Whether you’re the Groom, the Bride, the Best Man, Maid of Honour or a parent of the couple, making wedding speeches can be scary! That’s why we’ve searched the internet on your behalf to come up with the best tips and self stated “expert” advice for nailing those wedding speeches.
There’s still a lot of tradition out there about who says what in a set order, but let’s be honest; we’re not all traditional and we all like to do things our own way! So we say throw the list out the order and go with the flow. Now, when it comes to general speech making advice, the world wide web suggests the following:
- Have a killer opening line
- Thank the other speakers
- Congratulate the wedding couple
- Compliment the bride
- Make a joke about the groom
- Read messages from any guests who couldn’t make it
- Quote a few famous lines or a poem
- Propose a toast
Which we agree with, but if only it was that easy, right? What counts as a killer line? What’s too teasing, what’s funny? How do you appear like you’re in control and not babbling and sweating in a hot Tux? What a nightmare!
But don’t worry, we’ve seen enough speeches here at Huntsham to add our own tips to the list:
- Plan well, well, well in advance – months ahead in fact. The best speeches we’ve seen have come from people who wrote and researched the speech in advance, and not winged it at the time. Don’t leave it to the last day. Fact.
- Research is a key term – make sure you do it! Find out who else is invited (so you know if you’re speaking to a room of older people or young families etc.), discover which funny moments are allowed to be mentioned and which are off limits, and write it all down so you don’t forget.
- Make sure everyone has drinks ready – including yourself. This will allow you to settle and breath as you take a sip instead of rushing into the start of the speech, and it will help the toast at the end to go flawlessly.
“But what about the actual words” we hear you cry? Well that we can’t help you with – you know the couple well and you’ll know who the audience are (because you did your research, remember) so the rest is up to you to make words fit the situation.
There’s plenty of examples on the internet, some good and some bad, so we suggest you use what’s available and add your own unique twist – make it about you and the couple. We’ve listed below some of the openings we’ve seen on www.hitched.co.uk which made us laugh, yawn, or worse, cringe!
When it comes to it, you need to be yourself. We’re sure the audience will love you!
“Distinguished guests, guests of no particular distinction, relatives young and old, friends, freeloaders, hangers on, gypsies, tramps and thieves and anyone else who may have wandered in (to get out of the rain –if it’s raining) on behalf of my wife and I… or as I prefer to call her “my most recent ex-girlfriend”, welcome to our wedding breakfast. I hope you’re all enjoying yourselves on this special day. It’s great to see you all and I can honestly say it would not have been the same without you. It would have been a lot cheaper without you, but that’s beside the point.”
“Dear Mum and Dad, I just want you to know, I can’t thank you enough for helping me grow. From the day I was born, you’ve done all in your power to water my roots and help me to flower.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, if there’s anybody here this afternoon who’s feeling nervous, apprehensive and queasy at the thought of what lies ahead…… it’s probably because you have just married James Rank.
To those of you who don’t know me yet. My name is Stu and I would like to thank James for finally confirming that I am actually the BEST man!”
“I want to start off by saying that every once in awhile two people meet, and you know it’s meant to be. You know instantly that the stars have aligned and their paths would bring them together regardless what the world may throw their way.”
Planning your wedding? Don’t forget to visit our WEDDING PAGE for all the details.