Speech by Paul Cameron

Speech Type: Groom
Speech Creator: Paul Cameron
Speech Date: sep 2003
Good Afternoon everyone

Someone once said that a good speech has a good beginning and a good ending, and a great speech keeps both of those close together!! So today I promise to keep this speech as short as possible. However just in case I ramble on a bit too long then I must make you aware of the emergency exits in the room, which are located at the bottom of the stairs and behind my left shoulder. Also in case of anymore rain today lifejackets are available underneath your seats!!!!!!

On behalf of Elizabeth and myself, I would like to start with a big thank you to everyone here today. Thank you all for choosing to share today with us. We are delighted and touched to see you all here and thanks so much for all the wonderful gifts. It wouldn't be as special a day if it wasn't for all our friends and family being here, so again a big thank you.

Unfortunately there are a few people who cannot be here with us today. My Uncle Wallace who is too ill to attend, we wish him a speedy recovery. Elizabeth's friend Joyce who was coming from Australia, but decided against travelling due to recent troubles and was very disappointed to have to make that decision, as we were too, and our good friends Emma and Jim who are currently travelling somewhere in New Zealand!!! I did try and negotiate a live video link to New Zealand with BT on the basis that they should do it out of all the profits they have made from phone calls between Elizabeth and her sister Rachael over the years but sadly they refused!!!!

I'd personally like to thank Maurice, Barbara, Rachel, Nic, Hannah and Isobel for making me feel so welcome, right from the very first moment I met them. I feel immensely fortunate to have married into such a lovely family. To Maurice and Barbara thanks for all your help and support in making today possible, without that help and support, today would not be the dream day it is. On behalf of Elizabeth thank you to Barbara, Maurice and Rachel for all your love and support and the good times spent together as a very close family.

It is at this point that I am supposed to thank my parents for putting up with me through my teenage years!!! But they are so long ago now that I really cannot remember if I was difficult or not. But being a parent is more than just being supportive through the early years, sometimes they are needed in later life as well!! So thanks Mom and Dad for all your incredible love and support over many years and for instilling in me, whatever it is that convinced Elizabeth that she wanted to marry me; on that score alone, you should be justifiably proud of yourselves, I am certainly proud to have you as my parents.

To both our mums, we have a little thank you from both of us. (Flowers to mums)

Thanks to David and Oliver for being our ushers today and to Oliver for wearing the suit, Although doing that has made me realise that perhaps this style of suit was designed with a younger slimmer build in mind!!! Thanks to Graham and Neil for providing the luxury car service and for getting Elizabeth here on time, which is a first!!!! Thanks also to Rachel for putting together all of the favours you see in front of you, and resisting tucking into them as she packed them.

A big thank you to Peggy and Nic who did the readings today. If anyone has ever done a reading at an occasion like this then you will know that it's not an easy thing to do. The readings were excellent and we could not be more delighted.

Our thanks to Holdsworth house for putting on a great occasion, and thanks to our magician (Chris) who is bravely keeping a few of the younger ones occupied in the tower right now. I am sure if you cross his palm with some silver he may be persuaded to keep them in the tower for a bit longer, or even to magic them into guaranteed perfect behaviour for the next 12 months!!!!!!

Talking of magic, something magical happened to me on March 30th 2002. My dearest wish in life was granted when Elizabeth came into my life. We first met in the car park of the Grey Ox pub in Clifton, and to my eternal shame the first thing I said to her was how much I admired her car!!!!!! A typically boyish thing to do I now realise, but all I could think of at the time, when tongue tied and faced with such a beautiful woman. But somehow that night I seemed to drag myself back into contention and to my surprise, hours later she was still talking to me and actually seemed to be enjoying it!!!! That night was a very special night which left me floating on air, I knew straight away that Elizabeth was special and I was not wrong, she is a beautiful woman in every way and I still have that floating on air feeling after all this time. So I have a huge thank you to make.

Thank you Elizabeth for marrying me. I have so much to thank you for, I love you with all of my heart and I am devoted to you. You look absolutely stunning today, but then, you look absolutely stunning to me everyday. They do say that today will be the happiest day of our lives, which does somehow intimate that it's downhill from here!!!! But with you I have no doubt that everyday will be just as happy as this one.

Well nobody has made a break for the exits yet and with just a couple more thank you's to make I might just get away with it!!!!!!

And now I move on to a great friend and my best man Shane. Shane thanks for agreeing to be my best man. My friends here from work will know that recently Shane was promoted to the higher executive ranks of Diageo and as a result now has to work nearly a full week instead of the 3 days he used to get away with!!! I know that the change of job has put a lot of pressure on his time recently, but he has always been available and enthusiastic about all the best man duties and I have really appreciated that. The stag golf weekend he organised was superb even though I still bear the scars from the impromptu football match that took place whilst slightly under the influence of alcohol!!! So thanks again Shane everything has gone to plan so far and I could not be more delighted.

Of course there is one more best man duty to fulfil when you come on next and I await that with much trepidation!!!!

I must mention at this point that Shane does suffer from a rare medical complaint, which makes him prone to telling tall stories that he totally believes to be true. So please bear that in mind when he makes his speech!!!! I read recently that a little known tradition at weddings, is that the Groom should always look more handsome than the best man. On that note I would just like to thank Shane for making such an effort to uphold that tradition!!!! Okay cheap shots but I do think the world of this guy and I am just trying to even up the verbal exchange ahead of the battering I am about to take.

But not yet as I have one more lot of thanks to make. A big thank you to our lovely Bridesmaids, Charlotte, Sarah and Hannah. You all look truly beautiful today, and you have all played a big part in making this the dream day it has turned out to be. I can't put into words just how proud we are of you all. As a small token of our appreciation and something to remember the day by, we would like you to give you the jewellery bought for today with our love and thanks.

Well that's all from me you will be pleased to here, but before I hand over to Shane.

Ladies and Gentlemen please be upstanding.

I would like to propose a toast to the Bridesmaids.