Speech Writing For Wedding

Tips for Delivering a Good Wedding Speech

Giving a wedding speech can be nerve-wracking and one that most people dread. Keep in mind the people that you will be speaking to will be family and friends and not strangers, they will want to hear what you have to say.

It needs to follow a basic order. The purpose is to congratulate the bride and groom, and thank those who have given their help and support.

Every speech will vary slightly depending on who is saying it, but the best are given with humor, emotion, congratulations, quotations, reminiscence and some anecdotes.

When planning your speech, try out the ideas and jokes with a close friend or family member, they will be able to tell you if it works and what doesn't work, and remind you of people that you have forgotten to mention. The main thing to remember is to keep it short, not more that four or five minutes. The best speeches are even shorter than this.

Rehearse your speech until you feel confident and relaxed, it may also help if you practice in front of someone.

Try to make your speech sound as though you are having a conversation, and not reading every word. Watch your sense of humor! It's not in the best of tastes to make jokes about having children, sex, the in-laws or the honeymoon.

When you come to the end of your speech it is important to remember the toast, you could say at the end of your speech "I ask you to raise your glasses and drink a toast to ….." or something similar. If you are responding to the toast you must make it clear that you are thanking speaker of the toast.

Your reply could simply be "thank you very much" or "I (we) thank you for your kind wishes…" or "It was kind of you to drink to our health and happiness.." and so on.

• Keep it short. Not more than five minutes.
  
• Plan the speech well in advance and test it out on someone that you trust.
  
• Prepare it so that you know what the beginning, the middle and the end should be. You don't need to learn it of by heart, but don't ad-lib unless you are a very experienced speaker.
  
• Write down the key points and phrases rather than writing down the whole speech.
  
• Record your speech and listen to it. Listen to how you sound and how you can improve the contents and delivery of the speech.
  
• Start your speech with something interesting perhaps an anecdote or joke to get everyone's attention.
  
• Be careful with the joke that you select. These should be in good taste and preferably not at someone else's expense.
  
• Practice delivering the punch line of the joke.
  
• Don't have too much to drink before you deliver the speech you may live to regret it.
  
• Speak clearly and not too quickly. And avoid using "umm's", "er's", "you know's" etc.
  
• Stand as naturally as possible with good posture and speak into the microphone.
  
• Speak in a clear and natural voice.
  
• Be sincere and avoid being over sentimental. Parents can be feeling rather emotional at a wedding, so don't say things that may make them cry, even though you think that it will make a good speech.
  
• Remember to relax and breathe normally and pause a little between sentences.
  
• Fix your vision just above the heads of the audience. It will look like you are talking to them directly and you wont be distracted by looking into their faces.
  
• If you are still unsure there are good books on speech writing, try your local library.