Should you make jokes during your father of the bride speech? It’s a question I’m asked quite regularly since I started this blog. Well the short answer is ‘Yes’. You should and can make a couple of jokes to lighten the mood.

But be careful that you’re being funny but not at the expensive of anyone at the wedding. It’s a fine line. You don’t want to offend or embarrass anyone but it’s always nice to have a couple of funny things to say. Leave the really embarrassing stuff to the best man. That’s his job.

Some of the subjects you can touch on are:

• The bride. You know you daughter better than anyone so there’s bound to be a couple of funny or amusing stories from when she was growing up. Wedding guests love these stories. But don’t start talking about her former boyfriends or and flings she’s had in the past.

• The groom. Treat carefully here. The father of the bride doesn’t usually talk about the groom in his speech so it you do make a joke or say something funny about the groom make sure it’s upbeat and positive.

• Your own family. There are always plenty of funny stories you can bring up about your own family. Everyone’s family is a little crazy in their own way and it’s always nice to toss in a couple of jokes about the things that make your own family unique. Again, don’t offend anyone though and keep it lighthearted.

• The wedding guests. There’s always a couple of people among the guests you can poke a bit of lighthearted fun at. Maybe a story about a funny incident that happened while they were traveling to the wedding.

• The Wedding Day. If there have been any funny mishaps or incidents leading up to the big day or on the wedding day itself, make a mention of them. The more recent the better because there’s always things going wrong (ie, the wrong flowers turned up, the priest mixed up his lines, the wedding limo cars were late, one of the altar boys was naughty).

Here are a couple of examples of jokes you can mention in your father of the bride speech:

• Marriage is like wine – it gets better with age.

• Here’s to our wives and lovers. May they never meet.

• The most effective way to remember your wedding anniversary is to forget once.

• It was an emotional wedding. The mother of the bride cried. Even the cake was in tiers.

I hope these tips are useful when you’re delivering the speech at your daughter’s wedding. Remember as long as you don’t say anything distasteful or offensive, you’ll be fine. If you need a bit of help with what to say I recommend that you take a look at these father wedding speeches here.

Also take a look at this funny speech.