can be very helpful. Speech templates and sample wedding speeches can be downloaded, along with checklists of things and people that really should be mentioned, and valuable suggestions, such as popular jokes, quotes and poems to select from.