Blog Posts

Blog

Tips For Giving A Wedding Speech

 

Tips for Giving a Wedding Speech
From Happy Wife Happy Life 

 

At some point in your life, one of your friends, sister or brother will probably ask you to be the best man or maid of honour at their wedding. This is a great honour. And one of the most important duties of a best man/maid of honour is to give an unforgettable speech!

If you’ve been to many weddings, you know that oftentimes these speeches can quickly devolve into an awkward, drunken spectacle (the last thing you want to be remembered for). The mixture of booze and lack of preparation usually results in the best man/maid of honour rambling and sharing inappropriate and embarrassing stories about the new couple in front of hundreds of family and friends. Remember, always know your liquor limits, especially when you have such an important job at the wedding, and always prepare! 

After all, the couple has given you this honour and trusted you to send them off into marital bliss.

Here is our list of 10 tips to giving a wedding speech:

 

1. Prepare: 
Don’t walk into the wedding reception thinking you’ll know exactly what to say when you get there. If you have a few weeks before the wedding, start mulling over some ideas for the speech. Begin brainstorming and jotting down thoughts, stories, jokes, and quotes you might want to use. If you don’t know a lot about them, then just ask. Think of stories from you and your past with them that shows what a great person they are. The goal of the speech is to celebrate the couple and make them look good.

2. Stay sober:
Sure, you want to enjoy yourself, and yes, alcohol may help take the edge off of giving a speech in front of hundreds of strangers, after all, they don’t call alcohol liquid confidence for nothing. But make sure you’re not sloppy drunk when you give your speech. You don’t want to be completely uninhibited or you might say something you’ll regret later on. 

3. Open by expressing gratitude:
Thank all the people who made the day possible. Single out the bride and groom’s parents by name, and offer a toast to them for not only putting on the wedding, but for raising two fine people. Thank the guests for coming as well.

4. Tell a story/Make a connection:
The ideal way to structure a best man/maid of honour speech is to find a connection between a story about them and your support for the couple. Share a story about how they would always lament that they would never find a spouse with x, y and z qualities, but how they finally found it. Or tell a story about the moment when you were hanging out with the couple and you realized your they had found their match. Another good angle is to talk about the way that the bride and groom balance one another. Relate a funny (not embarrassing) anecdote in which one of their personality traits tripped them up in some way. For example, the story could be about how they’re very shy and how this shyness caused some humorous event to occur. You then talk about how bubbly and outgoing their spouse is, and how they therefore balance each other and make a perfect team.

5. Avoid controversial topics:
Keep your speech on topics that aren’t controversial, offensive, or embarrassing. You would think this is common sense, but people somehow forget this when they’re standing with a microphone in their hand in front of a crowd of people. What get’s people in trouble is attempting to be funny by sharing some embarrassing story or cracking some lame joke about a ball and chain. It usually comes out horribly and no one laughs. It’s okay to share a humorous anecdote, but not one that gets laughs at the expense of your friend, brother or sister and their new spouse, or embarrasses them and their guests.

6. No inside jokes:
Seriously, no one gets them and it’s terrible when people do this in small groups. It’s even worse when people do it in front of larger groups. If you want to keep people’s attention, save the inside jokes for when it’s just you and them.

7. Keep it short:
Nothing irritates people more than some rambling drunk going on and on and on. People have probably already listened to the parents give their spiel. By the time they get to you, the crowd is ready to eat cake and get on with it. Shoot for no more than five minutes.

8. End with a quote:
An easy way to end is by using a quote that wraps the speech up nicely. Something along the lines of “Marriage is not about finding a person you can live with, it’s about finding the person you can’t live without.” After that you can simply say, “They have finally found that person.” The End. It may sound cliche and cheesy but its exactly what people enjoy hearing at a wedding. Love is in the air!

9. Raise your glass and propose a toast:
Raise your glass and say something to the effect of: “Here’s to a lifetime of happiness and love for ____ and ____!”

10. Be Yourself:
No need to get formal or try to be someone you’re not. And there’s no need to follow these instructions exactly either. Simply use them as a guide and be yourself. Let it flow naturally. Use your natural voice and mannerisms. Make it personal and sincere and say things from the heart and you should be golden.

Here’s your crib cheat sheet:

1. Open by thanking those who made the day possible–end the intro with saying “Thank you to all those who have made it here today.”

2. Transition to your speech: “I am especially glad to be here on this occasion to celebrate this wonderful day with my friend/brother/sister.”

3. Talk about how you know them, why you’re grateful for having them in your life, and why they’re such an upstanding person.

4. Share a story about your them and connect it to the couple.

5. Raise your glass and ask everyone to join in a toast to the happy couple.

6. Let out a sigh of relief.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and check out our blog for more #WEDDUCATION wedding tips and tricks.