mentioning a dead friend in wedding speech

positivenote

hi guys,
just wondering if anyone has any advice on how i can mention the father of one of my grooms men in my speech, im the groom. He was a great friend to all of us and was a bit of a hippy and loved to have the craic with us all as we grew up... the speech is pretty much written and is fairly light hearted, but i would definetly want to mention him at some point ?
any help would be great, but i dont want to change the mood of the speech.
Thanks

KAzoom

If your friend enjoyed the fun times and had a laugh, bring it in via a funny memory. People will love to remember him, via something they can identify with. Weddings are for bringing people together and including everyone here and in spirit, so people will really appreciate the good memory, as will your friend.
Enjoy your day and good luck with the speech.

trad

I had to do my fathers speech at my youngest brothers wedding not long after my father died.
Everyone was expecting a reference to my dad so I said how ford my father was of the new family member and that he would be looking down on them and wishing he was here. Then I had to take the speech back up with a funny anecdote about my fatherly role in my brothers upbringing (I'm 15 years older than him) and gave everyone a good laugh.

By all means mention the deceased but have something there to restore the wedding athmosphere.

kildara

You could add it in when you mention "Absent friends and family, in particular..." And as mentioned above follow it up with a humorous story about him.


Best of luck with the whole day.

smelltheglove

trad wrote: »

By all means mention the deceased but have something there to restore the wedding athmosphere.

Great advice, my dads father in law passed away just a week before my step sisters wedding, he would have been giving her away. In the speech obviously her Grandad was mentioned, the fact that he was missed etc but also the fact that he was so proud of his granddaughter and then the reference was followed up by some lighthearted banter about when they all first met the new husband.

My own wedding was just a couple of months later and in the speech my dad di then he referred to how much I helped him self and his wife cope with the loss and again went on to make a few funny statements.

I would recommend doing similar as above. Say something like how close all you lads are, and include the deceased in the statement, maybe mention a funny time or a memorable time you all shared together and go on to mention how even though this person isnt there in person you know he is with you and maybe even he is most likely telling you not to be daft fool and get on with the craic, or whatever it is you think this person may say in an emotional situation to lighten teh atmosphere.

I hope that makes sense and can be of help to you, sorry for your loss and I hope you enjoy your day.

bensoneb

Don't know if this is any good to you but I included a reading in my ceremony called 'For those not with us today'. Found it on the internet and it was a beautiful piece honouring those close to us who had died.