Yesterday I posted about how to brainstorm the ideas that will make up the bulk of your Father of the Bride speech, focusing on your daughter, her husband to be and your thoughts on marriage. Today I want you to expand on those ideas to create a complete outline for your speech - it won't be the final version, but all the elements will be in place. Let's take a look at the entire structure:
Overview
1. Introduction - Welcome the guests and thank them for sharing such an important day, remembering to mention anyone who made a particular effort by name. Also, although it is traditional for the bride's father to pay for the wedding, that isn't always the case these days and so ensure you thank anyone else who has contributed.
2. Your daughter - tell her and everyone else how proud you are of her based on your notes from yesterday.
3. You son-in-law - welcome him into your family; again, you should have notes from yesterday.
4. Start if talking about marriage and how it benefited you, but you can use this to speak about anything else appropriate too. You may like to add some humor, but steer clear of anything controversial or potentially offensive.
5. Wish the bride and groom a successful and happy marriage and propose a toast to the bride and groom.
Okay, so that was a brief overview and you should basically have enough material for points 2,3 and 4, so we need to take a closer look at your welcome and toast. Here we go...
Welcome
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you all for coming here today to celebrate the marriage of [daughter] to [son-in-law], with a special mention to [name1] and [name2] for traveling from far and wide and who I haven't seen for years.
While one of the great privileges of being being [bride's] father is that I get to pay for the wedding, I'd also like to thank [whoever else contributed] for sharing the cost and helping to make today that extra bit special."
Toast
"Anyway, I'd like to wish [bride] and [groom] every success and the exceedingly happy marriage they deserve. Please charge your glasses for... the bride and groom."
That's it - short and to the point. You never want you speech to drag on for longer that is welcome, so keep each element to the point, but make sure you make whatever it is you're going to say your own - you should personalize the speech and say it how YOU speak, not how I write, and flesh it out more if appropriate. Also, if you would prefer to add some humor, then by all means add it, as long as you'll be comfortable with it on the day.
Now you have enough content for your first draft of your wedding speech. In my next post I'll discuss taking the content and putting it all together to shape it for a more polished version.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
How to prepare for the Father of the Bride Speech
When most people think of wedding speeches their thoughts turn to the best man, a long tradition of gently mocking, but affectionate, humor at the bride groom's expense. However, the best man - and the groom for that matter - aren't the only ones speaking on the big day and as Father of the Bride, your speech will be eagerly awaited too.
Whenever it comes to public speaking there are several things to consider, which I'll discuss on this blog over time. But here is an overview of how to approach the task, which although you may be dreading can actually be quite enjoyable on the day.
And for this introductory post I'll just talk about brainstorming for ideas. Forget about the protocol, the introduction and how to finish your speech at the moment - that's basically textbook stuff which can be copied and changed to suit you afterwards. At the moment you need to work out what you are going to talk about and get some notes down on paper.
And the good news is that by spending a little time preparing and writing your speech followed by a little more practicing what you're going to say, your speech will flow perfectly. Nerves really are for the unprepared, and the preparation won't take too much of your time. So, lets get started.
There are two essentials in any Father of the Bride speech:
When it comes to the groom, hopefully you like him and approve of the marriage. Even if you don't, he will certainly have some positive points - you may not have experienced them directly, but I'm sure your daughter has mentioned them to you, but in most cases you'll know him already and hopefully have a good relationship.
In addition to this you might also want to talk about marriage and particularly what you have gained from it or enjoyed. Even if you are now separated or divorced, there will be some positives you have taken from the experience!
Just write down anything that comes into your head while you think about these topics and get it down on paper. You can flesh it out and edit it all at a later stage, but it is better to have too many ideas than struggle to write your speech. That's all for now, I'll write about the next stage in a day or so.
Whenever it comes to public speaking there are several things to consider, which I'll discuss on this blog over time. But here is an overview of how to approach the task, which although you may be dreading can actually be quite enjoyable on the day.
And for this introductory post I'll just talk about brainstorming for ideas. Forget about the protocol, the introduction and how to finish your speech at the moment - that's basically textbook stuff which can be copied and changed to suit you afterwards. At the moment you need to work out what you are going to talk about and get some notes down on paper.
And the good news is that by spending a little time preparing and writing your speech followed by a little more practicing what you're going to say, your speech will flow perfectly. Nerves really are for the unprepared, and the preparation won't take too much of your time. So, lets get started.
There are two essentials in any Father of the Bride speech:
- Talk about your daughter and how proud you are of her and why
- Welcome your son in law to your family and mention his good points
When it comes to the groom, hopefully you like him and approve of the marriage. Even if you don't, he will certainly have some positive points - you may not have experienced them directly, but I'm sure your daughter has mentioned them to you, but in most cases you'll know him already and hopefully have a good relationship.
In addition to this you might also want to talk about marriage and particularly what you have gained from it or enjoyed. Even if you are now separated or divorced, there will be some positives you have taken from the experience!
Just write down anything that comes into your head while you think about these topics and get it down on paper. You can flesh it out and edit it all at a later stage, but it is better to have too many ideas than struggle to write your speech. That's all for now, I'll write about the next stage in a day or so.
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