With Father’s Day just around the corner we thought it would be fitting to provide a blog that might support the Fathers, Step-Fathers, Father-figures or those standing in for the Father of the Bride on a wedding day. We realise that there is sensitivity around this subject for those who may have lost fathers, those who have two mothers or blended families, and parents who have remarried, but there are a few things we’d like to touch on.
As a fun reference to the role of ‘Father of the Bride’, you may or may not have seen the film ‘Father of the Bride’, featuring Steve Martin. Well, this film is the reason why I always wanted to get involved in the world of working in weddings! Steve Martin finds himself faced with the stresses of planning his daughter’s wedding, but in the end prioritises her happiness over all the challenges, from guests numbers and costs, to what to wear and the relationship with his new son in law! If you’ve yet to watch it and need some feel good wedding inspiration, I highly recommend it!
I thought I’d touch on 3 main areas for you, enjoy!
1. First look and giving you away…
As the coordinator we are careful how to approach this detail as it isn’t always the father of the bride who will be walking you down the aisle. 2024 will see fathers walk their daughters down the aisle, mothers walk their sons down the aisle, brides walk themselves down the aisle and couples enter their ceremony together. However you decide to arrive to your nuptials make it personal to you.
The moment we get to bring the Father of the Bride to see his daughter or son for the first look is so special; more often than not we all shed a few happy tears! Our master suites are the perfect place for the reveal, or for a little more drama, you can be seen for the first time making your walk down the Grand Staircase with your father waiting at the bottom…you don’t get more fairy tale than that!
(Emma Crowson *Smallwood with Dad and Step-Dad – 19th May 2023) Photos by Emily Green
I love this photo, there is just so much love captured here between these three!!
2. Father of the Bride speech…
Traditionally the Father of the Bride speech is the moment the bride’s family thank everyone for coming and welcome new members to their family; the joining of two families. Where we have had fathers absent from the wedding celebrations, we have seen Mothers of the Bride, Siblings of the Bride or Bridesmaids taking on this role, and the opportunity to talk about the Bride, sharing some fond memories. It is not expected that this speech brings lots of laughs, but sometimes a few embarrassing moments from growing up so go down very well.
Words of wisdom are often the closing gift in this speech, to help the happy couple look towards their future together. Although sometimes traditions are broken; one of my all time favourites being from Emily’s dad in April 2022, finishing with a song for his daughter. Very aptly named “I loved her first”.!
(Emily Waite *Bell – 30th April 2022) Photos by Carla Whittingham Photography
3. Other duties…
Often as the Father of the Bride, etiquette was that the parents of the Bride would invite guests to celebrate the marriage of their daughter. This is an old tradition and in modern times is very rarely what happens, however there is still a sense of the parents of the Bride ‘hosting’ the wedding. Introductions between the two families is something which can fall to the parents, and a great feature of Thicket Priory is the way the venue helps with the hosting duties/introduction duties. There are so many opportunities for guests to mingle from the arrival at the Gryffin desk, to the in-house pantries, the Gryffin Bar and the stunning gardens. So whether we have parents of the bride & groom, parents of the bride & bride or parents of the groom & groom, essentially there is loose etiquette with regards to them ‘hosting’ the wedding of their children.
The subject of money is something which often falls to the Father of the Bride, we sometimes find couples coming for a second visit prior to booking to bring along their Father, who can sometimes be the ‘decision maker’ as far as money and budgets go! A great quote from George Banks of Father of the Bride, “I used to think a wedding was a simple affair. Boy and girl meet, they fall in love, he buys a ring, she buys a dress, they say I do. I was wrong. That’s getting married. A wedding is an entirely different proposition.” This is definitely relating to the money side of getting married.
A few other Father of the Bride duties might be; a Father Daughter dance, attending the stag do, helping get all the decorations to and from the venue to name a few.
(Jess Hart *Mclernon – 16th November 2021) Photo by Carla Whittingham Photography
This video features a few of the Father of the Bride duties as carried out by Jess’s Dad back in November 2021 for her marriage to Jason. (Videography by James Tracey Films)
A gorgeous Mother of the Bride doing her duties;
(Natalie Matthews *Makin – 16th June 2022) Photos by Rebecca Kerr Photography
Thanks for reading, I hope this has been helpful!
Lots of Love
Anna xXx
