Wedding Speeches Can Be Funny
Dec 19th, 2008 by Sara Brown
Not all cultures practice the traditional wedding speech custom. This practice is increasingly being adopted in other parts of the world, along with many other western wedding traditions such as the white bridal dress and veil. This is an accurate chronicle of my husband’s wedding speech experience from the ceremony for his daughter a few years ago.
Sense the bridegroom’s mother had passed away unexpectedly weeks before the wedding, they decided that as a young couple they would make do with an official, religious, marriage ceremony. Deciding to use the money for an extended honeymoon they canceled the large festive wedding party that we had planned.
Since we are a Muslim family living in Cairo, Egypt, the religious ceremony was a Muslim one. All that this involves is the presence of two witnesses, the bride and groom and a Muslim cleric, a Sheikh. In the Sheikh’s presence, the bride, the groom and the two witnesses sign a marriage document. A short prayer is then recited aloud by the sheikh, the bride’s guardian, my hubby/her dad in this instance, and the bridegroom as well.
My husband is not a religious man. Reciting a prayer in the presence friends and family caused him to worry for weeks. He wrote the prayer on a small piece of paper so he could cheat if necessary. A large room in a religious building was the site of the wedding. The bride, groom, friends acting as witnesses, Sheikh, father of the bride, and bridegroom’s father were are set upon the stage. My husband was sitting between the Sheikh and the groom too. The rest of us sat in rows below like an audience in a theatre. When the time came for my husband to say the prayer, he did it just right. I could tell he became quickly relaxed. He was so relieved.
That is when it happened. His ex-wife asked him to give a speech. This was unplanned, but my husband often gives imprompto speeches. He was happy, relaxed, and comfortable.
Putting an affection hand on his new son-in-laws shoulder, he stood up to make his improvised wedding speech. It was an excellent discourse, loaded with compliments about his new son in law and several well chosen kind words about the young gentleman’s current loss. As my husband gave his speech, he looked the groom in the eyes and kept his hand on his shoulder. He told the young man that he knew his daughter loved him very much, that he was counting on him to love her back and take care of her.
My husband’s wedding speech had one problem. He used the name of his daughter’s former boyfriend throughout the speech, and never realized he was doing so until stepped off that stage.
