Your perfect Father of the Bride speech

– the easy way!

So what makes the perfect father of the bride speech?

Sincerity? Wit? Charm?

Well, it’s a combination of all of those but most of all it’s about your role as the proud father of your daughter, the blushing bride. The bride has been looking forward to this moment. It’s not often that a father gets the opportunity to show his true feelings about his daughter and the father of the bride speech marks how special his father/daughter relationship is.

Being the father of the bride means you get to escort the bride to the church, give her away and if you’re really lucky you can even pick up the tab!

You then have the privilege of making the first speech and raising a toast to the bride and groom.

Making the first speech at the wedding means you will be setting the tone and the standard for the others to follow. Going first has its advantages – you can sit down and enjoy the other speeches. There’s no need for you to worry the pressure will be on them.

Fortunately for you there is a structure to the father of the bride speech which outlines the essentials and the formalities that should be included.

Using this structure and following these guidelines, we are going to show you how you can create your perfect father of the bride speech that everyone will love.

How long should your speech be? 5 or 6 minutes is fine, 10 minutes max - any longer and you’ll bore them to death!

7 Steps to a Great Speech

Step 1:

Opening lines

You are the host so your role here is to make everyone feel welcome. Many of the guests have only just met so they haven’t had the chance to get to know one another yet.

You have two sets of families and friends to bring together so start by thanking everyone for coming and say how delighted you are that everyone is sharing this special day with you.

Give a special thank you to those who have travelled far to be there.

Your speech is also given on behalf of the bride’s mother so don’t forget to mention her in glowing terms. If you are no longer together and feel you can’t do this sincerely then don’t do it at all!

Step 2:

Your daughter

Now you move on to talk about your daughter. This part will form the bulk of your speech. This is where you express how proud you are of her as a person, her achievements and of course, her choice of husband.

Childhood memories always go down well at this point with funny anecdotes that will bring your speech to life.

You can reminisce about her interests, her hobbies, her goals, her career, her likes and dislikes and some of her childhood antics. You can use some of our suggestions to help you come up with interesting speech topics.

For extra brownie points liken your daughter’s best qualities with those of her mother!

Step 3:

Your new son-in-law

Welcome your new son-in-law into the family with some genuine kind words. Express how proud you are to welcome him into your family. After all you never thought that anyone would be good enough for your little girl did you? And he is everything one could want in a son-in-law.

You are delighted to hand over the responsibility of your daughter’s welfare to a man who can keep your daughter in the manner to which she has been accustomed!

Let him know that you are not losing a daughter but gaining a son.

Step 4:

Groom’s family

Welcome the groom’s family into the family. Thank the groom’s parents for their generosity. We are now one big family and grateful to them for everything they have done to make this such a wonderful and very special occasion.

Step 5:

Thank you’s

With the average wedding now costing in excess of £10,000 many couples are moving away from the traditional expectation that the father of the bride foots the entire bill. Good news for you!

More and more nowadays the cost of the modern wedding is split between the couple and the two sets of parents. Occasionally other relatives may chip in as well.

So whoever has been generous enough to make a contribution gets a mention and a thank you in your speech.

If the couple have saved up and paid for it themselves this deserves a special mention too. This can be expressed by saying how proud you are of them for the way they have achieved what they wanted. Talk about the qualities and attributes they have shown in the build up to the wedding such as patience, kindness and intelligence. Who do they take after? It’s a wonderful start for their married life together.

Step 6:

The end:

Advice

You are almost there. The finish line is in sight.

This is where you end with some light-hearted advice based on the wisdom you have gleaned from many years of experience.

For example: There are two things that make a good marriage. One is patience and one is compromise. Now I feel very qualified to give this piece of advice to you two newlyweds because God knows I’ve been patiently compromising for years!

Now it’s time to let the audience know that you are coming to the end and have some idea of what happens next. Link to the toast by saying something along the lines of:

Before I hand over to my new son in law David:

Step 7:

Toast

Ladies and Gentleman, please stand and raise your glasses to the Happy Couple!

Now you know what you need to include in your father of the bride speech you can make a start by creating your speech outline.

Have you thought about the format of your speech? Do you want to deliver a speech that's short and sweet, traditional, hilarious or something a bit different? Take a look at these speech ideas and choose the right idea for your perfect father of the bride speech.