Speech by Allan James

Speech Type: Father of the bride/groom
Speech Creator: Allan James
Speech Date: Jul 2009

WELCOME …..… WELL I have been waiting a long time for this day – so you would think I would know what I was going to say by now!
I will only be able to speak for a few minutes because of my throat….Jane said if I talked too long, she'd cut it !!
As the father of the bride it falls to me to make the first speech and set the scene for the real star performers, the bridegroom and his best men. So, if you're not too impressed, I can assure you it is only because I didn't want to give these guys a hard act to follow! So no pressure guys!
The 20th June is truly an historic day! Besides being the summer solstice, it has always been a very special day …… It's the day Oxford University received its charter and the day an 18-year old Queen Victoria came to the throne of England. The First bank was chartered in USA and it was the Test flight of first rocket plane. Today is also the Birthday of Nicole Kidman and Lionel Ritchie and –the British Grand Prix and the British Lions Rugby Test: Dale !!!!
But today, is the day Deborah and Dale got married! A day to be remembered!
Dale I can tell that you the most effective way to always remember your wedding anniversary is .. anyone know?? Yes to forget it once.
Weddings are a great excuse for a big party, and today is no exception. What a fantastic day, a fantastic venue – A Midsummer Night's Dream – with Romeo &amp Juliet about to start up next door.
Haven't you all scrubbed up well?? Credit crunch? What credit crunch?
Thanks go to Kieran and his team for quite the best meal I can remember. …..…
I would like to welcome every one of you here as you have all played a part, in the lives of Deborah and Dale and are valued because of that. I know your presence here is very important to them. Thank you all for coming.
With a touch of sadness, I cannot let this moment pass without mentioning a loved one who isn't with us here today. ‘Little Nanny’ – she will be happy now and I'm sure she is keeping an eye on proceedings from above, and I think she must have put in a good word for the weather today! Also ‘Grandpa’ who sadly has to stay at home at the moment but is thinking of you both on your very special day.
Time flies by so quickly, it doesn't seem five minutes since Deborah was born and here I am today, speaking at her Wedding. I clearly remember the day she was born. The midwife said to me “She looks just like you Mr James,” but then she realised her mistake, and turned Deborah up the right way!
It really was my proudest moment, until today of course.

While I was getting ready to talk today I became a little sentimental and decided to get out a few old photograph albums. I admit that I had tears in my eyes as I turned the pages and I saw a photo of our ‘little girl’, lying on a rug, dribbling and pointing up at the camera with a foolish grin. I remembered her pathetic attempts to stand up … that was some 21st birthday party wasn't it?
Being Deborah's dad I have so many fond memories of her growing up. Trips to our Caravan on Hayling Island, holidays and trips to visit our very dear friends, Kath &amp Geoff in Derbyshire. When she was 15 we did the London to Brighton charity bike run together. Then through a school project, she got me back on the High Seas. We have since sailed together in the Channel, the North Sea Marcella will remember that one! and then across the Bay of Biscay for the Tall Ships Race.
So you see Deborah has always been ‘going places’.
Deborah is a very ‘together’ person and always knew what she wanted. She is a very hard worker and we are both very proud of all her achievements.
At this point in the proceedings, it is traditional to bring up an embarrassing moment from Deborah's past or to highlight a strange character trait so that you can all have a good laugh at her expense. But, on the basis that she has much more on me, and in the interests of self preservation I am going to pass on that one.
But there was a time when she put an advert in the Surrey Advertiser that read “Husband Wanted” and she had 97 replies all saying the same thing . . . “You can have mine!”
Dale apparently also tried hard before he found Deborah. I understand that he sent a photo to a Lonely Hearts Club but they sent it back saying “We're not that lonely!”
We can all see for ourselves how gorgeous Deborah looks today, which proves one thing I've learned about Dale – that he is definitely a man of vision … occasionally blurred, sometimes double, but nonetheless a man of vision who's been lucky enough to have found Deborah.
I remember when we first met we started to talk about football and I asked him,” Dale, just what is it you like about going to Upton Park?” Is it the scintillating football? The thrill of the win? The passion in the crowd? “I Dunno” he said, I've only been going for ten years.
Every Father hopes his daughter will find a smart, reliable, considerate young man so it's wonderful to see Deborah looking so happy today as she begins a new chapter of her life – as wife and partner to Dale. I know I'm also speaking for Jane when I say we could not be happier. We are not losing her we are merely entrusting her to Dale's care.
As we have got to know Dale over the past months, we have come to know that this will be very good care. He has shown himself to be exactly the sort of person we had always hoped Deborah would marry. He is really likeable and easy going, hard working, and he has immaculate tastes. Although West Ham? mmm.… but he did chose Deborah, didn't he?
I was very touched last year when Dale formally asked me for Deborah's hand in marriage. Thank you again for that!
I had to keep the secret for a few weeks until they had flown off to New York, where he planned to ‘pop the question’. Thanks Dale! I really got it in the neck from Jane for not letting on!!
We are all delighted to welcome him formally to be a member of the James ‘Clan’. In doing so, he brings other welcome people into our family. It's been a pleasure to have become friends with Dale's parents, Shona and Donald, and we would like to thank them for taking Deborah into their lives and we congratulate them and join in their obvious pride for Dale and Dawn.
Now, it's customary on these occasions for me to offer the happy couple some worldly advice on marriage but, as is the fashion today, Deborah and Dale have already set up home together and are living in a very nice apartment overlooking the River.
In our day, things were rather different. We were not so forward in fact we were very innocent Jane &amp I had only known each other for 5 months. So on our Wedding day, we sat up all night waiting for our sexual relations to arrive…
Joking aside, there is much I could say on this subject, but I think Dale knows by now what he is getting himself into.
So I'm not going to give you lots of glib advice, but there are some words of warning I read from the Bishop of Oxford: “According to Statistics, the person sitting next to you at this moment is the one most likely to murder you!”
Of course, marriage is not only about finding the perfect partner, but also about being one. I believe that marriage will teach you, loyalty, self-restraint, and control. It will develop in you a sense of fair play and many other qualities ….… which you probably wouldn't have needed if you had stayed single!
It is customary on an occasion such as this for the father of the bride to offer the newlyweds some profound piece of advice, so here goes …
Ladies and Gentlemen – Friends,
”We cannot fully enjoy life unless someone we love enjoys it with us.”
Not my words, but I sincerely agree with them.
I started planning this speech six months ago, and you must feel like I have been delivering it for just as long, but now it gives me immense pride and pleasure, not to mention relief, to invite you all to stand and raise your glasses in a toast to the new Mr &amp Mrs Patterson.
To Dale and Deborah!