Speech by Larry Shoaf

Speech Type: Father of the bride/groom
Speech Creator: Larry Shoaf
Speech Date: Jan2007
Note: There is a poem at the end of this to long toast

Good evening everyone. I am pleased to have this opportunity, for the second and last time in my life … to speak to all of you as the Father of the Bride.

On behalf of my wife and Laura's mother, Paula and Rob's mother Jennifer and step Father, Bernardo, I would like to welcome all of you and thank you for coming to share Laura and Rob's special day. We are so happy that so many of our friends and family could join us today for this special event in the lives of our daughter and our new son-in-law. I am also very pleased that my parents, Betty and Orville Shoaf could make the trip from Indiana to be here. It means a lot that you are here with us. There are so many special people here today ..… I wish I could recognize everyone of you, but then we would never get to dinner.

This day will also bring a lot of changes for Paula and me:

Our TV viewing habits will change … most of you have no idea how many shows are on TV that deal with home remodeling and design .… There's .… Designing on a budget, Designing with no budget, Designing for the sexes, Design on a dime, Decorating Cents, 24 hour design, Design to sell, If walls could talk, Design Remix, Hidden Potenial .… That's just to name a few. Needless to say, these are the shows that we watched while Laura was going to school and working on her degree in interior design.

However, as Laura progressed through her education at Interior Design Institute, I watched with amazement as she sat at her drafting table and completely designed a Bachelor Pad for one of her class projects. I remember thinking this is the girl that drew pictures where the people were taller than the buildings. Now she deals with vanishing points and works to scale to create designs that people want put into their homes.

But this wedding is about more than just my daughter .. it is also about the person she has chosen to make a life with. We have had a wonderful opportunity to get to know Rob. Rob has stayed at our home while he was attending Saddleback College, where he received his Associate of Arts Degree and Cal State Fullerton, where he is completing his BA in Business Administration. During that time I have gotten to know the person that is marring our daughter … and I believe he loves her very much and that he will be a caring husband. That makes all the meals I fed him worth while. And if you've seen Rob eat, you realize that's not a small investment on my part.

Just over eight years ago, I was giving the father of the bride toast for Laura's sister, Stacy and her new husband Graham. Today Stacy was the Matron of Honor and Graham joined other friends of Rob in the ceremony. I would like to recognize everyone in the wedding party that helped to make this a special day for Rob and Laura. They are lucky to have friends and family that care so much about them.

I wish everyone here could get to know Larry and Sue Stamper. Reverend Stamper is one of the first people Paula and I met when we moved to California in 1978. He recently retired as the minister for the First Methodist Church in Burbank where he was our minister and where he baptized Laura. Having Larry conduct the wedding ceremony was very special for us. Thank you Larry and Sue for being here.

So please stand and join me in a toast to the bride and groom:

Today begins your journey, as husband and as wife
And the choices that you get to make, will tend to shape your life
I wish for you the best of times and happiness each day
But I pray you'll work together, what ever comes your way
For it's not the moments of happiness that make a marriage strong
But how in troubled times you act, regardless who was wrong.

So as we toast your wedding and your marriage gets it's start
Remember, it's not the things you collect in life, but how you fill your heart.

To Laura and Rob Brophy, May you have a long and happy marriage.