01.26.08
Who Says What? – Wedding Speeches
WHO SAYS WHAT?
These are the important traditional points that should be included in each speech:
Father of the Bride
· First to speak
· Welcomes everyone to the reception
· Thanks everyone involved in planning the wedding
· Speaks proudly of his daughter and welcomes the groom to the family
· Proposes a toast to bride and groom
Groom
· Speaks second
· Speaks on behalf of himself and his new wife
· Thanks the father of the bride for welcoming him to family
· Thanks everyone who helped with the big day especially the best man and the bridesmaids
· Thanks everyone for coming to the wedding and for their gifts
· Praises his new wife
· Toasts the bridesmaids
Bestman
· Master of ceremonies for the day
· Introduces all speakers
· Speaks last
· Thanks groom on behalf of the bridesmaids (for the toast)
· Thanks groom for the honour of being asked to be his best man
· Compliments everyone on the great day
· Tells stories about how the couple met / fell in love and of the stag party
· Reads out messages from absent family and friends (letters/emails/telegrams)
· Propose a toast to the bride and groom
For all your wedding speech needs go to: www.blarneyspeeches.com
Wedding March Music – Alternatives
The Wedding Planner advises: The so-called “Wedding March” comes from “Lohengrin” a three-act opera by Richard Wagner, first staged in the 1850s. Jewish brides never use it because of the composer’s anti-Semitic views. Some Christian churches forbid it because of its secular nature and context. Some people decide against it as in the opera, it mostly marks the brides passage into what is doomed to be a tragic, failed marriage!Whatever the reason, some brides often look for other options. These days, two alternative pieces get overused: Pachebel’s “Canon in D” and Purcell’s “Voluntary,” which is also attributed as “The Prince of Denmark’s March,” by Clarke. This became very popular after Princess Diana used this piece of music in her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles.Whatever you choose you have to have a short theme as the musicians need to be able to stop the music in the right place.Maybe try “Eleanor Plunkett,” by Turlough O’Carolan, paired with “Skyeboat,” a traditional Irish piece, as a processional, then “Hewlitt,” also by O’Carolan, as a recessional if you are a couple “who want to dance out of the aisle.”March alternatives:
Processional
• Apothesis/Tchaikovsky
• Doxology
• Hymn Fanfare from The Triumphant/Couperin
• Fanfares/Sir Arthur Bliss • Fantasie in C/Franck
• La Cinquantaine (for the flower girl)
• March from Aida/Verdi
• March Nuptiale/Allan Caron
• Sarabande from Suite {nldr}11/Handel
• Sinfonia (Wedding Cantata)/Bach
• Theme from Fifth Symphony/Tchaikovsky
• To a Wild Rose/MacDowell (for the ushers)
• Wedding March/Guilmant
• Wedding Processional/(“The Sound of Music”)Recessional
• Air in D/Handel
• Allegro Maestoso in D/Handel
• Bell Symphony/Purcell
• Hornpipe (Water Music)/Handel
• Processional/from Xerces/Handel
