Destination Wedding Welcome Toast (Short, About 2 Minutes)

The speech

Good evening, everybody. I'm Helena, Yael's mother. Before anything else, thank you for coming all this way. Some of you flew eleven hours to be here. My mother is eighty-four and changed planes in Frankfurt to be here tonight, and she would like you all to know she did it without a wheelchair.

When Yael was eight, at our Passover seder, someone asked the kids what they wanted to do when they grew up. Her cousins said doctor, astronaut, the usual. Yael stood up on her chair and announced she was going to get married somewhere you need a passport. Her grandfather laughed so hard he knocked his cup over onto the haggadah. That page is still pink.

We all thought it was a phase. It was not a phase. Here we are, on a hill in Croatia, and every one of you needed a passport.

Asa, I want to say something about you tonight, since tomorrow will be busy. Three months ago my mother called me upset because she couldn't make sense of her connection. Before I could call her back, she'd already hung up with you. You had stayed on the phone with her for forty minutes with the airline website open, and then you mailed her a printed page with the gate numbers in large type. She has it in her purse right now. She showed it to me at the airport like a boarding pass.

That's who our daughter is marrying. Yael, you were right at eight, and you're right now.

Tonight is easy. Eat, meet each other, get some sleep. Please lift your glass. To Yael and Asa, and to everyone who brought a passport.

Why it works: It thanks the travelers in specifics instead of a list, and the one story explains why everyone is abroad. The groom gets his moment through something he did for the oldest guest, which suits a night meant for meeting each other.