My oldest son is buying the cow and marrying the woman he’s been living with for the last 3 years. It was a short engagement. About 2 months ago they just up and decided they’d tie the knot the Sunday before memorial Day. This is still longer than the 29 day engagement my wife and I had.
It will be a very small wedding. A few family members and a Judge. The reception will be about 30 people at a restaurant my younger son owns.
My wife says I will have to make a toast to the bride and groom. I did not make one at my other sons wedding, his best man did.
I’m putting it in quotes because I think someone said something similar in a Bridezillas thread, that the wedding should not be “the best day of anybody’s life” and that often it’s spent in such a haze that hopefully the rest of the marriage will be better.
I agree to keep it simple and don’t push the jokes. Introduce yourself, say something nice about your son, say something nice about his lovely bride, one reason they are perfect for each other, we’re so happy for you, cheers, sit down.
Cute stories about your son as a child could be a nice touch, if you have some that aren’t too excruciating for him. I didn’t have my dad do the Father of the Bride speech at our wedding (complicated parental divorce made it too much to ask at the time) and I always feel wistful that I didn’t get that bit when I hear it at other people’s weddings.
Yeah, cut back on the funny, leave out all references to cows and just be sincere. It’s not that hard, just remember this isn’t a roast, say nothing that will embarrass him. Your speech should make your son proud of his father, not make everyone laugh at his expense.
“This day’s been a long time coming. We’ve all known for a while now that she’s the best thing that could have ever happened to him. I’m just glad he finally smartened up enough to realize it. Welcome to the family.”
ok, thats terrible. Back to the old drawing board…
That’s pretty close to the toast I gave at my brother’s wedding. It went over well. I have pretty good comic timing though. I think jokes are good, it gets people smiling. And there are a lot of stressed people at weddings.
For 3 years, these two have lived and loved one another without vows, without a contract, without a legal, binding agreement that behooved them to stay together. For three years love was enough to hold them together, to make them a couple. Today they signed the contract and took the vows that proved to the rest of the world what we here already knew: (Mark) and (Janet) are family. We are happy for you, we love you, and we believe in you.
I would not use humour in a wedding toast, unless your 100% sure it’s gonna be accepted by everyone. Humour is too hard to judge for most people and brides often don’t find it funny, no matter how well meant or how funny it may be
And when you start out this thread by saying
I don’t think the humour is gonna go off well from the bride’s view
Keep the toast short, wish everyone well and then get on with the celebration.
This is why I specifically mentioned directing the humor at the OP’s son. ‘Buying the cow’ won’t go well with the bride of her family. The humorous subjects should be things that both families would be willing to laugh at themselves. So avoid a wedding toast joke I once heard: _____ is a genius, and _________ is Polish, so they’ll have average children. If there aren’t suitable jokes about the bride and groom, use self-deprecating humor. But in public speaking, outside of funerals and announcements about death and disaster, always open with a joke.
Don’t be cute or funny, just sincere (or fake it if you can’t stand her). Congratulations, welcome bride to the family, nice to meet the in-laws, and then sit down.
You can be cute and funny but only if you really, really know you can pull it off. Your wife should be a good barometer on this count. I’ve heard somewhere around a thousand wedding toasts and I will say that you can never go wrong by keeping it short, sweet, and sincere.
