Speech by Mario Martini

Speech Type: Father of the bride/groom
Speech Creator: Mario Martini
Speech Date: 05/07/2016 10:54:25

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the wedding of our beautiful daughter Claire to her new husband Alan. I would like to start by extending a warm welcome on behalf of myself, and my wife Bernadette to the parents of the groom, Alan and Shirley. And a huge thank you to the bridesmaids who did a wonderful job over the past few months in seeing that everything went like clockwork, there is a lot of background work to be done on these occasions, and the work done has been marvellous. And also looking beautiful, Louise and Lucy.

When I first told people that my daughter was getting married and I had to write a speech they all told me how hard that was going to be. How do you condense thirty years of love and experiences into a four minute speech? However I found it very easy. I just copied it straight from the internet. Why knock yourself out? Right? So if anyone has a problem with it, take it up with – ”Thecrazymolehunter and that well know web site icouldn'tbeasrsedwritingaspeech.com. His speeches aren't very good, but they're free. So one cancels the other out.

I'm a bit nervous today as I'm not used to speaking in public. After living with 3 females for 30 years I'm not used to speaking for more than 30 seconds without being interrupted, so standing here with people who are listening to me is something of a novelty. The children in a family are its treasure. Claire was the first jewel who came along on..… Hold on, I can never remember the birthdays of my daughters so I just have to check this…… 22nd March 1986? Is that right? Well I haven't been corrected, so I must have gotten it right. From the very start we were so proud of her as she constantly brought joy into our lives. With her good looks, vibrant personality, quick intelligence, she obviously took after her mother. She always impressed us by her intelligence, caring and empathy towards others. There was also her sense of wonder and curiosity. One example springs to mind. In Cushendall as a youngster she had a bicycle and one morning had it lying on its side spinning furiously the back wheel. Then the scientific side of her nature took over.” What will happen if I poke my finger in the spokes as the wheel is spinning?” As she discovered the answer so did the whole caravan pitch as her screams filled the area. How we all laughed.

There are two things which we as parents try to give our children, one is roots and the other is wings. Upon leaving college she left for England where she soon made many friends and met the man who was to be the love of her life. We were delighted when Alan came to us to ask for her hand. I was particularly delighted as the hand that he wanted was the hand that was constantly dipping into my pocket. Claire was, is, and will always remain a beautiful person, inside and out. We know that she will bring light and love into the life of Alan as she did to ours.  Today has been quite emotional. I had a lump in my throat as I saw her for the first time this morning in her white wedding dress. I had a lump in my throat as I walked her down the aisle. And I'm not ashamed to admit that the tears were streaming down my face when I came in here….and was handed the bar bill. In the name of God, does nobody just drink water anymore? Let me finish by offering a toast –

May you both be as happy as, 35 years ago, I and your mother thought we were going to be.