The Wedding Speech Tips: How to Deliver the Best Reception Toast

A good wedding speech will be remembered forever, and can really help to set the tone for the rest of the celebration. Here's how to deliver yours perfectly.

Feeling nervous about your wedding speech? We've got the tips you need to put together and deliver the best one ever.

You’ve written it, you’ve rehearsed it, and now you have to deliver it - gulp! People often fear public speaking more than anything else, and with good reason, especially if it's not something you're used to doing. It takes courage to stand up in front of a room full of people and connect with them. Whether that means making them laugh, cry, or a healthy dose of both.

But there are ways you can make the experience of writing, and delivering a wedding speech a lot easier. While also helping to create a moment that lives long in the hearts of the gathered guests.

Follow our guide to putting together the best wedding speech, and no matter if you’re the groom, best man, father-of-the-bride, maid of honour, bride or just a very special person. And you'll be delivering a memorable speech that your loved ones will adore.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF

It's likely that not everyone at the wedding will know who you are. Therefore, it's important to introduce yourself at the beginning of your wedding speech, and share your relationship to the couple. If your speech follows another, kindly also acknowledge the person who spoke before you.

USE THE NEW MARRIED TITLES

Grooms in particular can score serious brownie points for using 'husband and wife' or 'Mr and Mr' etc in their wedding speech. Including your new titles in the wedding speech will feel very novel to your partner, and will certainly excite many of your close family members.

KNOW YOUR SPEECH (BUT USE CUE CARDS)

Practise your wedding speech at every opportunity. If your memory is poor, then practice will help you get familiar with the flow of the speech. If your memory’s great, then you’re lucky. But in both circumstances, we advise using cue cards. Why? Weddings are weird things. Wonderful, beautiful, amazing but weird. They have the power to suck all logical thought from your brain and replace it with loved-up nonsense. A few glasses of Prosecco does something similar too!

Cue cards offer a kind of comfort blanket, which, if used right, will not distract your guests in the same way as reading from a sheet of paper would.

When preparing for your wedding speech, give copies of your cue cards to at least two trusted friends to carry on the day and take comfort in the fact that you have something written down.

SLOW IT DOWN

When giving speeches people tend to speed up their delivery when they get nervous. Factor this in when practising by pacing the speech accordingly. Take deep breaths too while speaking, as the very act of breathing itself can become difficult too when delivering a speech. Resulting in clipped pronunciation and a higher voice than you'd normally have! An absence of breath will also only increase your heart rate, and in turn, feelings of nervousness.

LOOK CONFIDENT & MAKE EYE CONTACT

Try to make (natural) eye contact with guests throughout your speech, and look at the person you're referring to when addressing them. By simply looking in the eyes of the family member you're thanking, or telling someone how delighted you are they married you, you'll be adding depth that words never could.

Making eye contact with people is hard in this situation, but it garners attention and displays confidence.

CONSIDER USING A MICROPHONE

If your wedding venue has high ceilings, or if there's a large number of guests in attendance, it’s probably best to use a microphone. As the last thing you want is for people at the back to get bored, and start chatting because they can't hear you.

BE ANECDOTAL

Anecdotes and personal stories are two essential components in the best wedding speeches. There's no doubt you have loads of stories about the happy couple, or memories you've shared together. Choose some PG-13 highlights and string them together with a common theme.

LIVE IN THE MOMENT

You should write your speech ahead of time, we would 100% recommend that. But we also think it’s a lovely idea to leave some space at the end to express how you really feel in the moment.

There will be countless new emotions flooding through your body on the big day, and it's important to embrace them.

TEST OUT YOUR JOKES...

It’s a good idea to test out the jokes intended for your wedding speech on someone, or even double check them with the marrying couple. This will help avoid any overly inappropriate innuendos, or delivering jokes that aren't actually that funny!

FINISH THE BEST WEDDING SPEECH WITH A TOAST

It's always a good idea to finish wedding speeches with a toast, and to say the right thank-yous. Any excuse to lift that glass of champagne and bring everyone together is recommended!