Weddingbee Blog

What’s next on this fast-moving (okay… more of a slow-paced) recap bandwagon? Speeches!

I’ll admit that when other bloggers are recapping their weddings and they get to the speeches part, I skip over it. Eek! I can’t believe I typed that out. So embarrassing. But, I’m all about truth, so I’ve gotta tell it like it is.

So, I understand if y’all skip over this post, but I promise to include some super cute pictures of Dolphin Dad (which… most likely only Dolphin Mom and I will enjoy), and a little video for those who were with us and want to reminisce, and for those who weren’t there and want to see all the love that surrounded our Dolphin booties on our wedding day. Let’s face it, I would have LOVED to invite all my blog-y buds to our wedding, but Mr. Dolphin had to cut me off somewhere.

After our first dance, Mr. Dolphin and I started off by thanking our guests for being a part of this special day in our lives, and that it was ABOUT TIME that Mr. Dolphin made an honest woman out of me. All these years of cohabitation with no marriage certificate had made my grandmother uncomfortable for long enough.

Fun fact: My grandmother called Mr. Dolphin my “friend” the 8 years we were dating. As in, “how is your friend?” She didn’t start calling him by his first name until he proposed. Now she calls him my husband. I {heart} old school grandmas. They are so funny.

Me = honest woman. Thanks hubs!

First up to bat? Sunny MOH! Sunny MOH has known us for years and years. She reminisced about our days in fashion class (high school classes were ridiculous), and how I never stopped talking about Mr. Dolphin, even though we weren’t dating/talking/seeing each other. I was a crazy stalker; thank goodness Mr. Dolphin asked me to a movie before I went all psycho on him.

Then we had Little Dolphin. He gave such a funny and sweet speech. He mentioned how he couldn’t remember his life without me in it (yeah… I was around a long time before Mr. Dolphin decided to propose), and that since I knew his family’s quirks already, I wouldn’t be scared away. In the end, he made me cry (which I tend to do a lot) by welcoming me officially to the family as the sister he knew he would always have.

Next up was Dolphin Dad. Dolphin Dad always knows the right thing to say, and he says it so very well. So, instead of trying to recap his speech, I posted it in video below! Yay for Dolphin Daddy speech!

Just Mauied :: Father of the Bride Speech from Mrs Gator on Vimeo.

I couldn’t help but get a little teary-eyed. Once again, I’m a sap, but I love him and can’t hold it in (plus I look super crazy when I’m trying to hold in tears). I love how he was impressed with everything Mr. Dolphin and I can do as a team. It really feels good for all our hard work together to be noticed. It’s really weird, but more and more I’m starting to notice that Mr. Dolphin is so much like my dad. I guess there is some truth that some little girls grow up to marry men like their dads.

I know how difficult it is to speak at someone else’s wedding. I was my best friend’s (Seminole Bridesmaid) MOH and I remember being incredibly nervous. I knew what I wanted to say. I had typed it out and practiced it multiple times in front of Mr. Dolphin, but when it came down to that evening I could barely keep myself together as I spoke. I was just filled with so much love for her that I couldn’t contain all my happy tears.

Can’t fake the love between our eyes! Bwahaha. We’re the sisters we never had (she has all brothers, and I’m an only child).

I’m pretty sure I cried more at her wedding than at my own wedding! I remember crying for pretty much 20 minutes straight during her ceremony. And I couldn’t even watch her walk down the aisle without breaking down (which I also did at Gator Bridesmaid’s wedding when she walked down the aisle… I’m an equal-opportunity crier). You could have also caught be weeping quietly throughout SunnyMOH’s ceremony.

Anyways…so I know how much work, practice, thought, and love went into these speeches and I’m forever thankful. Let me take that back. WE’RE forever thankful.

What do you think makes the best speeches? Ones that are heartfelt or funny? Or both? If you’ve ever given a speech, what are your tips? I’d love to hear them!

And in case you missed it, this is what’s happened so far on our wedding recap journey:

• We fox trotted through our first dance (and showed y’all our practices + bloopers reel)
• Mr. Dolphin mini-cried during the ceremony
• We recapped, via Video, everything that happened Pre-Ceremony
• I was late getting my booty to the altar
• When bubbles attack
• Our first look on a bridge
• A moment with Dolphin Dad
• We got silly with our iPhones
• The girls and I mastered laughing
• I put on that little white dress
• The boys got full of themselves
• I was hung over while getting our hair did
• We rehearsed with yummy BBQ
• The ladies lunched

All photos by Starks Photography