Speech by Maurice Thomas

Speech Type: Groom
Speech Creator: Maurice Thomas
Speech Date: oct 2003
WEDDING SPEECH 2003

Thank you Noel for your kind words.

Family and friends I like to welcome you all on behalf of my wife MRS NIAMH THOMAS to celebrate our wedding today; we are both delighted to see you all. Some of you have travelled far and wide to be here, my brother Glen from New York, my friend Corny and his wife Lesley from Canada and Niamh's friend Paul and his girlfriend Karen from Australia. As well as family and friends who have travelled from England and off course those here in Ireland. For those who couldn't be here today, I especially like to mention my Uncle and Godfather Bryan Thompson who recently passed away; my family will sadly miss him. It is very humbling to realise that our friends and family care so much, that they are willing to travel many miles to be here. We would like to thank you all for sharing this special day with us, and we appreciate the time, effort, as well as your generous gifts and cards to us.

Well we finally made it to the altar, after a more than a year planning and saving, I am sure you are all as relived as we are.

First of all I would like to say how beautiful and radiant my wife looks today, I'm sure you will all agree that her dress looks fantastic, she looks a million Euros and probably cost it as well. She has definitely made me proud, and yes I am a very lucky man. I like to thank my wife for the hard work, her time, her effort, and boundless energy she has put in. She has done so much to make this day a success, I'm sure you all agree she has done a fantastic job in organising everything from London with help from her family. It has been difficult as you can imagine trying to plan every detail over the phone and confirming everything, but we are here today because of her.

So Ladies and Gentlemen can you be upstanding and raise your glasses to my wife. To Niamh

I hope that all of you here today have had a wonderful time so far I know we have. We hope that after the speeches; that you will all let your hair down, especially my best man Declan, sorry Dec, so enjoy yourselves even more for the evening reception.

And now for all the thankyous. First of all I like to thank my parents Maurice and Merlyn, for everything they have given me during my life, for giving me all the encouragement, love and support throughout my school, college and working life. They have always been there, and at times I have needed them.

As for Niamh's parents Noel and Pat, I like to thank them for welcoming me into their family, for their kindness, and the way they have looked after me whenever I was over in Ireland. I like to say that they have brought up a wonderful, loving and caring daughter. So for both set of parents to show our appreciation for their love and support, emotionally and financially, we like to give them some flowers and gifts to thank them. ( Present gifts )

I like to thank the chief bridesmaid, Niamh's sister Elaine, as you can see she looks gorgeous, but for any single guys out there wishing to try their luck, the bad news is she's already taken, he's name Stephen and he is one of the Ushers. By the way he is also in the Irish army, and he always keeps his army knife ready for action. But I like to thank Elaine for her wonderful support she has given to my wife today, I hope it wasn't to stressful, I'm sure Niamhy went through a few cigarettes. So to Elaine I thank you for your patience and understanding, so as a token of my thanks I like to present you with a gift of our appreciation.

I also like to make a special mention to the ushers for their help in the church today, Niamh's brother Niall, Stephen I have already mentioned and my brothers Glen and Valen a big thank you. Here are some gifts for your help today.

I also like to thank the readers at the church today and they are Liam Graydon, Terry Kearney, Sarah Rowe, Stephen Carr, Peter Murphy and lastly Anna de Vries.

My wife and I would like to mention in our thanks to Fiona O'Regan and Diarmuid the Master of Ceremonies and their team here at Fitzpatrick Castle, I'm sure you will all agree that they have done a fantastic job here. So please show your appreciation by putting your hands together.

A special thanks has to go to Father Keegan for his wonderful service; I am glad he was able to join us today, and for having a discrete word with the boss to arrange such great weather. This day will certainly leave a lasting memory in both our lives.

The next person I like to thank is a friend who has done us a big favour; he used to be a work Colleague but now has his own business. He is our photographer Alan Chandler and as appreciation for his gift to us, and for coming here to record our event I would like to give Alan and his wife Pat a gift of our own as a thank you. To show how busy Alan is, he his flying back to London tonight
To photograph a page 3 models’ wedding tomorrow, and in the song by Rod Stewart ‘Some guys have all the luck’ (Hand gifts to Alan)

As some of you are aware I have another love in my life, that of a certain Football Team, Niamh was well aware when we first met, how important Arsenal was to me. She told me she hated football, and besides all her family apart from Noel, who's an Aston Villa fan, the majority of the Irish follow Man Utd or Liverpool. Some of the lads here know how important Arsenal is to me. I somehow seem to go deaf when Niamh is talking to me when Match of the Day is on the box. When Niamh first came to London to see me she wanted to come to an Arsenal match to see what all the fuss was about, and what got me passionate about 11 men kicking a ball, it all changed when she went to the home of football for the first time, the atmosphere, the fans, the songs. But I think the main reason she was hooked was seeing 22 fit men running about in shorts. From that day she was now an avid fan, and now wanted to go to every Arsenal game, well for a man's point of view it got a bit embarrassing as she screamed at anything that moved, but she learned in the end to shout at the opposition,
especially Man Utd and Spurs and not your own team. But the main reason I suspect is that she fancies a certain Arsenal player Robert Pires, for those of you who don't know him, he's French with Latin looks, he looks a bit like D'Artagnan in the Thee Musketeers, so what is she doing with me I ask? And if some of you are wondering what he looks like I have a picture of him, (show picture) as you can see Niamh is very, very pleased to see him.

So it brings me to thank Kitty Leonard for the wonderful wedding cake she had created for us. As you all can see it is not your usual wedding cake, but Niamh and I wanted something different, and something that meant a lot to us.

And lastly but not least I like to thank the best men, and just in case they plan to assassinate me with their words, I have my team of lawyers waiting in the wings ready to serve them a writ for libel, so be very careful.

Yes the Best men, what can I say about them, Declan and big Steve, Declan I have known since we were in primary school, I'm getting my own back on him as I was his best man. It's great to see him letting his hair down, because lately his hair has been letting him down. He used to have a crew cut, but the crew bailed out. I remember once on holiday he used to go hitchhiking, he always left early to avoid the traffic. The poor bloke suffers from stomach trouble; he just can't get his trousers over it.

And big Steve Sherwood as you can see you can't miss him, he is a friend and work colleague from the Metropolitan Police, and he is very partial to the Black stuff, so you might catch him propping the bar later tonight. Just a few minutes ago the barman said to him, ‘what would you like to drink sir, brandy, whisky, lager or a pint of Guinness? He answered yes please. When I left him on my stag night in Galway he was in the middle of the High Street, trying to roll up the white line, and he was meant to look after me.
But heck he likes his drink; he's a happy drinker always laughing and shaking hands, even when he's alone.

So to show them how much I think of them I've called the Gardi to arrest them after their speech for their libellous comments. Only joking boys

I am sure they will mention a particular incident on my stag do, but I can't possibly say what that is but I have certain flashbacks and nightmares and I usually come out in a cold sweat just thinking about it. But if you like to know more on this story the culprit is sitting on table 3, and his name is Stevey Mac. But as you know with stories they some how get embellished. But I have to admit the best men have done a fantastic job today, they have kept me calm and relaxed and we've had a laugh along the way. So to show them my gratitude I have some small writs, sorry gifts to give them. (Present Gifts)

Ladies and Gentlemen, once again I like to thank you all on behalf of my wife Mrs Thomas, I'm getting used to saying it now and we thank you for coming and celebrating with us on our special day. Enjoy yourselves tonight, we certainly will. I now gladly give you the Comedians sorry best men Declan and Big Steve.