Funny Motivational Speaker Looks at Weddings
Funny Motivational Speaker Looks at his Daughter’s Wedding. During an Emotional Month.
December was a significant month. Of course there’s Christmas, but our family had two highly emotional events prior to that. My mother passed the first part of the month, and four days after her funeral my daughter got married. That’s the “full monty” of emotions.
Losing a mother is tough. And the first Christmas without your mother is tough. But sandwiched in between those tough days was that beautiful wedding. The perfect elixir.
There are many “moments” for a parent. Holding your baby for the first time is a big one and certainly better than changing that first dirty diaper. Watching them head to their first day of school is near the top and definitely exceeds discovering they’ve written on their baby sister with a Sharpie. But from experience I can say, nothing really matches giving your daughter away at a wedding. Thinking about that walk to hand her to her future husband still gives me goose bumps.
Let me begin by saying that for a guy who makes a living making light of everything, a wedding can be an incongruous setting. This might be the time to take off the “funny motivational speaker” hat. But it’s in my DNA, I can’t help it.
“So if you think a marriage is a 50-50 proposition you either don’t understand women or you don’t understand fractions. Ha! Here’s another one you won’t like. A perfect wife is one who helps the husband with the dishes. Wow! I’m killin’ here. Marriage can be summed up by knowing which hand towels are for you, and which are the better ones for the company. Thank you, I’m here all week!”
Those jokes don’t even have a 30 second shelf life. And eventually you run out of material. Ahem, appropriate material. In short, weddings are not the first choice for a stand-up routine.
As we all know, the wedding is mainly for the bride. The groom almost doesn’t matter. Think about it. The bride is clearly in charge. The bride has sole veto power on everything, which is why you never see a wedding at the halftime of a football game or in a sports bar. The attire IS the bride. You always hear, “what a beautiful dress” but never “I love your tie”. The dress is a huge deal involving shopping, fittings, alterations, a team of consultants, a bevy of friends, and a big bank account. The groom is told to just go rent something that matches, the first metaphor in the marriage that means “don’t clash with me”. The groom and groomsmen basically sneak into the ceremony from a back door or enter without any music, while the bride enters to a processional and fanfare that requires everyone to jump to their feet. It’s HER bouquet that gets tossed. It’s HER garter that gets thrown. It’s HER dollar dance. It’s all about HER….
at least that’s what I thought.
When a father escorts his daughter, and hands her off to the man of her dreams, the realization hits that Daddy wouldn’t want it any other way. The wedding’s not just for the bride…or the groom. As much as anyone it’s for the father.
Mark Mayfield, A Funny Motivational Speaker with a Serious Message
To watch Mark on stage click here.
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