Mother Of The Bride Speech - What Do I Say?

Many more weddings now include a speech by the mother of the bride. What do you say in your speech that will capture the minds of your guests, make the bride smile and allow you to express your love and happiness for your daughter and her new life?


Most people are at least wary of public speaking if not completely terrified and speaking at your daughters wedding in front of both friends, family and possibly strangers can be very daunting indeed.


The main thing you need to deliver your speech on the day is to ensure that the speech itself is from the heart and written in your own words. You need to allow your joy and love for your daughter to radiate from your speech. Do this and any minor hiccups will be lost in the moment and you should be much more comfortable as the words will be true to you.


Here is one way in which you can structure your mother of the bride speech.


Start with a personal reflection of the bride and groom and your relationship with them. How that may have changed or have grown through the engagement and through to the wedding.


Remember your daughter as little girl. There will surely be many good memories to pull from about you and your daughters relationship, both funny and heart-warming.
What was the bride like before she met her new husband and how has she changed since? Assuming that's for the better of course!


Tell the story of how the couple met, any strange or amusing co-incidences or circumstances that led to them meeting and finally being together.


Do you have a short amusing or affectionate anecdote about the couple something that may also show off their good qualities or their own particular style? It's ok to tease them a little in the mother of the bride speech but be sure to keep the humor light.


You may also want to say something about marriage itself, the importance of a relationship and about the romance and beauty it can bring to any marriage.


Of course give your thanks to any of the organizers or anyone else you think deserves a mention.


The mother of the bride speech should end with a toast to the bride and groom. This is another point at which your words should come from your heart. Try to make the toast personal and meaningful and an opportunity to end the speech on a real memorable high note.


As the mother of the bride you will already have many weeks or even months of wedding planning. You will be assisting your daughter to help make her wedding day be the one she has always dreamed about and you will probably have little time to spare.


You may well like some professional assistance with your mother of the bride wedding speech. There are easily edited templates and personal assistance available by clicking on the link above.



Whatever your final arrangements, I sincerely hope that this wedding is the dream that both you, as mother of the bride, and your daughter wished for.

Mother of the Bride

The Mother of the Bride has a pivotal role in the wedding day and it can easily be described as that of savior, whipping boy, diplomat, mood adjuster and miracle worker,. In real life and generally speaking, the Mother of the Bride may try as hard as is humanly possible to be everything for her daughter for her wedding day, but rarely achieves it. Why? Because it is impossible to provide a perfect day for anyone, not even her daughter on her wedding day. Try she will, however, just as she has tried every day in the life of her daughter to provide all within her power for her daughter. Wrong? No, not at all. It is no more than any loving mother would attempt for her daughter.

There will always be monster mothers whose selfish jealousy makes it impossible for them to get past themselves long enough to allow their daughters to be the belle of the ball and bridezillas who would not appreciate a heartfelt gesture from their moms if it bit them on the nose. We are not talking about those ladies here.

Here we are paying tribute to the wonderful mothers whose love and pride in their daughters allow them to share in the joy of the day and the daughters who truly appreciate the enormous efforts moms put forth for them. Mothers of the Bride who are true ladies will always remember to step back until her opinion is asked for, to refrain from rendering her true thoughts on something her daughter so obviously feels strongly about, pro or con. She will strive to appreciate the wants and likes of her daughter even if it means biting her tongue. To always, always remember that each of us has our own ideas on what is pleasing to our eye and sometimes, it may not be the same idea as the next person.

Bringing money into the equation should be difficult only if mother and daughter, both adults, cannot compromise. Very few brides in this world get every single thing they wish for on their wedding day, materially speaking. It should be the mother of the bride who diplomatically reminds her daughter what is possible and what is not, no matter who is paying. To allow your daughter to lose her head when she gets caught up in the wedding choices would be criminal. Part of the job of the Mother of the Bride is to watch out for this very thing. Help her plan a wedding with class where no one is offended by ostentatiousness. I know, I know, it should not matter what people think and most times I agree with that, but not when a wedding is so over the top, no one has a good time. A wedding where it is clear the basic intent of a wedding, that of united two people in love, has been completely lost in the wedding trappings.

Mom also has the obligation of peeling her daughter off the ceiling when she needs it. Stress is the name of the game in wedding planning, but whether or not the stress is good and productive or wild and destructive is solely up to the main people planning the wedding. Proper planning, scheduling and communication should go a long way to reducing the bad stress. Both the bride and her mom have an obligation to set the tone for all involved.

Anne Dunne has been an online author and marketer since the mid 80s.
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8 Things You Can Say in Your Great Mother of the Bride Toast For the Rehearsal Dinner

While it's not "traditional" for the bride's mother to speak at any point during the wedding, the fact is that "traditions" were set at a time when women did not generally speak in public. The days are gone, so pony on up if you have something you want to say to your daughter.

Here are some things that you might want to cover in your rehearsal dinner speech:

Talk about your pride in your daughter as she's grown into the woman she is today. Part of the miracle of motherhood is having loved the baby and the toddler, and, and... and then loving the grownup, in whom you can see all those sweet stages.

Talk about the highlights of having been her mother. What she taught you as she was growing. This one's a bit dicey, because you want to keep the focus on her, but a sentence or two is always appropriate.

Talk about the fun the two of you had planning the wedding. This may have been the first project you and your daughter worked on as equals. If you were good at it, and she liked learning from you and you liked learning from her, who knows what sort of projects you might dream up in the future!

Talk about why marriage mattered to you and how you hope it will matter to her. Even if you're divorced, there were things about marriage that mattered to you, even your marriage to the father of your child.

Thank your partner and the father of your child for the years with this child and your life together.

Talk about how happy you are that she's chosen such a great partner and how you look forward to watching her build her life and her family.

Tell her partner's family what a great person you think their child is and how you look forward to years of celebrating everything that lies ahead.

Raise your glass, to your daughter, to her partner, to marriage, and to their marriage.
As with all the toasts, it's a good idea to keep them short and a bit short on details. There's a fine line between Wow! And Whew! But you'll do great! Especially if you read it out loud a bunch of times to your bathroom mirror!

Bottom Line?: Give your relationship the chance it deserves to succeed wildly, against all odds! After all, you deserve it. Your relationship deserves it! And now I'd like to invite you to sign up to receive 2 free templates for creating the wedding ceremony of your dreams, the wedding vows of your heart and the marriage of a lifetime: http://annkeelerevans.org/weddings/free
The Rev. Ann Keeler Evans - helping you move from "I do" to happily and healthily ever after!
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Top 3 Myths About Dressing the Mother of the Bride

If you're the mother of the bride or groom you've probably been bombarded with advice from friends, family and "experts" about what you should wear for your important role on the on the big day. Don't believe everything you hear! Misconceptions, about how a mom is supposed to dress on their child's wedding day abound!
Here are The Top 3 Myths about dressing the Mother of the Bride and why you should ignore them:

MYTH # 1 - I Shouldn't Wear Black

False - Years ago if you wore black to a wedding, everyone automatically assumed it was a sign of rebellion, and that you wanted everyone to know you disapproved of the match. While some older, more traditional types may still cling to this belief, most people are over it. Black is elegant and chic, not to mention slimming, and with so many attractive and classy black dresses out there, it's silly to dismiss an otherwise flattering dress based on color alone. If black suits you, it can be a good option for a mother of the bride gown. Just be make sure it suits the formality of the wedding. (It's nice for a semi formal wedding and perfect for a formal function, but too heavy and serious for a casual wedding.) Also, most importantly, make sure the bride agrees that black is O.K. before taking this route! It's her day and she has the final word.

MYTH # 2 - I Have to Match the Bridesmaids

False - Some mothers of the bride take color co-coordinating to extremes and end up looking like one of the bridesmaids. As Mother of the Bride or Groom, you have a special place in the wedding party, apart from the bridesmaids, so make sure your dress highlights this fact. There are many ways to coordinate with a bridal party without matching them exactly. Try wearing the opposite color that the bridesmaids are wearing (if they wear green, you wear yellow) or try wearing a mother of the bride gown in a similar shade but with a pattern (If the bridesmaids wear pink, you wear a pink and white flowered Mother of the Bride dress). This way you'll blend in with the bridesmaid, instead of look too matchy-matchy.

MYTH # 3 - I Must Lose Weight before I start to Shop for my Dress

False - This is probably the biggest mistake made by Mother of the Brides. Giving yourself a deadline for getting slim is great, but what if it doesn't happen? Since many mother of the bride gowns are not available off-the-rack, you need to give yourself plenty of time to order, customize and alter your dress. You don't want to end up rushing out a week before the wedding desperately trying to find anything that will work. Therefore, shop for the body you have right now. And if you do lose weight and the dress no longer fits you a month before the wedding, pat yourself on the back, and go get alterations!

(c) 2009, Boland-Tyler Productions. All rights reserved. Article may be reprinted so long as text and by-line are reprinted intact and all links made live.


Deborah Boland and JoJami Tyler (The Glam Gals) are Image and Style Experts specializing in helping women 40 plus look and feel fabulous. They are the authors of the book, The Glam Plan ~ 12 Simple Steps to Take You from Frumpy to Fabulous, as well as coaches for their Tweak Your Chic(TM), Image make-over program. To learn more tips about choosing your mother of the bride (or groom) dress visit http://www.fabulousafter40.com/ebooks/mother-of-the-bride/, sign up for their bi-weekly newsletter and visit http://www.fabulousafter40.com/shop/100-style-links-women-will-love/ to see 100 Style Links Women Will Love.
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Mother Of The Bride Speeches and Toasts

More and more the mother of the bride is being asked to deliver a speech at her daughters wedding. If this is you then what should you say and how can you be sure to deliver a confident speech on the day that reflects well on you and your daughter?

Consider why you have been asked to speak at your daughters wedding. It may be you are speaking in place of the father of the bride. If this is the case then you will need to cover this traditional role and incorporate traditional father of the bride content in your speech. If you are speaking as well as the father then you should make your speech additional to and flow from the fathers speech but as the mother you can let your more feminine side and the special relationship a mother has with her daughter show through.

You should start off your mother of the bride speech by introducing yourself then you can perhaps tell a humorous story about the bride. Be very careful around this point though, do not make jokes at the expense of the bride. This is her day. Although you are a very important part of the day and your daughters life you need to do enough to make her proud but nothing to detract from the bride on her special day.

Talk about how your daughter first met her husband when she first told you about him or first introduced him to you. Thank the grooms parents for having such a wonderful son and also welcome them, especially if they have had to travel.

There are always many special guests and people who will have helped make the day special by supplying flowers, catering, dresses or transport for instance that should be thanked and of course a mention of the brides father may also be appropriate.
Of course you should close with a toast. Take some time to think about a beautiful statement for the toast, even a short poem, as this will sum up and end your speech on a high note and trigger a rapturous applause.

How do you ensure that you will be on form on the day and make your daughter proud? The fact is that there are may tips and tricks to help with public speaking but the only good and sure way is to practice. It doesn't matter even if your mother of the bride speech has not made it's final draft. Still practice. Start by reading the speech out loud from the paper. After a time you will find that whole thing can be broken down into small sections. Don't try and read the speech from paper on the day, this never comes over well. Instead write the headers and the first few words of each 'small section' on small prompt cards. Then you will have a prompt for each short section. Keep practising using the prompt cards. You will not get it right first time, don't worry this is perfectly normal and you may need to tweak the prompt cards as you get better.

One good trick is to record the speech and replay is when you in the car or out walking but ensure you talk along with it – out loud. Also make sure you practice in front of someone as this will always bring out the bugs in your speech and give you some positive feedback.
Ensure you start this process at least some weeks before the wedding, earlier if possible, so that you have plenty of practice time. By the time the big day comes around you will have the speech firmly burned into your mind. Do not ever try to wing it on the day as that will always show through.

The truth is that as the mother of the bride you will already likely have many weeks or months of wedding planning to take care of and will have little time to spare. You will very likely benefit from some help with your wedding speech so I recommend that you take a quick look at the help available for your mother of the bride speech .