If you have been selected to deliver a wedding speech, consider it an honor to make a memory for the couple. It’s also fun, but it’s not a time to panic or freak out. Don’t be nervous, just take off the pressure. All you have to do is make people feel good about the bride and groom. It really is that simple. So, the first thing to do is to have the proper perspective. If you want to do an excellent job in delivering a wedding speech, just relax, as this type of speech is much easier than most formal presentations and speeches.
Focus on One Quality of The Bride, Groom, or Couple
The first thing to do is focus on just one thing you love about the bride or groom or the couple, which makes them special or unique. This is the beauty of the wedding speech. You do not need to cover the entire life history of the bride or groom. Just spotlight on one thing. Other people can understand and realize that it’s the extraordinary quality of the person, e.g., if the person has an extraordinary quality of being loyal, focus on that. If they are hard-working, then focus on it. Write down in one sentence what the number one trade of the person is.
Focus on One Quality of The Bride, Groom, or The Couple
The first thing to do is focus on just one thing you love about the bride or groom or the both of them together. Think about what makes them special or unique. This is the beauty of a wedding speech. You do not need to cover the entire life history of the bride or groom. Just put the spotlight on one thing. Other people can understand and will realize that it’s the extraordinary quality of the person, e.g., if the person has an amazing quality of being loyal, focus on that. If they are hard-working, then focus on that.
Write down in one sentence, the number one trait of that person.
Add a story to the speech
When you have isolated one exceptional quality of the bride or groom, then find a story that could make that trait come alive. There is no need to be overly creative and dramatic by building up a complicated story. Just share your experience in simple and nice words. If you want to speak about the loyalty of any person, you can share any incident you have experienced in which you can showcase their loyalty. An important thing to consider here is if you talk about a person getting drunk or waking up at an awkward place, talk about yourself too. Do not talk about the bride or groom inappropriately. In wedding speeches, people sometimes talk about the couple wildly embarrassingly, perhaps after a drink or two. Keep in mind that many of these speeches are recorded, and it may be something the bride and groom would want to show their children and grandchildren in the future.
Make yourself a part of the joke if you want to add any. If you add humor in your speech, use good jokes in wedding speeches, especially when the future in-laws are in the room. It’s OK to have fun but avoid biting/dark humor.
Find a story that positively illustrates the person’s character.
This is much better than giving a boring history about the actual accomplishments of the bride and groom. A story might take a minute or 10 minutes. It does not matter as long as you successfully convey the message and emotions you want in the right way. The time will take care of itself. Remember, people here are not interested in hearing your long speech. They want to get to the bar, dance floor and celebrate. So do not drag it out for too long. It does not mean you should speak too quickly and hurry to finish what you have to say. Don’t tell people you are nervous. Just tell the story to make the listeners feel good about the bride and groom. Your speech may prove to be a window for distant family members who do not know much about the bride or groom, from which they can learn about the person and how he /she is as an individual. Magnify the outstanding trade of the bride or groom with a lovely and exciting story that everyone will remember.
Things Not to Do in A Wedding Speech
A wedding speech is not a moment to educate people about the facts and figures about the bride and groom.
Do not read the speech
It is not a time to get on stage with many papers in your hands from which you would be reading the speech. It will give an effect of a bored government meeting. It will be awful and painful for the listeners. They do not want to see you reading the speech. Naturally, nobody likes to be read to. Ask this yourself. Would like to be read at? Do you like it when people read to you from a PowerPoint presentation or paper? The second you start reading, you would have robbed yourself of spontaneity. A good wedding speech must show that you are speaking from your heart.
Of course, you need to plan, prepare, and rehearse before the speech, but you should be speaking to people naturally and flawlessly. Looking at the bride, groom, family members, and the people present there. If you make no eye contact with the audience, it robs the moment. It’s not that sort of a presentation in which you have to memorize all the facts and figures of the capital investments or the profit margins you will make in the coming year. It is a simple conversation sharing the bride and groom’s joy in lovable, intimate, and delicate words. It’s just a matter of making a couple feel honored and putting their traits in the spotlight with stories that would make them come alive. So get rid of the text and do not even think of reading a wedding speech. It will not help you but make you feel like a boring hack. So, reading a wedding speech word to word is inappropriate and makes your act a formality in a wrong way rather than expressing genuine feelings for the bride or groom.
Don’t Go Too Long
Please do not make the mistake of going on and on and on as people will get bored because they have many other fun things to do at a wedding.
Avoid Bad Humor
Humor is good, but do not try stuff from your stand-up comedy or training course. Do not use canned humor from any book. Simply retell stories. Make fun of yourself or say something funny that happened and let people judge whether it is funny or not. Don’t tell them that it’s funny. Your speech should not necessarily be stand-up comedy. Everything needs to be focused on the couple. If you succeed in doing that, you are on the right track.
Conclusion
To make an excellent wedding speech, put one quality/trait of the couple in the spotlight. Add a story to magnify the trait. Don’t read off a script. Don’t go too long, don’t be funny by being overly personal and nasty. When you are in a gathering with in-laws, that’s not the time to lose the talk. You must be the center of the joke if you make any.
Finally, from your speech, the bride and groom must come out smelling like roses or fragrantly as the bride’s bouquet.