Wedding speeches are becoming more popular by the year and good, well thought out and delivered speeches can enhance a wedding reception.

Speeches were traditionally held after the meal, but on many occasions nowadays, the speeches are held before the meal. Personally I prefer after the meal; there is nothing worse than guests sitting down at the table well after their normal lunchtime and then having to listen to a load of speeches.

Whereas after having a nice meal and a few drinks, guests will look forward to a bit of entertainment in the form of the speeches and be far more receptive.

There are 3 main wedding speeches, in traditional order, the Father of the Bride, or whoever may be giving the Bride away in his absence; the Groom and of course the Best man.
However, it is quite permissible for others to speak, including the Father of the Groom, the Chief Bridesmaid, or even the Bride herself.

It would be ideal if there are to be other speakers than the 3 main ones, if an order is decided before the wedding and content to be discussed, to avoid too many people covering the same ground.

As for the content of the speeches. The Father of the Bride speech and the Groom’s speech should be welcoming and contain kind and sincere comments; but humour is always a welcome addition to any speech.
The Father of the Bride’s speech should contain a toast to the Bride and Groom; and the Groom’s a toast to the Bridesmaids.

The Best man’s speech is of course the most eagerly awaited; and a gentle roast of the Groom is very acceptable. However, what is not acceptable is humiliating the Groom in front of the guests and the Bride’s family; vulgarity; and mention of previous relationships. It is possible to be very funny without using any of these and the speech will receive far more accolades if they are avoided. The Best man’s speech will be delivered to a family audience and must not be an extension of the Stag night.

The Best man’s only specific duties are to respond on behalf of the Bridesmaids and thank the hosts on behalf of the guests; but he may make his toast to the Bride and Groom if he wishes.

Finally, there is a lot of help available on the Internet concerning speeches. There are people who will write your speech for you; and many websites market quite cheap speech template packages.

The only thing to be careful of is to make sure that the documents are correct for the country that you live in; as traditions vary somewhat, especially on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

( For more information on Malcolm Perkins, the expert author of this
article visit: aspeech.co.uk and after-dinner-speeches.co.uk )

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