Wedding speech by father of the groom

My brother is getting married to a Japanese girl very soon. How does my father approach his speech as he does not speak Japanese? Does he attempt a few words in Japanese, have someone translate for him, or speak English? Also what sort of things should be be saying? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Jazzymac,

Congratulations on your brother's wedding. As far as language and contents are concerned, I don't think there are any rules. I suppose he can do whatever he thinks is thoughtful for the people at the banquette. But I think that any person from any country would want to avoid words that imply tragedy or separation.

I once attended a friend's wedding and was asked by the bride's parents to translate their letter (as they weren't able to attend the wedding). My translation was very sloppy, and the brother of the groom who read it out loud made a nice joke about it, but I'm proud to say it was a warm handmade type of a wedding party.

By the way, in a typical Japanese wedding banquette, the program is all planned in advance. The couple will decide in advance who should give speeches when and will ask then in advance to the wedding day.

I don't know if your brother's wedding is done in Japanese style or not.