Speech by Terry Craven

Speech Type: Father of the bride/groom
Speech Creator: Terry Craven
Speech Date: apr 2003
WEDDING SPEECH

As the father of the bride I have the pleasure of making the first speech and being the warm up act for the star speakers, the groom and best man.

On behalf of Linda, myself, Mo, Dick, Roy and Jude I would like to welcome you all here today to help celebrate marriage of Claire and Darren.

I would also like to offer our sincere thanks to Ian and his staff for the very efficient manner in which they have organised today which has gone so well, and, I am sure you will all agree, for an excellent meal.

Applause

It is a relief and surprise to me that we have reached this stage of the proceedings without any mishaps or accidents. As those of you who know Claire, or work with her, will be well aware, she has a tendency to be accident prone and should be kept well away from – chocolate spread – bikes – area car doors and the pursuit of villains on foot in Fareham precinct.

I now ask myself – what is she doing in traffic?

What many of you may not know is how quiet and reserved she was as a child –

How times change.

Never one to push herself to the front at school you can imagine our surprise when at the age of twelve she announced she wanted to become a Police officer, not exactly the most sedate of occupations, nor one that lends itself to being quiet or reserved.

However she knew what she wanted, and all credit to her, worked hard to achieve it.

At the commencement of her basic training she was still a little reserved, but must have heeded her instructors advise, as it was not long before she was given the nickname of ‘’Gobby”.

Claire has never been a problem to us, except maybe for that difficult period parents have to endure with a daughter from the age of three to twenty three.

That said, we love her very much and were both delighted when she met Darren, especially me, as up until this time females had dominated my house but now I had an ally.

Today I now have the pleasure of formally welcoming Darren into our family. I say formally because he made himself at home with us a long time ago and to all intents and purposes has long been in the family.

I must say Darren that now you are actually married to Claire –

You are well and truly in it.

Linda and I were a little worried at first to discover that he was also a police officer, as we now had two of them going out on the streets at night exposing themselves…

Pause – Turn page

To danger and abuse.

Those of you who know Darren will know that he has a sharp wit and is always ready for a leg-pull. The most memorable of these for me was the day I was helping him to apply new sealant to the edge of his bath. Those of you with a bent for DIY will know that before inserting the new sealant it is advisable to fill the bath with water to widen the gap. Darren thought he would go one step further and asked Claire to come up as we needed to not only have the water in the bath but the weight of an average person

We both had our doubts if she would fall for it

But were not disappointed when she came in in her swimming costume.

Pause

Darren has been a great asset to us as we hate waste, but with him around we never have to worry about there being any excess food left in the house, especially when he brings that mutt of his with him.

The one thing that we know Claire has not been clumsy about is her choice of partner. He has become the son we never had and it is with great pleasure that we welcome him in to our family today.

We thought that at this time it would be appropriate to present him with a special gift, one that Claire wouldn't allow him to put on the wedding list.

– Hand Darren the present –

I might add that a wide screen television was another thing she would not let him add. Unfortunately, it was too heavy for me to carry; still I did manage to get the next best thing. Something that our grand pup ‘Harry’ will also appreciate.

Wait for him to open the present

In conclusion I would like to offer them both these few words of advice.

There is no challenge in a marriage that cannot be overcome by the following three, three word sentences: –

I was wrong
You were right
And I love you

Finally never go to bed on an argument – stay up all night and fight.

Pause

Claire, I cannot possibly finish this speech without saying how beautiful you look today and how proud Mum and I are of both of you.

Pause-

Family and friends, I ask you all to be upstanding and drink a toast to the bride and groom, the new Mr & Mrs Miller, Claire and Darren.

Ladies and Gentlemen – Claire and Darren