The father of the bride speech is often one of the highlights of a wedding. You’ve got a whole lifetime of material at your disposal – which means almost guaranteed laughs and more than a couple of tugs at the heartstrings.

However, there are pitfalls. Common mistakes include over-sentimentality, over-thanking and simply dragging on too long.

But you won’t make these mistakes! Because we have six of the best examples of Father-of-the-Bride speeches for YOU to learn from. 

(*Of course, if you’re looking for more than ideas, you may want to consider our father of the bride template, speech edit service or even our bespoke writing service. We’re ‘Excellent’ rated on Trustpilot for a reason).

In general, we at Speechy don’t believe props are altogether necessary. They can slow down the speech, prove difficult for some people to see, or simply just not work. It’s another level of jeopardy, frankly, you could do without.

However, when used as well as they are here, we have no problem! The simple, Love Actually style use of flashcards acting as the father of the bride’s unfiltered voice is brilliant and has the audience cracking up.

There are some great reveals, in particular when he says he ‘misses Callum’ (her ex-boyfriend). And the card allows him to get away with things that would probably be a bit mean if he said them.

Plus there’s even an emotional hit at the end we didn’t see coming! A classic.

The Roast

While the first father only hints at the ‘mean’ side of wedding speeches, this father chooses to forget all airs and graces and unleashes a bunch of great jokes – aimed DIRECTLY at the expense of his daughter and her new husband.

It’s true that not every family would put up with this, and it doesn’t take much to become mean-spirited, but this father knows what will work for his audience and laps up the applause, dishing out funny story after funny story.

Also, extra marks for the SUPREMELY confident delivery. To be this good, check out our all-new delivery coaching service.

The Great British Roast

For a great British remake of the American original above, here’s a father roasting his daughter and new husband in a much more English way.

There are a few other things worth noting in this video too. Firstly, the father warns of the dangers of people reusing material. He suggests he’s had to rewrite bits as the Father-of-the-Groom, Best Man and even the Vicar have had similar jokes to him. This is why it’s always best to be as original and personal as you can, then there’s no danger of this!

Secondly, this is another good use of props. As opposed to parading them in front of everyone, he puts the pictures and poem he references in an envelope on each table, allowing people to enjoy them at their leisure.

Overall it’s very accomplished. The father even finds time to give some words of advice at the end. Sure, they’re a little cheesy and rehashed, but we’ll let him off as it’s all fun.

The Cheat Speech

Click here for the Cheat Speech Video

Much like with props, we don’t encourage any members of the wedding party to record a video as part of their speech. The words alone should be enough.

However, this is still a great and very memorable speech. The ‘lost speech’ pretence is quite familiar around the world, with people ‘losing’ their speech and then heading off on a madcap adventure to get it back – all through a pre-recorded video. But it’s rarely as good as this.

The father parodies Rocky, Mission Impossible, Cheers and Cops, amongst many other things. It isn’t the most personal to the bride and groom, but no one would forget it in a hurry, and it certainly made everyone’s day.

The (Very) Emotional One

If jokes aren’t for you (and why not??) at the very least be honest. Ignoring the Hollywood level production values, this Father starts with a few from-the-heart laughs before really piling on the sentimentality.

This won’t work for everyone. But it suits this father-daughter relationship. And it’s a nice twist on the overly typical advice usually heard at weddings. It’s about the bride teaching him, not the other way around. It then concludes with a nice segment about passing on the mantle.

All very sweet, all very polished.

The Short But Sweet Speech

Just so we don’t end this blog with everyone blubbing, let’s go back to the laughs, with this quick but funny speech from America.

It perhaps isn’t the best (or funniest) speech of all time, as the video suggests. Plus he introduces himself in a way more than reminiscent of Troy McClure from The Simpsons.

But it’s a good balance between sentimental and funny, all done in three minutes, showing you it’s not about just writing everything you’ve ever thought of. It’s honing in on the quality stuff.

And for more tips on how to find this, head over to our Father Speech Advice page. 

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