Sign inThe father of the bride speech
You are usually first, which means you set the tone for every speech that follows. It is also the one people most often describe afterwards as the moment the room went quiet.
How long it should be
Four to six minutes. You have slightly more room than the wedding party, partly because you are also welcoming people, but the same rule holds: time it out loud.
The shape that works
Four beats, in this order. Not a template to fill in, just the structure most speeches that land turn out to have.
- Welcome
Thank the people who travelled and the people who helped. Briefly. This is the part that quietly expands if you let it.
- Her
One story from when she was young, and one observation about who she is now. The contrast is the whole speech.
- Them
Welcome your new son or daughter in law properly and by name, and say something specific about them. Everyone notices if this part is generic.
- The toast
To the couple. Then stop, even though you could keep going.
The list of thank yous that becomes the speech
Thank yous feel obligatory, so they expand until they are half the speech. Keep them to thirty seconds at the top, and let the story be the thing people actually hear.
You can write a good speech and still have it come apart out loud.
Most people rehearse by reading silently, which tells you nothing about pace, and nothing about the lines you skip when you are nervous. SpeechPrep listens to you read and gives you the timing, the what you actually said versus what you wrote, and one thing to fix.
Questions people actually ask
How long should a father of the bride speech be?
Four to six minutes. Since you often go first, running long pushes every other speaker into a room that has started eating.
What if I get emotional?
Most people do, and nobody minds at all. Pause, breathe, and carry on. What actually helps is rehearsing the emotional line out loud several times so it is worn in rather than raw.
Do I welcome the other family?
Yes, and by name. It is the most noticed omission in this particular speech.
Should I write it out in full or use notes?
Write it in full, then rehearse it until you can deliver it from a few prompts. Full text on the night is fine too, as long as you have said it aloud enough to look up.