Wedding Speeches - How To Do A Great Wedding Speech

Someone needs to coordinate the wedding speaches. This role is sometimes performed by a professional Master of Ceremonies or if there is not a Master of Ceromnies the Bestman or the senior Usher. Whoever has this honour should commence by calling the audiences to attention before introducing the first speaker, the Bride's Father to propose a toast of 'health and happiness" to the Bride and Bridegroom.

The Bride's Father will typically commence by welcoming the Groom's parents, relatives of both families, all other guests and welcome the Groom to his family. He will then say a few words about his daughter. This may include how proud he and his wife are of their daught and her achievements and may include details of her earlier life, her key achievements and any funny antidotes. The Bride's Father should remember he is talking on behalf of his wife and himself unless his wife is not present or is going to speak separately.

The Master of Ceremonies will then call upon the Groom to respond.

The Bridegroom will reply on behalf of his Bride and himself, thanking first her parents for hosting the Wedding Reception followed by his parents. He will then take the opportunity to thank all those present for their gifts. And follow will a mention of any close members of the family who could not attend the wedding due to illness, wishing them a speedy recovery.

"The Bridegroom's wedding speech should also compliment his bride on how beautiful she looks and how lucky he is to have married her. He should also thank and compliment the Bridesmaids on behalf of them both; I used the line:- "I would like to thank our Bridesmaids for all the help and support they have shown my wife; and state how lovely you all look today. You are only outshone by the stunning beauty of my new wife. To conclude, the Bridegroom will propose a toast to the Bridesmaids, and thank them for a job well done, he may also present them with a small gift as a token of his wife and his appreciation.

The Master of Ceremonies then calls upon the Bestman.

It is the Bestman's role to respond on behalf of the Bridesmaids. His speech should be light hearted, fun and set out to "educate " the audience on the type of person the Groom is. It should be the high spot of the reception and the one wedding speech that the whole audience looks forward to. The Bestman should be mindful of the age range of the audience and ensure his speash is appropriate, especially if there are young children present.

Although traditionally the Groom has spoken on behalf of the Bride it is not unusual for the Bride to make a short speech on her wedding day, especially if someone close to her could not be present, or if she would like to express her feelings about her entourage, the day or her new Husband.

The above gives a brief outline of the essential ingredients of your speech, but what now?

The temptation might be to go off searching the internet for jokes, quotes and other bits to spice up your wedding speech.

I tried this and ended up with a speech full of cliche and jokes that anyone who had attended a wedding in the last 10 years would have heard before. When I reviewed my wedding speech I thought it stunk. Not only was it not original but you could tell it was a load of cut and paste from the internet.

Unfortunately if you're looking for a magical wedding speech formula that's suddenly going to make you into the most captivating and stunningly funny speaker - then I'm sorry to tell you, it doesn't exist. But you probably already knew that.

So, after trying pretty much every paid and free wedding speech resource on the web, I can only recommend the next best thing to priovide a step-by-step guide to walk you through everything you need to know to create your own inspirational wedding speach!

I found this by far the best source of original information on the internet:

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It's not quite a magic formula, but it's pretty damn close. Of all the wedding speech guides I have PERSONALLY tried and tested, this one stood out way ahead of the rest. It covers pretty much all the things you need to think about when creating your wedding speech, and if you're looking for a "one stop solution" to help you write and deliver an entertaining and original,yet highly personal wedding speech then I highly recommend you Check It Out

Once you have your perfect wedding speach you need to start thinking about delivery.

When presenting in my professional role I have never used note, however I made notes for my wedding speach.

• Use notes on small prompt cards.
• Don't just read the cards, this is a performance so use the cards to keep you on track.
• Stand straight and look confident even if you are scared stiff. An audience can sense fear even more than a rabid dog.
• Rehearse. Rehearse, Rehearse. Know what you are going to say, what order and at what pace.
• Don't rush. If you're nervous you will be tempted to rush, this will spoil even the best prepared speech.
• Use spaces and pause to great effect. A well timed pause can add effect, allow your audience to keep up, or even use their own imagination to end a line you might consider a little dubious to include.
• Use heckles and interruptions to lighten the mood; don't be put off by them.

Above all, try to relax. Don't drink too much before your wedding speech and most of all, enjoy it!

This is one of the few occasions in your life where the whole audience will be family and friends and they are all willing you to do a great speech. They are all on your side, honest!

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