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. The maid of honor may occasionally want to say a few words, responding to the bridegroom’s speech. And as it’s the bride’s wedding too, she may want to join the bridegroom and thanking people for being there and for all their support. Alternatively, she may well thank her father for his kind words just after his speech.
Wedding speeches are the highlight of a wedding reception, everybody present looks forward to them, except the persons that are going to give them. Quite often, they are dreading them.Such is the price of fame when public speaking….
You may be in a situation where you’re asked to give a short speech at a 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 suggestions for the different speeches at a wedding reception. If you mind them, you will not have too much trouble delivering a memorable wedding speech.
The bride’s father’s speech is usually one of welcome. In particular, he mentions the bridegroom’s parents, the relatives of both families, and of course 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.
In response to his father-in-law’s speech, the groom will then give his wedding speech. He will thank the bride’s father for his speech and toast. If you’re the groom, you have now the opportunity to say how happy you are today, and also say something about your absolutely gorgeous, intelligent and perfect new wife. You can then give your thank-you gifts to anybody that has helped with the day. For this you will include 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 finish 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, the first thing you will do is to thank the bridegroom on behalf of the bridesmaids. You will then launch into any anecdots about the groom’s previous life. The best man’s speech should be amusing and highly enjoyable. But not so much that you put anybody down. So you will want to appeal both to the parents and your mates. Combine playful humor with a few more touching moments. Carefully balance your jokes and your more earnest stories and say something nice about the groom. You then finish by toasting the happy couple.
Here are a few hints on how to deliver wedding speeches:
- Try to limit your speech to around 7 minutes or about 1000 words.
- Start with writing out the whole speech. Learn your speech and write out short notes. If you need to read out your speech, learn the opening and the end by heart, then read the rest. Look at your audience occasionally — your speech will be more natural.
- Practice, practice, practice. Don’t think you will remember what to say on the day without rehearsing because you won’t. Even great public speakers practice and rehearse, every time.
- Be sincere, but also include sufficient humorous comments to make it interesting.
- Speak slowly and with a strong voice. Use pauses for maximum momentum, especially between paragraphs. And wait for the laughs!
- And as far as laughs are concerned…Wait until the laughter has has finished, then carry on. If you’re not sure how to, learn from comedians and great public speakers — they use this technique to great effect.
