Gransnet forums

AIBU

AIBU to want to make a speech at my child's wedding

(161 Posts)
yogogran Wed 28-Feb-18 11:22:35

My son is getting married. Rather predictably the bride and her family seem to be making all the arrangements and I am left to take a back seat. She is a nice girl but I don't think that she has thought about this being a big day for me as well as for her family. He is my only son and seeing him happily settled is so important to me. I would love to make a short speech at the wedding to say a few things about what a lovely man he has become and how I am looking forward to seeing him settle into his new future. I suppose this is the equivalent of the father of the bride speech. Even though as I say I would want it to be very short my dil to be has effectively said no. I don't understand why her parents can make a speech about her and I can't say anything about my son. Is this really the lot of the mother of the groom?

EmilyHarburn Fri 02-Mar-18 11:21:34

www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-planning/organising-and-planning/order-of-wedding-speeches_1317.htm

Most imprtant for you is that the bride has the wedding she wants and that you make good contact with all her relatives if you can. Tell them how happy you are your son is marrying her. All the best.

Jalima1108 Fri 02-Mar-18 11:16:09

Faye shock
Thanks for letting us know
Have we been 'had' again?
Used as fodder by a journalist?

People who have put very personal posts on here may want to have them deleted.

Luckygirl Fri 02-Mar-18 11:08:30

Are you still married to this chap gummybears??!!

Faye Fri 02-Mar-18 10:37:17

This thread is now on a site called Starts at 60 and it mentions Gransnet. Proud mother complains: Bride denied me a speech at only son’s wedding ?

Bridgeit Thu 01-Mar-18 23:52:12

Brilliantly put ap123.

Jalima1108 Thu 01-Mar-18 23:46:48

It's the role of the best man to speak highly of your son
That comes after he has told everyone all the secrets the son has been keeping from his mother of what he got up to in his youth Shazmo grin

ap123 Thu 01-Mar-18 23:01:32

Quoting from the OP "what a lovely man he has become and how I am looking forward to seeing him settle into his new future" This is between you and your son. Should you stand up in public and say it you would embarrass him and no one else is interested. If you want to make a speech, it should be about how happy you are he has found such a wonderful woman to be his wife and how you look forward to call her daughter. Write that down, run it by some people who dare tell you the truth, and when it's pitch perfect put it on a card and take it to your DIL. Explain that you respect her choices for the wedding, but that there is something you wanted her to know and give her the card. Then behave like you mean what you wrote. Come here and vent, by all means, but when it comes to your DIL the worst you can ever say is in all future occasions is that you are disappointed to not be there to share a special moment with them. And save that for the really special moments, not Christmas eve or Sunday dinner. Remember: you are sad to not see them enjoy the moment, not because they had chosen not to share it with you. Harsh, I know. But you want your son happy so you need to learn a new dance and the tune is: It's their life, she's his wife, you are now number two and the number will get higher once they're blessed with children. And yes, chances are her mom will see the kid before you do. No one wants their MIL in the birthing room, some will want their mom there.
Welcome to life as the mother of the groom...

princesspamma Thu 01-Mar-18 22:34:42

For goodness sake it isn't YOUR flaming wedding. While you might want to tell people how proud you are of him, this is not your platform to do so. And yes, I rather think you are BU.

Apricity Thu 01-Mar-18 21:39:43

How utterly awful gummybear. I am surprised you actually got as far as the second attempt at the wedding. You and your wishes seem to have been completely ignored throughout. Bride, what bride? Sounds as tho they could have put a shop mannequin dressed in white in your place and just repositioned it periodically. Surely there were lots of red flag alerts about the family you were marrying into? If you are still together you must love your husband very much to have stuck with such shenanigans and disrespect. ?

gummybears Thu 01-Mar-18 21:24:59

I would normally not share any of the details of my pretty awful wedding, but this one seems apposite.

For context, we paid for it all ourselves. My mother and MIL loathe each other with the heat of a thousand suns and appeared to be in some kind of competition as to who could behave the worst towards us in the run up to the event. MIL via some very heavy emotional blackmail involving a dying grandparent convinced H to change the entire venue and the form of the ceremony at very considerable expense after all was paid for, and the work of essentially reorganising the wedding fell to muggins here. Perhaps that will give an idea of what I mean when I say they behaved badly.

In the run up to the wedding, there was the usual discussion about speeches. The day was fairly formal (H insisted in a massive expensive affair, I had my heart set on something as low key, small and cheap as possible, since the previous wedding we booked several years previously, MIL insisted be cancelled or she would disown H as she "wasnt ready for him to marry"; thousands of pounds of deposits were lost and I was too ashamed to ever go and collect the wedding dress I had bought), and as a result I was told by H there would be the usual speeches.

I asked if I might have a minute of my own to thank some people he had told me he was not prepared to thank (my little flower girls, my aunt and my elderly widowed grandmother) and it was made clear to me that he had spoken to ILs and there would be no departure from the usual list. I accepted this.

On the day, just before my father was to make his expected speech, H introduced my FIL who then went on to make a fairly lengthy and regrettably slightly drunken speech about what a great guy H is and how great MIL is. This would probably have gone down better with the guests if FIL had said literally a word about me or even H's brother, the best man, who like me was not prepared for this turn of events.

The guests did not receive this well. My father was so put off by this happening that when he was finally given the microphone, he was not his usual fluent self which he regretted bitterly.

Friends and extended family stil, occasionally make jokes at my expense about the "speeches hijack" and also about the outfit MIL wore. (A black veil is not traditional attire for the mothers at Catholic weddings. It is also not traditional for the mother of the groom to bodily shove the bride aside off the chapel steps as the couple exit and yell to the guests "I WANT A PHOTO WITH MY SON" either. This I regret to say was not the nadir of the day, although my uncle has a snap of a falling bride and a shoving MIL that will probably show up on a clickbait site some day)

I am certain OP would not engage in behaviour of this type, but I offer this purely as a caution against offering impromptu speeches at weddings when the bride and or groom clearly do not expect one to be given. The guests notice, they laugh, many people are embarrassed.

Shazmo24 Thu 01-Mar-18 21:19:38

It's the role of the best man to speak highly of your son so maybe you can ask him to put in a few of your words into his speech of the things you would like said

marionk Thu 01-Mar-18 20:56:31

My son and I gave a speech (well a little poem we wrote actually) at my DDs wedding because her father REFUSED to give one.

MissAdventure Thu 01-Mar-18 19:46:23

Some more joyous than others, I would think. smile

Chilledlady Thu 01-Mar-18 19:40:51

I disagree that it is "their" day. I feel a wedding is a joyous family occasion, a meeting of two people and their families. Anyone wishing to take a part in the day should be encouraged. At a recent family wedding in Canada, there was a time in the day when guests were encouraged to stand and say something about the couple: several guests did and it was a lovely, friendly, welcoming, often funny, and occasionally thought-provoking activity.

MawBroon Thu 01-Mar-18 19:26:24

It might be reassuring if yogogran came back and commented on the (overwhelming) majority opinion. .
Somehow I am still filled with foreboding!

Fenton95 Thu 01-Mar-18 19:05:44

You sound very detached and seem not to have accepted that your son is now part of a couple and you either love and support them both or you risk driving a wedge between yourself and your son.

Do you need to make more effort to forge a good relationship with his new wife? She is now part of your family!

Millie8 Thu 01-Mar-18 18:39:39

You have my sympathy and understanding but my son would have died of embarrasment if I had made a speach saying how wonderful he was! DiL's have to be pacified on their wedding day - they have done most of the arranging and can be very stressed on such a highly charged occasion. Anything that could cause bad feeling should be avoided at all costs. No mother wants to be at odds with her DiL as this will only cause problems for their son.
My other son is getting married soon and I am going to bite my tongue and go with the flow again, its worth it in the long run. Good luck and I hope you can enjoy the wedding. It would spoil it for your son if he thought you were unhappy.

Heather23 Thu 01-Mar-18 18:37:05

I do agree that this is the Bride and Groom's Day and if you have offered and they have (politely I hope) said 'No' then that is that. I quite agree that you should be able to say something if you wish but you have to abide by their wishes and not get off on the wrong footing with your DiL and her family. My SiL was terrified of making a speech and worrying about it was going to spoil his day - I suggested he could thank everyone for coming right at the beginning of the afternoon when guests were standing and were enjoying a glass of fizz and a piece of wedding cake - he did really well in the end and was then able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day and evening. So, traditions can be changed to suit those involved - brides often make speeches these days too but they must choose. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Magrithea Thu 01-Mar-18 17:02:48

I'm sure it's all been said already (I'm a bit late to the party!) but it is their day, no-one else's. yes, her family are making the arrangements (with the happy couple's input I would hope) and I'd be happy with that. If she's said no, then accept and move on. Your son is now her husband first and foremost and will not be happy at playing 'piggy in the middle' so early in his marriage.

MissAdventure Thu 01-Mar-18 16:58:34

Honestly, I've never felt the need to say it before, but I really can see how some people get off on the 'wrong foot" with their in laws!

Matriark Thu 01-Mar-18 16:56:56

Accept that the day is not about you. Your son doesn’t need you to make a speech telling everyone how wonderful he is (surely he knows this already) - and the best thing you can do for him is not upset the bride! Dress up, put your happiest face on and enjoy the day? flowers

Bibbity Thu 01-Mar-18 16:48:55

So the DIL is selfish for wanting to plan her own wedding with her fiancé.

But the OP isn't selfish for making demands on a day that isn't about her and causing stress to the couple when they will already be stressed enough.... right.

FlorenceN Thu 01-Mar-18 16:46:54

Me neither!!

Bridgeit Thu 01-Mar-18 16:40:37

Spot on Florence, I wouldn’t need telling twice!

FlorenceN Thu 01-Mar-18 16:36:57

You've been told 'no' that should really be enough. For all you know, maybe your son doesn't want you to make a speech either but doesn't have the heart to tell you, so it's been left to the bride to do it. Please don't 'tap your glass loudly' and jump up and give your speech/toast, it will cause I'll-feeling and I'm sure you don't want that.