Speech by Mark Harrison

Speech Type: Father of the bride/groom
Speech Creator: Mark Harrison
Speech Date: 23/01/2015 18:26:23

Good afternoon everybody, it's time to let that lovely food digest, sit back, relax and listen to the toasts.  My name is Mark and on behalf of my wife Lorraine and I, we would like to welcome you all and thank you for coming to celebrate the marriage of our daughter Samantha to Aaron.  We are very happy that so many of our friends and relatives are able to share this splendid occasion with us.  Before I launch into the speech, Sam's sister Abbie has written a poem for the happy couple so on behalf of Abbie (who's sitting just down there at the front), here goes….

Many congratulations to the bride and groom,

Together Sam and Aaron captivated the room.

A few vows later and here Sam Lang stands,

But not without dishing out her ever frequent demands.

And we probably have all shed a few tears,

And very soon we'll raise our glasses in cheers.

To the newlywed couple, that's weird to say,

We wish you every moment of happiness on your big day!

Of the guests gathered here, the majority are Janners (that's Plymothians for all you non-locals), but many have travelled the length and breadth of the country to be here, from Lancashire to London.  Some however are from further afield and have braved the journey from foreign countries like Austria, Turkey, Bahrain and even Cornwall!  To you all, it's really lovely to see you here.

Any wedding takes a great deal of planning and for most couples, this generally occurs at a leisurely pace over the course of about a year.  Not for Sam and Aaron though…., they decided to go from flash to bang in less than 3 months and have managed to pull it off despite living a couple of hundred miles away.  Well done to them and also to the many family and friends who have been working in the wings to help make it happen. 

It's not traditional for the father of the bride to make too many thank yous during his speech but given today's ceremony, I'll happily make one exception.  With only a modicum of training, I think that one very special four legged chap made an outstanding job as ring bearer today – Moray.  Whilst Moray is a highly intelligent and well behaved dog (sometimes), he also has a soft spot for Sam so sorry to say Aaron that you will continue to have a formidable competitor for her affection for some years to come.

And what a splendid venue this is for a wedding.  The setting for the ceremony was beautiful and the fact that we have comandeered the entire hotel for the day helped to create a really special atmosphere.  You may not know that Langdon Court has quite a rich and colourful history and has played host to several monarchs including Edward VII, Elizabeth I and Henry VIII.  Most notably in the 1500s, it was Henry VIII who took offence to the then owner of Langdon and somewhat characteristically for Henry, had the poor bloke beheaded, before seizing the property for himself and handing the keys to his last wife, Catherine Parr.  So Sam and Aaron, it's quite novel to be following in the footsteps of Henry VIII and his wives; we just hope you have better marriage success than they did.

For Aaron, we are very pleased to formally welcome you to the family and know you will be a great husband for Sam.  It's sometimes customary for my position to offer some sage marriage advice to the happy couple at this point, but as I don't possess a single romantic bone in my body, I'm afraid it wouldn't be very good.  The same cannot be said though for the dashing groom who is much more thoughtful and chivalrous than I, even taking Sam to dinner at the Ritz as a surprise on their anniversary.  In all the time we've known you, you've always put Sam first and this was clearly evident when she fell ill in France and you dropped everything to race across the channel to care for her.  Most of all, you make Sam extremely happy and that in turn makes us very happy too.

On to Samantha… it's a genuine privilege to stand up here as the father of the bride, and say some nice things about my daughter on her wedding day.  But as Sam gave me no instructions about what to put in, or leave out of the speech, it gives me carte blanche permission to recount any number of family anecdotes along the way… like the time when she was only a few months old.  Sam and I were playing on the floor and as she crawled around in her nappy, I spotted a Malteser out of the corner of my eye.  Not wishing to pass up the opportunity or be beaten to it by ‘Mrs Competitive’ here, I popped said Malteser in my mouth but realised pretty quickly that the crispy honeycomb taste I was expecting was in fact a different type of chocolate treat, indeed one that had been manufactured by Sam herself, and which had fallen out of her nappy.  The taste was not pleasant!  Suffice to say, we curtailed play for the afternoon and commenced Operation Mouthwash instead!  Parents often go to great lengths for their kids but that one is not recommended.

Wind forward the clock a few years and Sam got her comeuppance during a father/daughter camping trip near Tavistock.  Bright and breezy in the morning and ever the aspiring chef, Sam volunteered to cook the fried bacon on the stove whilst the dog and I went for a walk by the river.  On tucking into the breakfast bap later on, we couldn't eat it because it was full of grass and soil.  I questioned Sam in a calm and collected manner: “What the hell have you done to the food?”  Sam swore that this new culinary invention was nothing to do with her but little did she know that the video camera was running all the time in the background.  Reviewing the You've Been Framed style footage later on, we caught her red handed flipping the food anywhere but in the pan and trying to dust off the muddy rashers before serving to her unsuspecting Dad.

But despite joking about her impeccable dishonesty that day, she has made us the proudest of parents.  She's never given us any trouble or caused us to worry and has provided us with so much joy over the years. From a very early age Sam wanted to be a medical doctor and has been striving towards that goal ever since.  When a maths teacher said at Parents’ Evening that she would never be able to grasp the subject, Sam said “I'll show him” and proceeded to get an A* and along with it the best academic results the school had ever seen.  Now at Kings College London and on the cusp of qualifying as a doctor, I'd say she is the most self-driven person I've ever met and has done exceptionally well.   …and with such a great bed side manner to boot, I'm sure she will make an equally exceptional GP as well a superb wife.  She's the perfect young lady who I am proud to call my daughter and I'm sure Aaron will be proud to call his wife.  Sam is fun, lively, always full of beans, ….very talkative ….and organised; so organised in fact that the majority of the wedding was planned before Aaron had even proposed.  Seriously though Aaron: you have chosen well!  Sam, your Mum and I want to say how much we love you and couldn't wish for a better daughter.  We also want you to know that we'll always be here for you.

In rounding up, there's an old family story about the time when Sam was born.  Just moments after she came into the World, I gazed down at her with loving eyes and uttered the words that any proud father should say: “mmm she's a bit ugly”.  There's probably been a bit of embellishment over the years here but this was just pointing out that she looked a tad distressed after quite a long and difficult birth.  But seeing Sam this morning reminded me what I've always really thought, that she is a wonderful daughter and looks stunningly beautiful today.  I'm sure you will all agree.

Finally then, all that remains is for me to remind you to have an absolutely fantastic time today and ask that you please charge your glasses and be upstanding with me for the toast.  “Here's to the future and may you be blessed with many happy years”.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Sam and Aaron Lang, the bride and groom.