Being asked to do a speech at someone’s wedding is both an honour and yet one of the most stressful experiences for a lot of people.
If you’re stressed about whether it’s funny enough or if it’s too boring, you may end up with writers block and not be able to articulate, which can be a nerve-wracking time for anyone.
It doesn’t have to be that way though! So whether you need best man, grooms or father of the bride speech tips or just general advice about wedding speeches, here are five helpful hints and tips for preparing yours.
1. Open with a joke
Opening with a joke is sure to break the ice, get the audience interested and help calm your nerves. If you’re having fun, the crowd will be having fun and everyone else will be relaxed within your presence making it easier on you in the long-run. Although in saying this, make sure that this is the only joke and that you’re not about to turn this into a five minute, stand-up comedy routine that only goes in favour of yourself. Starting with a joke, maybe even bringing the joke back around at the end is a sure-fire way to make your speech less boring and also, the most important thing, highly memorable.
2. Tell an entertaining anecdote about the person in question
Following on from the joke, make sure to include some interesting anecdotes from over the time that you’ve known this person. Story-telling is one of the easiest ways to keep an audience entertained, so the more humorous and outrageous, the better! So if you met this person at an outrageous fancy dress party where they were terrible at karaoke, don’t be afraid to embarrass them in front of everyone. Just be warned, it might come back to bite you when it’s your turn!
3. Keep it short, but not too brief
A long-winded speech can end up boring your audience, so 3-6 minutes for a wedding speech is more than ample. A best man’s speech will vary in length from the groom’s speech for example, but with practise, you should be able to feel what works for you. A shorter speech will be straight to the point and your audience will most certainly be kept captivated throughout. Just don’t scrimp on it because people will be able to tell!
4. Remember that every story must have a beginning, middle and an end
Structure is very important when writing a speech, so it’s always helpful to keep this in mind. To begin your speech, you will want to introduce yourself before anything else as there’s nothing worse than not knowing who on Earth is talking! Then, you can start to tell your story to fill the middle with interesting anecdotes and stories about the person you’re talking about. Then to finish up, you can toast to the person in question and ask everyone to raise their glass to honour the couple getting married.
5. Practice makes perfect!
Practice, practice and more practice is exactly what you need to deliver the best speech. You may think that it could be a total waste of time, but the more you practice it, literally whenever you can, the more it will sink in and you will be able to feel your words. So whether you’re going to practise to your dog, your best mate or even the mirror (not as silly as it sounds!) your speech will be far better for it at the end of the day.
It’s easy to tell when people’s words are not heartfelt, so you’ll be able to work on this through practice. Plus if there are any minor changes that you need to make to your speech, you will have already found them through saying them out loud. So there you have it! If you need speech ideas to get you started, from a groom speech to a wedding speech template, look no further than here. Do you agree with these wedding speech tips or have any others to add that you’ve used previously? Feel free to let us know! Good luck!
