Speech by Gary Cook

Speech Type: Groom
Speech Creator: Gary Cook
Speech Date: 30/12/2014 14:16:34

Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, on behalf of my beautiful wife and I..… we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being with us today.   Special mention to our handsome master of ceremonies Daniel who has come all the way from New York and to Chris and Alex who get the airmiles award for coming from Hong Kong. A lot of you have travelled from the North, which is no mean feat itself – it means a huge amount to us that you're all here today so thank you.

Unfortunately as with all occasions such as this, there are some loved ones who could not be here today for various reasons. My grandmother, Mary and Pete to name but a few.  To these I'd like to raise the first toast of the evening, so please be upstanding ….to absent family and friends.

So thank you very much to Dennis for his kind words earlier.  I know just how much Dennis loves Angela so I know this is a very emotional day for him. When I rang him a year ago to check with him before I proposed to Angela I could hear that he was close to tears.   I'm still not sure if they were tears of joy or despair ……but I do know he's a fantastic man who love his daughter very dearly.

I'd like to thank both yourself and Janine for welcoming me into your family and for raising such a wonderful and unique daughter.  I've gained a fantastic new family today as well as your beautiful daughter so I feel very blessed.

My own parents, I owe you eternal debt both emotionally and probably financially, you always did all you could do give me the best opportunities in life and for that I am eternally grateful.  I have two of the best parents anyone could wish for and I hope I can do you proud.  Both my mum and Angela's mum look very beautiful today and we can't thank both sets of parents enough for your wonderful contribution to this wedding.  Did you know… the combined marriage length of both sets of parents is 74 years , which surely must be worth a toast itself!  Ladies and gentlemen please be upstanding ….to loving parents.

Talking of looking beautiful and glamorous… a big thank you to the ushers Steve & Liam who have done a fantastic job in making sure people are being taken care of.  And a huge thank you to Daniel for being Master of Ceremonies today, and basically winging it with his usual style and panache. There's an unwritten rule that the groomsmen should not look better than the groom, so thanks boys for complying with that, both today and since we all turned 30 years old.

Now onto the lady of the hour – my stunning wife.  You've looked beautiful every day that we've been together but today you took my breath away walking down those stairs.

For those that don't know Angela and I have known each other since school and both ended up working in Manchester after University.  We started hanging out again and generally causing havoc around town.  This went on for some time and at the start of 2007 I realised that I desperately wanted us to be more than friends.  At work I was very shortly meant to spend a year abroad so I knew I had to act quickly to see if I could make something happen.  Angela was training for a half marathon at the time, and because I'd been looking for excuses to spend more time with her, that meant that I was also in training for a half marathon I had no intention of doing.  Choosing my moment carefully to get her at her absolute weakest I declared my intentions to her half way through a 10k run. Hoping to secure a response like ‘yes me too’ it backfired somewhat and I received a breathless ‘what?!’ Then 5km of very awkward silence.

As we all know, perseverance is key in these matters and I eventually persuaded her to go a on a real date.  With us already being best friends I knew that a cider in the local weatherspoons wasn't going to cut the mustard, so I did what anyone would have done and took her to the house of a bearded transvestite who cooked us dinner whilst he drunkenly performed cabaret. Luckily, if somewhat surprisingly-  this worked and a series of bizzare dates and one upmanship ensued, whilst we did everything from floatation tanks to cailihs to underground  bingo sessions.

And this is one of the many reasons I love her – she's the most fun loving and positive person I've ever met.  She always has a smile on her face and brings happiness into any room. Her list of qualities are endless and .… unfortunately I can't read the rest of your writing…

When I was writing this speech I wanted to include something cultural – a sonnet or poem about how I felt to be spending the rest of my life with someone I love, and I came across this

“We can make the sun shine in the moon light We can make the grey clouds turn to blue skies

with the strength of our love We can't go nowhere but up

With you I've nothing to fear, We'll take it to the sky past the moon to the galaxy As long as you're with me, baby We can't go nowhere but up”

That's from one of the greatest wordsmiths of our generation.… Justin Bieber.

Despite being written by a terrible singer the words still hold true and can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together.

So ladies and gentlemen please join me in raising a toast ….to my beautiful wife.

Thank you to the beautiful bridesmaids and especially the Dude of Honour, Colin, for all of the support you've given Angela today and every day.  You all look wonderful, I'm just sad Colin isn't wearing the dress we got him.  Thank you for getting Angela back from her hen-do in one piece, although I've seen pictures from that weekend which I can never un-see…

So ladies and gents please join me in a toast ….to the bridespeople.

Finally  there are two men who I need to thank for their huge support today and for the many years that I've known them, the best men Mark and Pierre. Aside from arranging an exceptional stag do to Ireland, they have been instrumental in helping with today and have been some of the best friends a guy could ask for.

They are both sadly suffering from an illness which means that they have a propensity for making up stories, so please bear that in mind when they are talking shortly.

And with that I hand you back to our master of ceremonies, thank you all again for coming and I hope you have a wonderful day.