Wedding Speeches

Traditionally, there are three wedding speeches that are acceptable at a wedding reception. These are the speech by the bride’s father, by the bridegroom, and finally the speech by the best man. Sometimes, the maid of honor will say a few words in response to the bridegroom. And nowadays, the bride may want to give thanks; it’s fitting when she does that either together with her newly-wed husband  (let’s not forget that it’s her wedding too), or just after her father’s speech, thanking him for his words.

These wedding speeches are highly anticipated by everybody present, and equally highly dreaded by the persons that give them.Such is the price of fame when public speaking….

Have you ever been in a situation where the groom or the bride asked you to give a short speech at their wedding? You were probably wondering how you could give a speech that is appropriate for the tradition, and that is also humorous, entertaining and memorable.

Here are a few guidelines for the different speeches at a wedding party. If you observe them, you will not have too much trouble delivering a memorable wedding speech.

The bride’s father’s speech is usually one of welcome. He greets the bridegroom’s parents, all the relatives of both the bride’s and the groom’s families, and all the guests. Very importantly, he then welcomes the groom to his family. At this stage, if you’re the proud father of the bride, take a moment and talk about your daughter and mention her virtues and anything else that will be fitting. Finally, you then propose a toast to the bride and groom for a healthy, wealthy and happy life together.

The next speech will be the one by the bridegroom, in response to his father-in-law’s speech. He will express his appreciation to the bride’s father for his welcome and toast. If you’re the groom, take now the opportunity to say how happy you are today, and also say something about your completely gorgeous, intelligent and fantastic new wife. You can then give your gifts of thanks and appreciation to anybody that has helped with the day. This will be the best man and the bridesmaid, the bride’s mother and your own, and everybody else that has made the day successful. After giving out the gifts, you then end your speech by toasting the bridesmaids.

And now is the time for the most anticipated of all the wedding speeches: the Best Man’s speech. It is the final speech, and as such, the one that is expected to be the most memorable, funny and impressive. If you’ve been chosen for this role, you will first have to thank the groom on behalf of the bridesmaids.  You will then embark on telling everybody present about the groom’s previous life. The best man’s speech should be humorous and very entertaining. But not so much that you upset anybody. So you will want to appeal both to the parents and your mates. Combine lighthearted humor with a few more tender instances. Thoughfully balance your jokes and your more serious reminiscences and say something nice about the groom. Finish your speech by wishing the happy couple a long and happy life.

Here are a few hints on how you can deliver outstanding wedding speeches:

– Make your speech relatively short. Around 5 to 10 minutes max. will be great.

– Start with writing out the whole speech. Learn your speech and jot down brief bullet points. If you need to read out your speech, learn the first and last two lines by heart, then read the rest. Look up from time to time and at your audience — this will give your speech more immediacy.

– Practice, practice, practice. Take it from me, if you think you will be able to make it up as you go along on the day, you will be mistaken. Even great public speakers practice and rehearse, every time.

– Be sincere, but also include enough humorous comments to make it entertaining.

– Speak loudly and slowly. Pause often, especially between paragraphs. This also means that the listeners have time to laugh.

– And as far as laughs are concerned…Wait until the laughter has eased off, then continue. If you’re not sure how to, learn from comedians and great public speakers — they use this technique to great effect.