How to Thank Your Parents in Your Wedding Speech

Singaporebrides | Weddings 101

July 2022

By Tansey Tang

You’ll be expressing your appreciation for all of your guests at your wedding, and there are some very special people you shouldn’t miss out. Here’s how to properly thank your parents in your wedding speech!

Your wedding day is finally here, and all the months of hard work and planning have paid off when you see the loving and excited faces gathered to celebrate you and your milestone. Your heart is so full and bursting with appreciation for the dear ones surrounding you, and your wedding speech is the perfect opportunity to express your thankfulness for their presence and their help. Besides thanking the people who cried with you, laughed with you, and worked through the night DIY-ing with you, you’ll also want to set aside a few minutes to honour your parents and in-laws.

Saying thank you to your parents at your wedding isn’t just about thanking them for any financial or logistical help with your wedding; it’s about publicly expressing your gratitude for all they’ve done for you. Thanking your new in-laws is also a respectful way to address them for the first time. Being from our typically reticent Asian culture, you may feel uncomfortable expressing your appreciation to your parents, especially when you’ll be doing so on stage. We put together some tips and sample ways to say thank you to your parents and in-laws during your wedding speech.

How Long Should the Thank You Speech Be?

Your thank you speech to your parents will likely be part of your wedding speech, where you have many special people to appreciate, such as your guests, your bridal party, your siblings, and anyone who has played a part in putting your wedding together. To avoid losing attention, you’ll want to keep your speech concise—about 5-8 minutes long each if the both of you are taking turns to speak. Your thank-yous to your parents is a key component of your speech, but probably won’t take very long.

What Should You Include in Your Thank-You Speech to Your Parents?

Your wedding is a big milestone, where you officially leave the household to form a new family of your own. You’ll want to thank your parents for all they’ve done in bringing you to this new chapter. You could express your gratitude for their unconditional love and support, acknowledge their hard work or appreciate their cooking, mention some values they’ve taught you to live by, or reminisce about some childhood memories that you’ll cherish. You could also talk about their role model characters or their example as a loving married couple, and how you hope to follow in their footsteps. If they contributed financially to your wedding, be sure to thank them as well, and appreciate any help they offered through the planning.

How Should You Thank Your In-Laws in Your Wedding Speech?

Your wedding speech is a great opportunity to let your new in-laws know how happy you are to be marrying their son or daughter. Thank them for raising a wonderful person, sliding in compliments about your partner, and win bonus points if you can relate them back to your in-laws. Express your appreciation at their efforts to welcome you into their family, and acknowledge any contribution your parents-in-law made to your wedding, whether it was financial or with the planning and organisation. Tell them how much you look forward to being part of their family.

Parent Thank-You Speech Examples

Writing a speech isn’t an easy thing to do, but you don’t need to be completely original! Here are some wedding thank-speech examples you can draw inspiration from.

To your parents:

Mum, Dad, thank you for your love and support through the years. You’ve done everything you could to give us a memorable childhood, and always guided and supported us in achieving our dreams. From you, I learned that failure is simply an opportunity to learn and try again, that being kind to people matters more than being right, and that love means forgiveness and selflessness. Growing up, you’ve shown us a beautiful example of what a great marriage looks like, and Liz and I can only hope to follow in your footsteps as we begin our new chapter together.

To my parents, thank you for working so hard to bring us up. All the home-cooked meals, the weekend family time, and even the time you spent tutoring us over our homework—I appreciate everything you’ve done to give Jie and I such a wonderful childhood. As we grew older, you never failed to lend a listening ear, cheer us on, or give us sound advice as we navigated forks in our life paths. As I celebrate this milestone today, I want to thank you for your love and support that led me here.

To your in-laws:

Pa, Ma, thank you for raising such a fine young man that today, I am proud to call my husband. Daniel is so smart, caring, hardworking, and thoughtful, and that can only be a reflection of how you’ve brought him up. Thank you for always inviting me over for such delicious meals, and for welcoming me so warmly into your lives. I’m so excited to officially become part of your family.

To my new mum and dad, thank you for welcoming me into your family. Thank you for entrusting your beautiful daughter into my care. Liz is truly the ideal woman—she’s patient, supportive, strong, and so talented at what she does. I will everything in my power to give her the happiness she deserves. As we begin building our new life together, we couldn’t be more grateful to have your love and support.

Wedding Thank You Speech Tips

Now that you’ve overcome the challenge of finding the right words to say, it’s time to make sure you deliver your wedding speech well. Familiarise yourself with your speech, then practise delivering it in front of your mirror or friends, or record yourself, to see if there are areas in which you could improve your delivery. While it’s perfectly fine to read off a script, practising your speech beforehand will help you sound more natural on stage. Speak more slowly than you normally would, and make eye contact with your audience as much as you can. The most important tip? Speak from the heart!

Credits: Feature image from Ming Tong and Daryl’s Sustainable Wedding with Gold Accents at Botanico at The Garage by Bottled Groove Photography

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