Tips for Wedding Speeches

During my time as a speaker and presentation skills coach I've been to plenty of weddings and come across some terrible wedding speeches. The amount of bad wedding speeches far outweighs the good ones. So for those participating in such celebrations, I've put together some tips for wedding speeches.

#1 - Prepare. For some reason, people choose to leave it to the last minute to do their speeches and then scribble some ideas down on paper and hope that what you say will do the job. More often than not, it won't. You need to have an idea of who your audience is and also what you;re going to say and when.

#2 Know your audience. It may seem obvious, but it hasn't stopped the fact that I've seen Best Man speeches attempt to be funny, only to crash and burn and upset those in attendance. Yes, the Best Man is supposed to be mocking the groom. but in a light-hearted way. If you mock women and the idea of marriage then you have no business getting up there. Keep it light and clean and for goodness sake ditch the blue material.

#3 Structure. I said earlier in the first point that you need to have an idea of where you're going. All good speeches have a beginning, a middle and an end. You need to tell your audience a bit about who you are, what your relationship to the happy couple is, and tell us a little bit about the person you';re up there speaking for. For example, if you're the Maid of Honor, the chances are you're speaking about the Bride.

#4 Humor. If you're going to use humor in your speech, and if you're the Best Man this should definitely be in your arsenal, then you need to keep it clean. Not only that, but try to draw upon any stories that you share with either the Bride or the Groom. Truth is always funnier than fiction. But be careful, what may be funny to your may not be funny to everyone. If in doubt leave it out. I once saw a Best Man end his speech by saying "I give it 6 months". Not good.

#5 Toast or Speech? You have to know the difference between a toast and a speech. If you've been asked to give a speech, that means you'll be speaking for around 3-5 minutes maximum. Speeches usually end with a toast. Your role in the wedding will dictate who you give your toast too. Whereas, if you're only called upon to give a toast it should be no more than a minute. And whatever you do don't raise your glass, until you're done with your toast, otherwise everyone's arm will get tired.

That's all for now. The next time you have to give a speech at a wedding, try to keep these tips in mind. If you need someone to walk you through creating a speech step-by-step check out the link below.