Five Tips for Delivering a Great Wedding Speech

Wedding season is upon us. The beautiful brides and handsome grooms will be matched by bridesmaids and groomsmen. A touching ceremony, whether simple or elaborate, complete with, "I do," and "You may now kiss the bride," will bring joy to so many relatives and friends from far and wide.

Then — the reception. Someone will hand the best man a microphone, and he will ramble on about college, bars and how goofy life was when they were young. The bride's father will step up, and talk for 20 minutes about how cute she was a baby to an audience looking for their next drink. The maid of honor will not be outdone — she delivers a somber story about working together at the mall during the Christmas season.
And don't let Uncle Louie have the mike. He is already drunk. Everyone still remembers the last time at a cousin's wedding.

Why take a wedding speech seriously? It is the one chance we have to honor a loved one publicly outside of a eulogy. It is a time of great joy, and with this, an opportunity to lift up the bride or groom with smiles and laughter.

Old family friends, colleagues and business associates may be there, as well as friend who "knew you when." Not only is your audience more than the bride groom, but it may wind up on YouTube. Do it well.
A good wedding speech is generous, funny, and warm. It goes from 1-6 minutes, so there is not much time to meander. What can you do to prepare one?

1. Remember Your Goal.
You are honoring someone. It is about them. Whether it is your spouse, a parent, a child, or a good friend, you want to let them you know appreciate them. Don't embarrrass them. Many a relationship is ruined by telling a story that the person preferred remain locked in the archive forever.

2. Keep It Simple.
Eloquence doesn't need to be complicated. While being thoughtful is important, sounding like Shakespeare will not help.

3. Be Sober.
Have a drink later if you like, but if you took the time to prepare your thoughts, make sure you are capable of telling them. What could be more awkward than instead of telling your best friend, "I treasure those days playing in the school yard," you say, "Do you remember… 'member that whatchamacallit where we would, um, swing?"

4. Keep Stories Short.
Tell anecdotes, but remember your audience just needs an overview. Get to the punchline quickly and they will be wanting more. Drag on with details, and they will be looking for the guy with the hors d' oeuvres tray.

5. Have Fun.
This is a wedding celebration, not a condo association budget report. Smile often, and enjoy the opportunity to ham it up, and toast a new day!

 

Tips to Make a Wedding Speech

To be able first to write a wedding speech, you must write entertainingly. At least that was what a friend of mine told me when I went to him for help. Of course this led to a very short but medullary conversation.
I could see his point, but he was not a very valid to me. In order to write a speech, you do not need to be in a position in an entertaining way to write. You must be able to write coherently. The fun part, at least in my mind is, at the point when you need to make the speech. Can even the best of the humorous speeches sound so dry as dust if it is delivered in funereal tones.

This put an end to this train of thought. But then we were silent with the small factor in my having to a great speech in less than a week, not to mention the fact shake left out that I write to see how you had a speech to be convincing and well do not set my audience would be to sleep!

This point unnaturally enough, was the starting point for my wedding speech. I wrote in big bold letters on my notepad, the one I did not want to put my audience to sleep. Then I went on to list the many things that I use ended, did and did not, in my speech to want out, and what I up a nice mishmash of things, was my high school have had an English teacher in despair would.

But she got the job done. It got my juices flowing letter and gave me the impetus to first to get something down on paper. And the one I thought the first point was everyone should know about on how to write a speech. Think not too much to worry about not have to write what you just get something down on paper and before you realize it, you have what the future because the first draft of your speech known.

Once this is done, I strongly recommend to omit the issue and do something that like having a cold is more interesting on the next watering hole. That was the second item on my list of how to write a speech. This I found is a very good way to remove your mind from all the cobwebs that have built up, since you first learned that you had a speech to write. OK, now may be having a cold is not free your mind, but it helps you sure you relax. The point here, a period of time to step away and the opportunity to give yourself at is something to think differently than the wedding speech, must hold.

After you fit in a free frame of mind, most likely the next morning, are (or afternoon!), You can go to your first draft back then, read by him to take the relevant pieces of the speech, which at least half decent sound to your ears, and are working on a second, third, fourth or even sound design, until everything just right. And that is just a wedding speech, writes fast.

Thus, some of the most important elements, so when you are a wedding speech writing, consider:
* What are your expectations of the speech (one other words, what you want from your speech)
* To which keep you going a little to people who are speech (you know a little about your audience)
* How long you might need to keep your wedding speech
* If you will make the speech (before or after dinner)
* And most importantly - YOU HAVE FUN! Do you think that I, whom he shows in your speech, and comes out

Not many people enjoy, in front of people and fun to get up. However, some of us are placed in this position when our married sister, brother or best friend. The very best thing we can do for ourselves is, is prepared. This affords us the opportunity to have a well thought out and planned wedding speech to hold. It can be also our friends and families very happy.

 

How To Write Your Wedding Speech

Struggling to write your wedding speech? Can’t think of the right words to say or how to get started? Don’t worry, take a deep breath, get yourself a brew and a pen and paper because you’re in exactly the right place.
We promise* that by the time you’ve finished reading this article, you’ll know how to write your wedding speech.

Calm? Composed? Then let’s start at the beginning…

When it comes to writing wedding speeches (or indeed writing anything) these are the best words of advice you’ll ever get (from James Thurber apparently):

Don’t get it right, get it written

The first draft is just about finishing it. Don’t worry if there are mistakes, there will be, but you’ll correct them later. The key is to get a rough draft done. So repeat with me:

Don’t get it right, get it written

It’s amazing but the age-old question of wedding speech nerves disappear when you’re sitting on a great speech that you’re happy with and all of that starts by simply writing the thing in rough. After that you practice it, run it past people and re-write it until it’s perfect. Then you’re confident and you even enjoy delivering it.

Some basic pointers

• You should aim for your speech to be under ten minutes and ideally last between five and eight minutes. Even if you’re a brilliant speaker 15 mins. is the absolute maximum.
• Before the big day have a meeting with all the speakers to discuss who’s saying what and who is introducing you.
• If possible, practice with the mics you’ll use and rehearse projecting your voice into the room. It really helps to see the room you’ll be speaking in, so you can imagine yourself there when you’re practicing.
• See if the venue has someone who will act as an Master of Ceremonies, or if there will be an MC. If not decide who will introduce the other speakers – it’s often the best man.

Classic wedding speech formats

Let’s look at the classic format for each of the speeches, in the order they occur in. Ultimately, you can take these and flesh out the points and you’ll have a perfectly decent speech (told you this article was good).

Father of the bride speech – at a glance

-          Welcome guests and thank them for coming
-          Welcome new son-in-law and his parents
-          Talk about your daughter and say how you feel
-          Toast bride and groom.

Groom speech – at a glance

-          Thank father of the bride for his speech
-          Thank all relevant people (consult bride to avoid missing people). These are generally,

1. New inlaws (possibly for paying)
2. Your parents
3. Guests for attending and for presents
4. People who have helped with the wedding preparations (venue, florists, etc)

-          The most essential thing is to talk honestly about how you feel about your wife, your relationship and your future.
-          Toast bridesmaids
-          (optional) Pre-empt best man speech

Best man speech – at a glance

-          Introduce yourself, thank previous speakers
-          Talk about the groom (and the bride if you know her) – do this humorously but not destructively
-          Give an outsiders perspective on the couple’s relationship
-          Toast the bride and groom
-          Possibly read correspondence or hand back over to the MC

So what content do you put in your speech and where do you get it?

You might think that your mind is completely blank but once you’ve got to grips with the wedding speech etiquette, you’ll at least have a rough idea of your content. Then it’s a case of doing some research and starting to shape the material.

The more people you can get to help with your speech the better it will be.

• If you’re a father of the bride, get your wife and other children involved. You could even ask the bride what she’d like you to say (you don’t have to follow her advice obviously).
• If you’re a groom speak to your fiancé about who needs to be thanked, ask her mates what sort of things they’d mention – we’ve even asked brides what they want to hear in your grooms speech.
• As the best man you will probably have two or three good stories that demonstrate what sort of bloke the groom is. But once you speak to other people connected to him you could end up with 10 or 11 good stories to choose from

Especially for the best man’s speech don’t forget to include your fellow stags (pass a notebook round at the stag-do, or post stag emails), colleagues from his work, his parents and brothers and sisters, notable people from other places in his life such as people on the same sports teams or in the same societies. One person who best men often forget to talk to is the bride.

Good questions to ask these people are: what classic stories can you tell me about him? How would you sum up the groom? Has he ever said anything particularly funny? What is he well-known for? What makes him angry? Do they have any funny photos or material that they could send to you connected to the groom?
The other reason to speak to the bride is because not only will she have good material, she will also be able to fill you in on the important biographical information about their relationship that you might not know. You should find out where they met, how they became a couple, what sort of things they enjoy doing (without getting graphical!) and how the groom proposed – whether he made a mess of it or if he was sweet about it.

An essential point on content

The most important thing for all of the speeches is that you should remember when it comes to gathering material is to ask yourself this very simple question: what do you want to say? This is the point in the day when you get to express your thoughts and feelings to everyone there. Ok, so maybe that’s a bit nerve-wracking but it’s also a tremendous privilege to be able to have that sort of opportunity, so use it – say something from the heart that people will remember.

It might sound obvious but often we often get caught up in what we’re supposed to say and forget that this is their chance to tell their best friend, wife, or daughter what they think of them. If the groom is a mate who has always been there for you then this is the point to say so. If you couldn’t be prouder of your daughter – declare it. If you’re thrilled to be married to this beautiful woman, speak now! This honest statement of how you feel is the sort of thing that can make for the most effective toasts and it’s what people will remember.

Once you’ve got your material

You should then consider the format of the speech. You might want to do something very traditional (introduction, few stories, toast) like the examples at the beginning, or you could want to do something more quirky. Either is fine, don’t forget though that the essence of a beginning, a middle and an end has worked as a structure for all of recorded history, so it will work for you too.

A word of warning. If you’re going quirky – plan it properly. If you have a lot of photos and videos that you want to use then you need to prepare well in advance. For instance you need to make sure that the venue you are going to has the correct audio-visual equipment for you to use.

Try and simplify things where possible – print out the photos onto a sheet of paper which you can distribute to the tables rather than projecting them. If you are using video then you need at least one rehearsal in the venue before the big day, to make sure you know how loud the video is, how to control the equipment and so on.

Once you have your material the next step is to sift through it and select the very best stories, the finest sentiments and put them in an order. For some inspiration take a look at some of our wedding speech templates on the forum.

How to present your speech

• When writing your speech use a 12 point Arial font, which is formatted to have 1.5 line spacing as this is one of the easiest fonts to read when stood up.
• If you do this each page when read out should last approximately one and a half minutes.
• If you’d rather write your speech onto cue cards then that’s fine but it’s better to have a copy of the speech with you written in full on the day just in case your mind goes blank.
• Don’t forget, your sweat-stained, note-covered speech makes a really nice keepsake/present. If you’re the best man or father of the bride why not offer to frame all the speeches and, presto, you’ve got a simple, but incredibly thoughtful gift.

Don’t forget – the classic mistake people make is to try and write the perfect speech at the beginning, don’t. Just complete it and then refine it. It’s so much easier to re-write something than it is to write it. Good luck.

 

Wedding Speeches Made Easy 

David Carle of Glasgow Toastmasters Club shares some thoughts on the art of speech-making.
Winston Churchill once said that the three most difficult things in life are to climb a wall that is leaning towards you; to kiss a girl who is leaning away from you; and to make a speech. I can’t help with the first two but, before you really start to worry about the specifics of what you’ll say, here are some general ideas for taking the fear out of preparing and delivering a wedding speech.

Content

Ideally, you should start gathering possible content for your speech long before the wedding day. Jot down any keywords, phrases, quotations and ideas as they come to you. Some people find that creating a mind map – a visual diagram using colours and images – is ideal for this.

Structure

Everyone knows a speech should have a beginning, middle and end, but it can be easy to forget the purpose of each.

• Firstly, think about how you can grab your listeners’ attention with a powerful or unusual opening.
• For the middle section, it’s advisable to have three to five points. Three is usually plenty – if you have too many, the audience will get distracted, and you may run over time.
• Finally, give some thought to how you will finish – perhaps with a call to action (“Ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses to the bride and groom”), or by referring back to the opening of your wedding speech.

One suggestion I'd recommend is to memorise your opening and closing, so you can give your full attention to your audience rather than looking at your notes.

Preparation

Allow yourself plenty of time – a good guideline is one hour of preparation time per minute of speaking time. This allows for writing, reading, reviewing, and practising. So to do justice to a six-minute speech could take six hours of preparation.
There’s a saying that a good speaker always writes their speech but never reads their speech. What this means is that you should:

• Write down your speech word for word. Add punctuation for pauses if this helps.
• Practise it out loud (in front of a mirror if you like - this can improve your gestures). I usually find that I trip over some parts, so have to rephrase them until I can say them without stumbling.
• Time yourself giving the wedding speech out loud, and allow a little extra time for audience reactions.
• If you use a word processor, check how many words you've used, then divide that by the number of words you speak out loud per minute. For example, if your document contains 850 words and you talk at about 100 words per minute, your speech will take about eight-and-a-half minutes. Remember that it's generally better to be a minute short than 3 minutes over time.
• It’s also a good idea at this stage to consider points in the speech where you would want to pause, use gestures, or introduce props.
• Check that your language is not repetitive; can you add impact to your speech by changing some phrases, or using ‘word pictures’? For example, rather than saying "It was a really hot day", you might try something like "the sky shimmered like hot oil in a frying pan".
• Once you’re happy with the sound of your speech, I’d suggest that you summarise it into keywords on a single page, or index cards, or a mind map.
• If you’re keen to reduce your use of notes, you could place them faced down in front of you; that way, you have them if you need them, but you probably won't use them.

In Summary

1. Keep a list of ideas to use as possible content.
2. Think about the structure: Beginning, Middle (three to five points) and Ending.
3. Make your start and ending powerful, and memorise them.
4. Preparation (If you have three months to plan a wedding speech, use this time!)
5. Make sure you clearly signal the end of your speech – just finish once.
6. As Dorothy Sarnoff once said: "Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.”

Good luck!

Brides Wedding Speeches:

Example Speeches - Brides Speech #1:

Friends and family – I'd like to thank all of you for being here today, especially since many of you knew that I'd want to say a few words … it’s very touching that you still decided to come.

From the moment we got engaged I’ve been thinking about this wedding. I just wanted everything to be perfect and was determined not to overlook even the most insignificant detail. But I needn’t have worried, his best man made sure he was there.

I’m so glad to be married to Paul; caring, talented, modest, charming – I can see why he picked me. Seriously, I don’t think there could ever be anyone in this world more perfect for me than Paul is and I appreciate my good fortune in marrying such a warm-hearten and loving man. When we first started going out together I was attracted by his ambition, drive and determination. Three years later, when he proposed to me, I released that without those qualities our marriage would still be as strong and I’d love him just as much. Paul brings out the good in me, he makes me laugh and he makes me enjoy each and every moment of life just by being a part of mine. They say that you don't marry someone you can live with – you marry the person who you cannot live without. This is certainly true with Paul, I simply couldn’t live without him and I look forward to growing old and grey with him at my side.

But a lot of people seem to think there is a big difference to your relationship once you are married. Someone told me that before marriage a man will lay awake all night thinking about something you said, while after marriage he'll fall asleep before you have finished saying it. Well, Paul has talked to me about marriage and how life is going to change. He spoke about the hours in front of the kitchen sink, the washing of socks, unpaid secretary, social organizer, babysitter, cook, etc … and for the first couple of months asked if I’d be willing to help him out.

Today would not have gone nearly so well without the generous help of so many people – and whilst my husband has already taken care of the ‘thank yous’, I would like to single out a few of you for my own praise.

Firstly, my wonderful mother who has been a pillar of strength over the last eight months and the rock of the foundation on which this whole day has been built. In my life she has made me very happy and I must take this opportunity to thank her not only for her enduring and mostly patient love, but also for planning and executing such a wonderful day as today.

Moving on to my father, who wanted to give me the wedding of my dreams and succeeded. I understand there was a bet going on as to whether he would have tears in his eyes when he walked me down the aisle today. He did have tears in his eyes, but that might have been because he was worrying over what he would say to his bank manager on Monday morning. My dad is a formidable character as well as a devoted family man. We are very close and, not surprisingly, given his spirit, his generosity and his wisdom, I’ve always looked up to him. It would take quite a man to live up to my father, but in Paul, I have found that man.

There are other parents I want to thank too – my husband’s, for their generous contribution and their continuous support in the lead up to the wedding. Sally and Ray made me feel so welcome right from the very first time I met them and I feel immensely fortunate to have married into such a great family. My sincere wish is that together Paul and I can build a home that is as welcoming and as full of love and happiness as theirs is – personally speaking I also quite like the idea of five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a big garden too.

Of course, I have another special reason to thank Sally and Ray – their care and guidance over the years has had a very positive influence over Paul and their very best qualities have rubbed off on him. They raised him so he’d grow up to be a perfect husband. Look how well he did today saying, ‘I do’ at the right place in the ceremony. As long as he keeps saying ‘Yes dear’ we'll have a wonderful marriage.

Our supporting cast deserves recognition as well. And they are all of Paul’s brothers, Gary, Richard and Mark – our ushers. Paul’s best man and best friend, Jason … depending on the contents of his speech they might even stay friends. My bridesmaids, Helen and Liz – who have been a terrific help to me, not only today, but throughout the many weeks of intense wedding preparation. And last but not least, I’d like to make a special mention of Lucy, my chief bridesmaid. She is the unsung heroine of this wedding, without all her effort today would not have been half as enjoyable for me. She is my oldest and dearest friend and we have been through some bad times and we have been through a lot of good times. Her friendship has been a source of strength to me throughout the years and I felt honored to have her standing with me today.

Finally, let me end as I began, by thanking you all once again for coming tonight. I can honestly say that today would not have been the same if we had not been in the company of our dear friends and family. At wedding’s it is the guests that create the party atmosphere and you good people have certainly done that for us. May I propose a toast to love, laughter and friendship.

Cheers!

Giving a wedding speech is one of the most high-pressure situations a person can face. After all, it's not every day that 250 people are smiling expectantly at you as the bride and groom wait to hear what wonderful things you have to say about them. Don't sweat it. You'll have those guests grabbing their gut in hilarity and wiping their tears away with that pricey linen napkin.

Instructions: 

1. • Tell everyone who you are. Start a wedding speech with a short tidbit that qualifies you and your role in the wedding party.
     
   • 2
     Outline your speech. Silly as it sounds, creating an informal skeleton will help you come up with the words. Like an essay, your speech should have a beginning, middle and end. The best wedding speeches start out calmly, rise in the middle with humor or action and end on a sentimental note.
     
   • 3
     Include humor. This is quite possibly the most important part of a wedding speech. The humor can be anecdotal, such as a funny story or memory, or the humor can be a joke about the couple. Test out the "laugh factor" on someone, but don't worry to much. People tend to laugh politely at weddings, no matter how bad the jokes are.
     
   • 4
     Curb writer's block by building the speech around one thing. Most people who are in charge of writing the wedding speech can't get that first sentence down on paper. Focus on an inspirational quote, a song or even a vivid memory of the couple in order to jump start the writing process.
     
   • 5
     Put the bride and groom in the limelight, not yourself. Wedding speeches that talk more about the speaker than about the happy couple are common. Don't fall into this trap. Since everyone can't stand up and say something, you are the chosen representative. People will resent a speech that is more about you than it is about the couple of honor.
     
   • 6
     End with a sentence that reintroduces or reminds everyone to toast the couple. For example, you might finish with, "I give you Tom and Susan." Or, "Here's to Tom's and Susan's happiness." Or, "It gives me great pleasure to lead everyone in a toast honoring Tom and Susan."