Speech by Emma Breslin

Speech Type: Bride
Speech Creator: Emma Breslin
Speech Date: oct 2003
Started by apologising to the Best Man because he was plucking up the courage to stand up when I dived up and started my speech)

Hello everyone. I guess this is slightly unusual – the Bride doing a speech – but as you all know, the chances of me being able to stay quiet whilst everyone else does a speech were pretty slim.

A good speech, they say, should be like a mini-skirt – short enough to be interesting, yet long enough to cover the essentials! So here goes…..…

Thankyou all for coming to share the day with us. Many of you have had to take time off work and/or travelled a fair distance to be with us today – we really do appreciate the sacrifices that have been made for us.

Of course, there are some faces missing from this celebration as I look round the room and for whatever reason, cannot be with us to share this special occasion. I'd like to make a toast now to the different people we've known and loved who are looking down on this celebration and hopefully having a little one of their own up there! Ladies and Gentlemen, would you please stand and raise your glasses to ‘Absent Friends and Loved Ones’.

Thanks to everyone who has helped in one way or another. I won't mention names as I'll more than likely forget someone and upset them! Special thanks to Mum, Dad, Irene and Jimmy for their generous contributions. Also, thankyou to Irene and Jimmy for raising James so well, althoufg I understand that the warranty's out of date and the refund deadline has long since passed. I think I'll keep him for a while though as he has so many lovely qualities – charm, brains and beauty are sadly the only ones missing! Thankyou to my Chief Bridesmaid Rachel for putting up with my wittering, nagging and moaning on this, that and the other. Thankyou for smiling sweetly when what you really wanted to do was slap me! I'd also like to thank you especially for all the hard work you put into designing and making the invitations. Thankyou to my beautiful Bridesmaids Lucy, Suzanne and Hannah for carrying out your duties perfectly. Thankyou to Paul for agreeing to take on the role of Best Man and getting James to the church – you've done me proud on that part alone – although depending on the contents of your speech, I may retract the ‘proud’ bit! Thankyou to our Ushers Alan and Craig. You've both scrubbed up nicely and thanks for your help.

A lot of people seem to think there's a difference to your relationship once you are married. Someone told me:

Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you've said; after marriage, he'll fall asleep before you've finished saying it. Nothing new there then (pat hubby's head)

They say that when a man holds a woman's hand before marriage, it's love. After marriage, it's self defence (hubby pretended to cower at this point)

I know that our opinion of marriage today is a lot more positive. I hope that in twenty years time, we'll still have the same opinion. I'll keep you posted.

Last but not least, a few words on James. I'd like to thank James for his earlier compliments and I would like to add how handsome he looks today. James and me have been together for just over nine years now and it means a lot to be his wife after all this time. I'm sure James is happy about this now because he can finally start to let himself go! Anyway, thankyou James for turning up today, on time and appropriately dressed. (Turn to hubby) You are the love of my life, my best friend and now my hubby. I don't think anybody could be as happy as I am today and I can't wait for us to share the rest of our lives together.

I'll drink my own private toast to James later. Iwould now like to propose another toast, this time to you, our guests. (Get hubby to stand up) Cheers everyone!

I had a great laugh writing this speech and even more of a laugh delivering it – especially as the Best Man (and everyone else) had no idea it was coming and he was geeing himself to stand up!! Hope this helps other Brides planning a speech.