As the father of the bride, you have some clear responsibilities. Traditionally, the father, or parents in general, of the bride pay for the whole occasion itself. This can turn into quite a large outlay. That is, they pay for the location, the dress, the function and all the catering. Some families have even been known to provide accommodation for visiting guests, if they are coming from a distance. This can add up to quite a lot.
These days it can be common for the bride and groom to contribute towards their own wedding themselves. Many couples save up for their big day themselves and organize everything from the dress to the catering on their own.
Another role that the father of the bride plays during the wedding ceremony itself is to walk the bride down the aisle and give her away to her new husband. This role very much depends on a lot of factors. A major one of these is how stressed the bride is. Once the other members of the family have gone off to the wedding venue, then you may find yourself left alone with your daughter in the main car to take you both to the wedding.
You may have a key role here in calming your daughter down and making sure the nerves do not get start to get to her. Many brides understandably want their big day to go smoothly and without anything going wrong. This can cause them to be extremely stressed. In fact, it may be the most nervously you may have seen her. Try your best to calm her down. Tell her how lovely she looks and that everything is alright and on schedule. Be tactful and diplomatic and you can help everything go smoothly.
Of course, the part you may be approaching with a certain amount of fear yourself may be the wedding speech. The father of the bride often gives the first speech and toasts the bride and groom at the reception after the ceremony itself.
In order to do your best it is important for you to remember exactly what this is. It is not a big lecture that you have to give. Think of it more like a chat among friends. Sure, there are some conventions you have to follow. You might like to thank all the guests for attending and to tell everyone how you are feeling on this auspicious occasion. But in the main, you have quite a bit of leeway in how much freedom you have to say what you want.
There are some important caveats. Do not get too carried away. Do not speak for too long. Do not get too drunk before the speech – a bit of Dutch courage always seems like a good idea, but it is far better to do it sober, and you will remember more of it. On the whole, relax and speak slowly and clearly. There may be a microphone there for you to speak into. Make sure you know how this works before you get up. But enjoy it. It will be over before you know it.
Author Resource:-
Ameet Royce is writing wedding related articles and blogs for quite some time now. If you like this article you may also want to read similar articles on Father of the Bride as well as father of the bride speech which you can find at http://www.weddingspeechdigest.com/
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.newworldproducts.org/Articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites