Speech by John Relph

Speech Type: Father of the bride/groom
Speech Creator: John Relph
Speech Date: 01/05/2013 09:02:04

Friends – Family – Honoured Guests! WELCOME

Welcome to BETH and LAWRIE'S Wedding.

And I can assure you that this truly is Beth and Lawrie's wedding as they have planned it down to every last details themselves!

Right from the start Beth …er I mean Beth and Lawrie were adamant that they wanted a wedding on the beach or a least as close to one as they could manage! After all the proposal was on a beach and Beth like things to match.

Not only did they choose the location and venue and arranged the food, drinks, music, the photographer.… She err… sorry I mean they … chose the colour scheme, table decorations, flowers and even hand-made from scratch the little bag of chocolates in front on you, (which I can assure you are truly yummy!)

So first of all I would like to propose the first of many TOASTS (so a small sip will do nicely!) to the Bride and Groom.… TO MR and MRS BRAND – THE BRIDE AND GROOM.

Now I believe it is traditional to say a few words about my extraordinarily beautiful daughter… Who I believe I am now once again allowed to call Elizabeth – as the alliterative ‘Beth Brand’ has been thrown out in preference to the rather more erudite sounding ‘Elizabeth Brand’.

Elizabeth – is a passionate woman!

When she gets into something she does it with all her heart – with an all-consuming PASSION. The very first of these ‘passions’ that can I remember was the ‘Wizard of OZ’ – oddly enough not the film, just the soundtrack. It was in the days of cassette tapes and someone (I can't remember who) gave her a tape of the soundtrack – now for some reason side 2 was favourite, although only about 4 years old she had effortlessly mastered operating the cassette player and I can still remember the sound of the cassette rewinding and the sure knowledge that the any minute the munchkins would once again squeal ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, Which old Witch! The Wicked Witch…’ again ….and again….and again…

Some of her passions fade over time some stick – like her passion for PINK – pink clothes, pink shoes, pink toys, pink bed, pink carpet, pink walls and a eventually a pink wedding .… a passion that, show no signs of fading!

Then there was Gymnastics – I wasn't confined to weekly sessions at the local sports centre – no, every spare moment was spent practicing moves- she would cartwheel down the hall rather than walk! We were treated to gymnastic displays day and night. I can remember settling down after Rob and Lizzy (as she was known then) I can still remember the house-shaking thumps coming through the floorboards as she perfected the back-flip in her bedroom. We were both convinced she would come through the ceiling one day! And there was Dancing to – ballet, modern and tap – I seem to remember Tap was the favourite (her passions do seem to tend towards the noisy side!!)

Beth was also I seem to remember, passionate about NOT doing things – like tidying her room, or doing her piano practice!

Films, especially musicals were are often the subjects of Beth's passions, visits to Grandma featured matinée and evening screenings the SOUND OF MUSIC. TWISTER (not the game but a film about storm chasers had a permanent home in the VHS for a while. But the biggest of them all was TITANIC, the combination of the music and the romance was a real winner – Beth even took up the piano again just to play the theme tune!

EASTENDERS was another, this worked out quite well as I was working on EastEnders at the time, so there were several visits to the set and a photo taken with Steve McFadden's arm around her! (I'm sure this must have led to some ‘Well my Dad… bragging at school).

I also remember teaching Beth how to operate some of the equipment in the sound gallery something she took to straight away – to this day she is very quick t learn new technology. Beth loved the ‘buzz’ of a busy TV set and I am sure her visits to EastEnders shaped Beth's desire to work in the TV industry.

Then came WESTLIFE, which for a while meant that the walls of her bedroom weren't pink but covered in pictures of young Irishmen! It fell to me to take Beth and some of her only-just-teenage friend to a WESTLIFE concert – my abiding memory of which is that when it came to the point in proceeding when everyone stood up I could see the stage clearly as I was about 2 foot taller than everyone else in the predominantly female audience.

Over the years Beth has gone from one passion to another, her Tamagochi, Power Rangers, a computer games called Spyro the Dragon, the Trampoline, McDonalds burgers, (there was a time when we could not drive past one without a serious tantrum!) McFly , shopping – Smirnoff Ice and of course partying … all done with an all-consuming PASSION!

 ….And then there's the small mountain of SOFT TOYS she collected, if you have been round to Beth and Lawrie's and think she has a lot of soft toys bear in mind that they are just the tip of the iceberg, the other 90% are in our attic providing us with loft insulation.

For the last year Beth's Passion has been this WEDDING,  Tomorrow – LAWRIE – she will need a new passion, I hope you are ready?