A new day dawns

Rounding the final turn and into the home stretch.  We did the rehearsal yesterday at the church and pretty much have the ceremony nailed down.  Actually, as parents of the groom, all we have do is show up, sit down and behave.  On the other hand, the bride's parents do get a slightly bigger role in the show.  

Great rehearsal dinner last night.  Lots of people showed up from both sides of the family.  Took over the local Olive Garden where we ate too much, drank some good wine,  talked too loudly, made a general nuisance of ourselves.    

As PotGs, we've been reading up on what we are our roles in the whole wedding shindig.  Tradition has it that the rehearsal dinner is our gig, so we tried to make it nice.  Tradition has it that the Father of the Bride does a toast to his daughter at the reception but as Father of the Groom, I get to do one to the bride and groom at the Rehearsal dinner.  I did prep for it a bit and threw in some lame humor, and it didn't turn out too bad.  The key is keep it short and funny.  

Some of the bits from last night's toast/monologue:

When we heard of your engagement, we were absolutely elated.  As parents, it is hard to picture you children growing up and moving out on their own in life.  It seems like it was just yesterday that we were buying school supplies and getting you ready for your first day of school and now we are here celebrating your wedding to each other.  Some people would look at this like losing a son, but we consider it more of gaining a daughter.  In our eyes, you two were destined to be together, friends for life.  You enjoy each other’s company, even with corny jokes and bad humor.  I have to agree with Rita Rudner who once said:  I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

As parents, there are two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other wings.  

Over the next few days, you are going to get lots of advice from various people.  I thought I would get a head start and add a few of my own 

• Never go to bed angry – stay up and fight all night

• Be open and honest with each other

• Find the humor in each other – make each other laugh

• Pamper each other

• Expect changes

• Never argue over money – there will never be enough

• And, most important, remember, in any argument you might have, she is always right.  

I would like to propose a toast to the young couple.  We wish the best for both of you and may all your troubles be little ones.  May the time you have together for the rest of your life, be as passionate as your heart felt the first time you said to each other I love you. May you always yearn for the touch of each other's hand and the look you see when only the both of you know what each other is thinking without saying a word. May the two of you live in love for as long as you want, but never want for as long as you live.