Weddings are generally joyous family occasions and I was surprised when I discovered that there’s a convention attached to them. I mean the wedding speeches. Because, wedding speeches are traditional and there are generally three wedding speeches acceptable. These speeches are given by the bride’s father, by the bridegroom, and the last speech is given by the best man. Sometimes, the maid of honor will say a few words in response to the bridegroom. 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. How are you going to come up with an appropriate wedding speech that fits in with the tradition, is humorous and will be remembered by everyone present?

Here are a few recommendations for the different speeches at a wedding reception. If you stick to them, it will be so much easier to deliver an entertaining and 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. If you’re the bride’s father, you now have the opportunity to talk about your daughter and extol her virtues. 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, take now the chance to express your happiness 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 helped make the day a success. After giving out the gifts, you then end your speech by proposing a toast to the bridesmaids.

Finally, the time has come for the most awaited of all the wedding speeches: the Best Man’s speech. It is the final speech, and everybody hopes it’ll be the most memorable. If you have the honor to give this speech, 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 is expected to be witty and highly enjoyable. But not so much that you upset anybody. This means that your speech appeals both to the parents and your mates. Combine lighthearted fun with a few sentimental moments. Thoughfully balance your jokes and your more earnest 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 suggestions on how you can deliver outstanding wedding speeches:

– Try to limit your speech to around 7 minutes or about 1000 words.

– Write the whole speech out. Master your speech and write out brief bullet points. 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 — 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 genuine, but also include enough humorous remarks to make it interesting.

– Speak loudly and slowly. 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 died down, then carry on. Comedians and great public speakers do it — learn from them.

Posted in | Tags: bestman speeches, groom speeches, Public speaking topics, speech ideas, wedding speeches
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