Alternative to speeches

Could you just let your father do a welcome speech before the meal? Give him 5 min before the eating starts.

It's hard to tell him no when he's waited his whole life for your special day.

I think speeches are nice, or at least, letting your dad have a few mins to speak might be a nice gesture if he really wants to. However, if you really don't want that (or even if you do, and want extra ideas!...)

- a slideshow video. It doesn't have to actually have any sort of speech in it at all - it can just be a montage of lots of nice photos/home movies of your lives - separately and together. You could include your respective families in the photos. Either just on in the background, on a loop, or set to music for everyone to watch together in place of (or after?) a speech.

- the treasure hunt idea you mentioned... I might be doing something like that myself (I'm doing a beach wedding so I might make a pirate treasure map or something). This would be nice but maybe doesn't replace a speech. There's a photo scavenger hunt app called Goosechase that's really good - you send people off in groups (or in their tables) to do as many specified photos (you decide what the photos should be - eg a photo of a recreation of a famous movie moment, with all member of your group in the photo)... You set a time limit and then show the photos on a projector at the end, then award a prize to the group with the best photo collection.

- family tree - you can use a real tree to display photos on (as I hope to do!) or a whole wall. But basically you construct a double family tree, with both your families, with you guys in the middle. A nice gesture to include family, including those no longer with us. You can add tales about he family on there too. Again though, I wouldn't say that's necessarily going to replace a speech!

hope the ideas help!

What about a quiz? Put questions on the table about important life events for you both that may have been included in a speech and then have your father read the answers at the end and give a brief explanation for each? Not as formal as a speech yet he still gets to play a role and its a bit more fun for everyone.

As the first reply said. Let your Dad say something if he really wants but do it before the food. We actually did all our speeches stood up so it was less formal and they were only allowed a few minutes each. More like long toasts than speeches. Worked well and very informal