Wedding Speech Tips: How to Give a Memorable Wedding Toast

A wedding speech is a brief address during a wedding reception in which a person congratulates the couple. This duty generally falls to the parents of the newlyweds as well as members of the wedding party.

Alternatively, a wedding speech can refer to a brief speech by the bride or groom to thank everyone for coming. Some people might use this term to also refer to the initial remarks the officiant gives during the wedding ceremony. People give wedding-related speeches during the rehearsal dinner, too.

You can bet on multiple attendees giving speeches to celebrate a pair of newlyweds. Here are some of the people you can expect to give a speech on any given wedding day:

• The best man: At some point during the wedding reception, the groom’s best man stands up to give a speech. The best man’s speech is often amusing, filled with funny anecdotes about the groom and his friends. It’s also an opportunity to share some well-wishes for the happy couple moving forward into their future together. Additional groomsmen might share remarks as well.
• The newlyweds: The couple might take a moment to thank everyone for coming, as well as their friends, original families, and new in-laws for assisting them with all the wedding planning. If they have a wedding planner, they might take a moment to offer their gratitude to them as well as any other vendors on-site.
• The maid of honor: Often the best friend or sibling of the bride, the maid of honor stands at the head of the bridal party and usually knows the bride better than anyone else. As such, the maid of honor speech is an opportunity to tell stories and share memories about the bride while also congratulating her on her new marriage. Other bridesmaids might speak, too.
• The parents: You’re almost certain to hear the father or mother of the bride get up to speak at a wedding. A mother or father of the groom speech is more customary during the rehearsal dinner than during a wedding reception, but you might see one of those happen at the reception, too. For that matter, both sets of parents might take turns speaking. Other family members might get up to talk as well.

If speaking at a wedding soon, preparation is the key to success. Keep these wedding speech tips in mind to help celebrate the bride and groom’s big day:

• Avoid inappropriate topics. Amusing anecdotes are a welcome addition to any speech, but spare the wedding guests from any inappropriate ones. Refrain from talking about bachelor or bachelorette party antics if you had a particularly wild night out. Hold back on embarrassing stories that might upset the bride or groom. Aim to keep the speech family-friendly and lighthearted.
• Consider your unique role. Every person who speaks at a wedding has a different role to fill. For example, the best man speech has a much different purpose than the father of the bride speech. Think about your unique relationship with the couple (or the bride or groom specifically) and capitalize on this to figure out how to approach your speech. If you’re their best friend, you’ll have a different take than you would if you were their parent.
• Coordinate with the other speakers. Brainstorming with the other speakers can help you avoid reiterating the same topics or stories one speech after another. You could also ask the bride or groom about what they’ll be saying in their own wedding vows and ask if they’d like you to touch on any similar memories or concepts in your own speech.
• Keep your speech succinct. Great speeches go on just as long as they need to and no longer. When it comes to your wedding speech, keep it short and sweet. Look at speech examples and templates online to get an idea of how long yours should be. Five minutes or so is plenty of time. If you go on longer than that, you risk taking up too much valuable time for other festivities. If you cut it too short, you’ll seem unprepared.
• Include tender and funny stories. If you’re giving a speech at a wedding, odds are you’re a close friend or family member. This means you have a long catalog of heartwarming and entertaining stories about the couple. Pull from these to make the crowd laugh or tear up on this special day of celebration.
• Practice plenty beforehand. Even the most confident people can find public speaking nerve-racking from time to time, so practice your speech plenty of times before you deliver it in real time. Feel free to bring notecards or a list of bullet points on your phone to jog your memory. If it’s your first time speaking in public, take deep breaths and remember it’ll be over in no time.
• Wrap up with well-wishes. Most wedding speeches morph into wedding toasts when they reach their conclusions. Think of a way to make an original toast to the bride and groom at the end of your speech to leave on a high note.

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