Speech by Doc Rog

Speech Type: Father of the bride/groom
Speech Creator: Doc Rog
Speech Date: 20/10/2014 12:11:57

Roger's Speech  (12:30)

Ladies and gentlemen, for those that don't know me I'm Roger, Alice's Dad.  As Father of the Bride it falls upon me to make the first speech.

First of all I like to thank you all for coming to celebrate the marriage of Alice and Nathan.   I know that having their family and close friends here on this very special day means a great deal to them.

All fathers are concerned for their children as they grow from babies to adulthood and naturally only want the best for them.  But fathers are reputedly over-concerned about their daughters when they become young women and attract the attention of boyfriends.  In this respect I am a typical dad, but more of that later.

I'd like to talk about some of the more memorable events in Alice's life so far…

Alice came into the world on a cold, snowy February night in 1986.  Now you would think that a dad would always remember all of his children's birth dates.  However, for a long time I was never quite sure if Alice was born on the 6th February or the 7th. This is because she started to appear just before midnight but fully emerged just after midnight.  But officially she was born on the 6th so I think I've finally got the hang of it now .

Alice's journey through childhood has had more than its fair share of heart-stopping moments for Kath and I.

The first such occasion was when Alice was only 11 months old and running a high fever.  During the evening she went into a Grand mal fit which just went on and on.  We called out the duty doctor who suspected Meningitis and I have a vivid memory of Kath and I standing around the cot helplessly while the doctor consulted a medical book for what seemed an eternity, as she checked precisely which drugs and what dose she should administer to Alice.  An ambulance arrived and took Alice and I to hospital where she finally came out of the fit after an agonising 45 minutes.  It was not Meningitis and, thankfully she suffered no long term effects from the fit.

By the time Alice was 2 she was a happy bundle of energy with a beaming smile and beautiful blond curls, very much like Shirley Temple, so I'm not quite sure how she ended up with the wonderful chestnut brown locks she has now.

At this stage in her life Alice was completely fearless and hade a habit of  randomly running off at the drop of a hat.  Kath or I would then have to chase after her before she got into any sort of trouble.  I think Alice thought this was a very good game to play.

On one such occasion we were travelling to Ireland on a ferry when Alice decided to run off and I chased after her.  There was a group of middle-aged seasoned drinkers sitting on stools at the bar, getting steadily pickled.  Alice picked on one of the men and proceeded to use him as a climbing frame, ending up sitting on his lap between him and his pint, grinning and laughing in his face.  I apologised to the shocked inebriant and retrieved the fearless Alice.

It has been a great pleasure to me to help all our children learn to swim so on Saturday mornings I would take them to swimming lessons, and I would be in the water with them.  When both Anna & Iain were taking lessons I would play with Alice in the shallow end, having fun and getting her used to water and being thrown up in the air and landing back with a splash.

Alice has always had a sort of “Dreamy” quality and at times she can seem to be in a special world of her own.  Our friends in Ireland have described her as being “Off with the fairies”

When Alice was 3 it was her turn to have proper swimming lessons while I had baby Chloe to look after in the swallow end.  On several occasions Keith, the swimming instructor, would come up to me and ask for my help.  Instead of swimming widths with the other children, Alice could be found on her back in the middle of the pool swimming round and round in circles and singing “La, La, La” to herself, and would not be distracted from this.  Anyway, after a few weeks we managed to persuade her to follow the teacher's wishes and all's well that ends well and she is now a strong swimmer.

When Alice was about 4 she tripped in the school playground, fell forwards and on the way down she managed to knock out both front teeth on a park bench. She went to hospital with Kath and was very brave as they stitched up her gums without any anaesthetic.  For the next couple of years she would greet the world with a big toothless grin and it was impossible not to be reminded of that old song “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.”  In due course these arrived, when her adult teeth appeared, and she now has a beautiful set of gnashers.

More serious medical worries….When Alice was 6 she had several weeks of nagging pains in her stomach.  One evening things got worse so we took her to see the doctor.  He admitted Ali to the hospital straight away.  I went with her and camped out on the floor next to her hospital bed.  The doctors said that if the pain moved overnight from her middle to her right, it's appendicitis.  It moved, so at 6am I held her hand as she disappeared into the operating theatre for urgent surgery, and not a moment too soon.  It turned out that her appendix was black and on the point of bursting which would have meant peritonitis.  After the operation Ali looked so ill, but just two days later she was outside on the hospital patio racing around on a tricycle as if nothing had happened.

On a lighter note, Ali and toilet doors do not get on and there have been a number of times when we have been on holiday, or generally out and about, when she has found herself locked in the loo, and letting everyone in earshot know that she was definitely not a happy bunny.  However I will move on and not embarrass her further on that topic.

I think it very important in life to keep in touch with the simple things that gave you pleasure as a child and I think that this quality has been passed on to our children.

This was confirmed just a few years ago when Chloe and Alice were in their early twenties and living back home with us for a while.  One morning I arose blearily and made my way down stairs only to find that the house was invested with Barbie dolls.  Alice and Chloe had decided to hold a sort of “Barbie & Ken Convention” in our lounge, which involved getting out all the Barbie-related Christmas and birthday presents that our three daughters had built up over many years.  There were about 60 Barbies, 10 Kens, 2 Barbie cars, a Barbie House, a Barbie caravan, Barbie swimming pool and, rather worryingly, an assorted collection of spare body parts such as dismembered legs, heads, bodies etc.  The two girls played happily with these toys for most of the day, and couldn't have cared less what people would think of them.

By the age of 18 Alice had grown up to become a beautiful young woman, with a ready smile and a bubbly personality

Alice loved art at school went on to complete a Foundation Course at Hertfordshire University, followed by a BA degree in Illustration & Graphic Design at Lincoln University.

If you are an artist, getting a job in the area you love is not always easy, so Alice took on many other jobs in the meantime.

In September 2009 Alice was working for Herts County Council where, unbeknownst to Alice, she was being worshiped from afar by Nathan, who also worked there.  Very romantically, Nathan wrote her a sincere letter in a bid for her affections.  This approach worked and their courtship began

Living together and taking extended trips aboard has ensured that Alice knows exactly what she has let herself in for, now that she has taken Nathan as her husband.

Nathan is an extrovert and a bit of “Cool Dude”, but surprisingly old-fashioned in some ways.  One day during a period when they were living at our house he rather seriously asked if he could to talk to Kath and I that evening, in private.  What could this mean?  (Defensive Dad emotions were coming to the fore)

It turns out that Nathan has decided to ask for Alice's hand in marriage and would like to have our blessing, which we were very happy to grant.  He explained that he would pop the question to Alice while they were at his brother Dan's wedding in Las Vegas a few months later.  In the meantime Nathan asked if I had a safe place to keep the engagement ring.  I replied that he could store it my steel GUN Cabinet, where I keep my SHOTGUN. 

You must remember that Fathers are protective towards their daughters, particularly regarding  suitors, so I emphasised the presence of the Shotgun to ensure that Nathan understood that I expected him to act honourably to Alice at all times and that there would be consequences if he failed to do so.

It was 4 months before Alice & Nathan travelled to Las Vegas to attend Dan & Nadine's wedding, with Alice still completely in the dark about Nathan matrimonial intentions.

In Las Vegas Nathan arranges things so that one evening he and Alice are alone outside the Bellagio Hotel admiring the wonderful water fountain displays that they put on, synchronised to music.  Nathan waits until a suitably romantic song is playing, where upon he drops down on one knee pretending to tie his shoe laces.  Then out comes the box containing the engagement ring and, on bended knee, Nathan proposes marriage to a surprised Alice.  Thankfully Alice says Yes.

So, what to say about Nathan?  I will leave it to others to pick on embarrassing moments from Nathan's past and instead I will focus on some of his virtues, which he does have.

He is kind, caring, sensitive, lively, fun-loving but above all he is clearly deeply in love with our Alice, and she with him.  They have a common love of art and Nathan is fortunate enough to have a job that makes full use of his artistic talents, designing illustrated book covers for new editions; a task that Alice has also helped with at times.

Over the past 5 years there have been periods when Nathan and Alice have lived at our house so I have got to know him very well. 

Nathan has been like another son to us.  By that I mean he leaves his clothes, bicycle parts, empty sweet bags, half-eaten pastries, chocolate bars, cakes and empty pizza boxes all over the house, stays in bed until midday and drinks all my beer. 

His love of all things sweet is fortunately matched by his love of extreme mountain biking and it is only his that keeps him fit and prevents him from turning into a blobby “Juba the Hut”.

But Nathan makes Alice very happy and that is my main concern.  Kath and I are extremely glad that they have found each other and that, by exchanging vows and rings, they have pledged to bind their futures together. 

Alice and Nathan both wear their hearts on their sleeves and when they are happy or sad, they show it.  They are always very open with each other about how they are feeling.

I'm no expert on marriage but I would like to share one bit of advice with you, Alice.  If you've fallen out, never go to bed angry.  Be like your Mum and I … stay up all night and carry on fighting!

Kath and I are very pleased to welcome Nathan into the Collins clan and, of coarse, we are equally pleased that Alice will be joining the Clair family.

You've got a wonderful bride Nathan; you are a very lucky young man.

Now it is my pleasant duty to propose a toast to the happy couple and I know that everyone here will want to join with me in wishing them a long, happy and healthy future together.

Ladies & gentlemen…Please raise you glasses to toast the newly weds.  … “To Alice & Nathan”