Toast & poem for parent's Golden Wedding

February 17, 2022 2:53 AM

I'm tasked with giving a toast (not speech) at my parent's upcoming golden wedding anniversary (50 years). I've got a few bits but I would love to hear your thoughts on what to include in the toast and would like to end it with a poem. What do you suggest?
posted by atlantica to Writing & Language (4 answers total)

Something unusual but that would be lovely and cute - perhaps find one of their favorite love songs from the era that they were married and quote the lyrics as part of the toast?
posted by HeyAllie at 5:46 AM on February 17, 2022

So they were married in 1972. Wedding Song (There is Love) came out the year before. Maybe some of the lyrics from that? The first stanza is overtly religious, but if they aren't, the second or third could work.
posted by FencingGal at 6:35 AM on February 17, 2022

perhaps find one of their favorite love songs from the era that they were married and quote the lyrics as part of the toast?

I came to say this, too. My parents had a song that was "theirs" from Blood Sweat and Tears. My in-laws had one from Anne Murray. Our neighbors had one from the Grateful Dead. If your parents had a special song (or maybe if you could learn the song that was their first dance at their reception), that would be nice.

"How lucky that these words they danced to 50 years ago are just as true now..."
posted by AgentRocket at 7:56 AM on February 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

As someone who has been married almost that long, I'd love to hear a toast that celebrates the whole sweeping experience of sticking together all those years through better / worse, richer / poorer, sickness /health, etc., rather than nostalgia for the time when we first met and married. But above all, most parents would love to hear how much growing up with them as your parents meant to you. :)
posted by MelissaSimon at 12:45 PM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]