Sunday 5 May 2013

What You Should Know About Wedding Speeches

We often tend to keep avoiding things that we are not comfortable with. But sometimes that becomes the biggest obstacle in getting certain jobs accomplished. Take the example of wedding speeches. A lot of us are so scared of speeches that are supposed to be made standing in front of a large audience that we are reluctant to even get prepared to it. We would love to believe that it's not for us. But since we can't probably avoid making a wedding speech, we panic.

If you think you are not ready to make a wedding speech, you better be. No matter if you are supposed to give a father of the bride speech, a best man speech or a maid of honor speech - you must plan, write and practice your speech to guarantee an effortless delivery.

All wedding speeches are more or less same at the core. It's only the style, mood and content that varies. A typical wedding speech would feature the following sections -
  • Introduction 
  • The Bride/Groom/Couple 
  • Anecdotes 
  • "Thank You's" and Greetings 
  • Best Wishes to the Couple 
  • Toast
 Now, there would be some variations depending on which speech you are supposed to give. For example, being the formal host of the reception, the bride's father, in his speech, must extend a warm welcome to all the guests to the party and thank them for participating.

Some speeches are typically more light-hearted than others. For example, wedding speeches by the maid of honor and the best man.

So, keeping those points in mind you need to prepare for your speech. And the best way to get started is by doing some research, like what you are doing at the moment. You would need an organized effort to be able to make a good wedding speech. It's not at all difficult if you give it the importance it deserves and work for it consistently. Even if you spend a quarter of an hour everyday practicing your speech once you have got it written, you will be surprised how quickly you will gain the confidence to deliver it. Confidence is everything when it comes to make a speech. When you know what you are going to say and remember it perfectly you know you are ready for it.

I have always believed that writing the speech is not a big deal compared to delivering it. But if you feel that you are struggling to get the speech written, you might want to study a few sample speeches. That would let you know about what others are doing and give you the ideas to get started with.