It will be your role when making your Father Of The Bride Speech Toast to be the first speech maker at the reception, and to have the honor of making the first toast to the new bride and groom.
The waiting staff should be advised to make sure that every glass is topped up before you begin your father of the bride speech toast, so that they won’t be a distraction while you are speaking and all the guests will be ready to join you in drinking to the health of the happy couple.
The toast itself will come at the end of your speech, and it will mark the end of your turn as speaker.
The main content of your speech will be more personalized. You should usually begin by welcoming the guests. You can then go on to say something about the bride, and more briefly the groom. All you really need to do for him is to welcome him to the family. You may then want to offer some advice or say something about your own experience of married life.
Finally, you will close your speech with the toast. It is expected that the Father Of The Bride Speech Toast be to the newlyweds themselves, as other speakers will usually toast other people who are involved in the wedding. You toast should be a simple close to the speech, and it should be recognizable as a toast since it will be the point at which the guests are invited to join in with their own good wishes.
You should raise your own glass as you make the toast, to give a clear signal for the guests to do likewise, and after you have finished speaking you can lead the way in drinking the toast too.
There are a number of ways in which you can phrase your Father Of The Bride Speech Toast. You may want to be more creative, but you should usually rely on one of the conventional phrases. It could be as simple as “To the Bride and Groom” with the appropriate action of raising the glass to signal that this is the toast, or you may like to spell it out more fully, or to elaborate on your wishes for your daughter and her new husband. “Let us raise our glasses…” or “Let us drink to…” are good ways of introducing the toast. “Please join me in wishing…”is another popular form. You should always finish with the words “the Bride and Groom”, as this is what the guests will be waiting for, and this is the part of the toast which they will echo before they drink.
If you do intend to say something more inventive during your toast then it should be something about what you wish for the bride and groom in their future. This can also be your way of voicing the hopes of all the other guests, and giving them a thought on which to join in as they join in your toast. If you are a religious family then you may want to say something like “God bless them” as well as giving the usual toast.