Speech by James Bradbury

Speech Type: Groom
Speech Creator: James Bradbury
Speech Date: Aug2007
Thank you Eric, for your kind words. I'm more than happy to help out with the computer, especially given the amount you've helped out with my car.

It has been said that the way to be happy is to make other people happy. Well Erica certainly makes me happy and I try to make her happy too. Furthermore, you've all made us very happy by being here to share our special day with us. We'd feel pretty silly doing this on our own and you've all helped to make it special and meaningful for us. So we really appreciate you coming, especially on a Monday when I know some of you are really missing being at work!

Before I go on I'd like to express our regret for those who for one reason or another can't be with us today and propose a toast to Absent Family and Friends!

[Pause]

We'd both particularly like to thank our parents, without whose generosity and support none of this would have been possible. Vivien and Eric have done a fantastic job of bringing Erica up, especially in encouraging her athletic pursuits – perhaps those early tap-dancing lessons are why she's so nimble on the boat and the badminton court. We also appreciate how helpful you've been with many aspects of our wedding planning. Vivien has put a lot of time into helping us organise the dresses, the cake, the venue. I think planning for today would have been much harder without your help. I'm also grateful for your hospitality and especially your puddings, so thank you!

[Give flowers to Vivien]

Mum and Dad, thank you for being so friendly towards Erica right from the beginning. Dad and Louise have been great sports, joining in with some of our cycle rides and we've even managed to get Mum onto a climbing wall!
Thanks for putting up with us arriving tired and hungry on our way to and from from sailing events and above for all your love and support over the years.

[Give flowers to Verity]

We're always well looked after by my Mum and it seems impossible for us to leave Chalfont without a lunch bag of apples, bananas and chilled water. In fact we've ended up with quite a collection of small freezer bags and ice packs, which we thought you might want back.

[Hand freezer bags and ice packs to parents]

I spent some time thinking about when and where I should propose to Erica. She's happiest when she's outside and doing sport, so I considered asking her after one of our sailing races in Blakeney, but I was worried about the ring ending up overboard. For those who don't know, Erica and I regularly cycle around the West Country on a banana-yellow tandem, which we're taking on its first European tour in a few days. As this is another of our favourite activities I decided to ask her on a weekend cycle trip we took to Glastonbury about a year ago. While it was nice countryside we were cycling through, the area seemed to lack a perfectly scenic place in which to pop the question. Eventually we stopped for lunch in a fairly pleasant field with some friendly cows. I didn't want wait any longer to ask Erica. The setting may not have been perfect, but her response was. She was completely surprised, very happy and of course said, &quotYes&quot. In fact she had thought I was hiding some chocolate behind my back, but reassured me she wasn't disappointed with the ring which was &quotA nice surprise&quot, although she would've liked &quotA nice surprise… and some chocolate!&quot. If I'd known that I would've just got her a Kinder Egg!

I think you'll agree that Erica looks beautiful today. [await rapturous applause to die down] That's just one reason why I love her and over the past 6 years I've discovered many more reasons. She's the person with whom I want to share all my experiences, my sports partner and my soul mate. She's attractive, witty, athletic, she's a fantastic cook… in short, I feel very fortunate to be her husband.

Thankfully we've had a lot of help today. I'd like to thank the ushers, Stu and James who've been quite dedicated to their duties this afternoon. I even saw them carrying out some security checks earlier. We're now quite confident that none of the women are carrying concealed weapons. [Pause?] To show our appreciation, we've got gifts here for you both.

[Give gifts to James G and Stu]

My best man, James also deserves a gift, not just for organising a fantastic stag do, but to bribe him to go easy on me in his upcoming speech.

I've known James for nearly ten years and I have him to thank for keeping me on the right side of madness when we cycled across Australia – I can't believe it was 7 years ago!

[Give present to James Baldry]

We'd also like to thank the bridesmaids for judging it just right today. They are looking lovely and I think they deserve a toast for helping Erica out today. So, a toast… To the bridesmaids!

Last but not least our thanks go to the staff of Rowton Castle for looking after us today and helping everything to go so smoothly.

As you can probably tell I've been trying to delay it, but I must now pass you on to James, but first I should warn you that he is very talented with photoshop and has an overactive imagination, so please humour him during his speech.