Writing the Perfect Wedding Speech
Traditionally Wedding speeches are given by the father of the bride, the best man and maid of honor, and although this is still the case at most weddings, the occasion does fall when you hear both the bride & groom, and other members of the wedding-party deliering their own, personal thank-you's and wedding speeches.
There are two pivotal guidelines you must obey to ensure any wedding speech is a success - Never ridicule the newly weds, and you must conduct your speech with as much taste, class & humour as possible.
How to Write a Wedding Speech to Amaze any Audience
It doesn’t matter if you never took a course in public speaking or if you never gave any sort of speech before. If you want to right the perfect wedding speech, and consider yourself a potential speech botcher, here are a few tips to consider in case you’ve got a tendency to yell out “cheers!” and abruptly take your seat.
- Take time to figure out what you're going to say. Think about what it is you want people to know about your friend and his new wife (or vice versa) and add what you wish for their future together.
- Sit down and jot your wedding speech ideas down. You don't have to bring it with you on the wedding day but writing does help in remembering what you intend to say.
- Condense wedding speech notes into keywords and in bullet form. Remember, it's a speech NOT a reading. People using cards will be wise to number them so they don't get mixed up come the big day.
- Select a few points to talk about. Stick to the points that you want the people to come away with and take the time to develop them. Nobody likes a rundown of generic terms.
- The perfect wedding speech has an effective attention-grabber for an opening so think of a witty quote, movie line, book (anything!) to start your wedding speech.
- Announce your relationship to the bride and groom. Don't deliver your speech without any prior introduction.
- Don't go on and on and on and on... be brief with your speech. Usually three to four minutes should do it.
- Avoid being too formal and stiff. It's okay to let your guard down a little bit – this is your best friend's wedding after all.
- Sprinkle a bit of your personality into the speech. Let the words you use reflect who you are and how you really feel on that special day.
- Don't isolate members of the audience. If only 20 people out of 150 get the inside joke, don't include it.
- Fine-tune the speech to sort out what is necessary and unnecessary.
- When you're done with the first draft, practice it in front of people you're comfortable with and ask them for their opinion.
- Leave the negative remarks at the door. It's never a good idea to finish a toast or speech with something off-putting.
- End the speech on a serious note. Finish it with a blessing, congratulations, a wish or cheers. “To the bride and groom” often does the trick.
- When all else fails, hire a professional speech writer! There are a host of services that can help write the perfect wedding speech for you. These online firms charge anywhere from $20 to $200 per speech.
The perfect wedding speech is not one that is grammatically flawless but one that oozes sincerity and love for the couple. So relax and have a great time giving your speech!
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