Wedding speech
This is the speech I gave at a wedding on Sunday.
D and M wedding
Good evening everyone. My name is baby_elvis and I am very privileged to have been asked by D and M to speak to you tonight. I have the pleasure of being a friend of both D and M separately for many years and am, in fact, the person who introduced them to each other. Well done me on the matchmaking front and I shall now retire from the profession with a 100% success rate.
Finding love at our ages is not easy, particularly when you have children. The minutiae of daily life give us little time to spend on the task. Our past experiences also influence our attitudes and can make us wary to take the risk of opening our hearts in case of pain. M and D have taken that risk. They've worked hard to get here today and when life handed them difficulties, it did not make them bitter, it made them stronger. Beloved science fiction writer Madeleine L'Engle says this : 'to marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take. If we can commit ourselves to one person for life, this is not a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation. It takes a lifetime to learn another person. Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that together we become a new creature.'
Your union, of course, has not only brought the two of you together, but has brought A, J and A into a new family. A family is not made by blood alone, but by love, respect and commitment as well. This is a family made strong with mutual love and respect as its foundation. I am sure that A and J's grandparents are both comforted and delighted to see their grandchildren secure in the bond of this family, made flesh by the beauteous A.
When we marry in front of our friends and family, as M and D have done, we celebrate that community. Many members of this community have given both emotional and practical help in making today's events happen, and I know that the bride and groom are most grateful for all your aid. We must remember, though, that today is not the end of the story, but the beginning of a new chapter, and as we affirmed during the ceremony, we will continue to support D and M in the future.
M, I have watched you over many years work hard to make a loving family, both for yourself and J. You did a wonderful job in creating that family of two. Since you have been been with D, it has seemed to me that you have found peace and joy both as an individual and as part of this new family. Your love for each other, and the security that has given you, has allowed you to make the best version of M possible. You have a strong commitment to your beliefs and values and are able to live them to the fullest in your family and marital life. What joy for you to have come together with this man who knows what you mean when you create an artwork that says 'Beware of the leopard' and can respond that' the lift had gone out and so had the stairs'.
D, when M asked me if I knew any men I could introduce her to I had no hesitation in naming you. I know you to be a good man to the core. Your strength, devotion, loyalty and kind heart are readily apparent to all of us here. It has been a real joy to me to see you find the love and contentment that we see here today. I have known you since you were a boy and am so proud of the man you have become.
I would like to finish with the words of a song that sums up both the prosaic and magical nature of love. It's called The Book of Love by the band The Magnetic Fields from their album 69 Love Songs.
The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
And instructions for dancing
But I. I love it when you read to me
And you, you can read me anything.
The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is transcendental
Some of it is really dumb
But I, I love it when you sing to me
And you, you can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full,of flowers and heart shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know
But I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings
Repeat last couplet.
Thank you.
D and M wedding
Good evening everyone. My name is baby_elvis and I am very privileged to have been asked by D and M to speak to you tonight. I have the pleasure of being a friend of both D and M separately for many years and am, in fact, the person who introduced them to each other. Well done me on the matchmaking front and I shall now retire from the profession with a 100% success rate.
Finding love at our ages is not easy, particularly when you have children. The minutiae of daily life give us little time to spend on the task. Our past experiences also influence our attitudes and can make us wary to take the risk of opening our hearts in case of pain. M and D have taken that risk. They've worked hard to get here today and when life handed them difficulties, it did not make them bitter, it made them stronger. Beloved science fiction writer Madeleine L'Engle says this : 'to marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take. If we can commit ourselves to one person for life, this is not a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation. It takes a lifetime to learn another person. Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that together we become a new creature.'
Your union, of course, has not only brought the two of you together, but has brought A, J and A into a new family. A family is not made by blood alone, but by love, respect and commitment as well. This is a family made strong with mutual love and respect as its foundation. I am sure that A and J's grandparents are both comforted and delighted to see their grandchildren secure in the bond of this family, made flesh by the beauteous A.
When we marry in front of our friends and family, as M and D have done, we celebrate that community. Many members of this community have given both emotional and practical help in making today's events happen, and I know that the bride and groom are most grateful for all your aid. We must remember, though, that today is not the end of the story, but the beginning of a new chapter, and as we affirmed during the ceremony, we will continue to support D and M in the future.
M, I have watched you over many years work hard to make a loving family, both for yourself and J. You did a wonderful job in creating that family of two. Since you have been been with D, it has seemed to me that you have found peace and joy both as an individual and as part of this new family. Your love for each other, and the security that has given you, has allowed you to make the best version of M possible. You have a strong commitment to your beliefs and values and are able to live them to the fullest in your family and marital life. What joy for you to have come together with this man who knows what you mean when you create an artwork that says 'Beware of the leopard' and can respond that' the lift had gone out and so had the stairs'.
D, when M asked me if I knew any men I could introduce her to I had no hesitation in naming you. I know you to be a good man to the core. Your strength, devotion, loyalty and kind heart are readily apparent to all of us here. It has been a real joy to me to see you find the love and contentment that we see here today. I have known you since you were a boy and am so proud of the man you have become.
I would like to finish with the words of a song that sums up both the prosaic and magical nature of love. It's called The Book of Love by the band The Magnetic Fields from their album 69 Love Songs.
The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
And instructions for dancing
But I. I love it when you read to me
And you, you can read me anything.
The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is transcendental
Some of it is really dumb
But I, I love it when you sing to me
And you, you can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full,of flowers and heart shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know
But I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings
Repeat last couplet.
Thank you.