The Speeches
Traditionally, there are three speeches which are
delivered in a specific order at the reception.
The Father of the bride {or whoever gave the bride
away} will speak first and start by thanking the guests
for coming as well as those who have been involved in
the organisation of the wedding {without mentioning
costs}. He may then wish to add some personal
anecdotes about the bride, followed by welcoming the
groom into the family. He will end the speech with a
toast to ‘the bride and groom’.
The Groom will follow with his speech which will begin with him thanking the father of the bride {or equivalent} on behalf of himself and his new wife for the speech and should then thank the guests for coming, the bride’s parents, his parents for raising him and the best man for supporting him. It is a nice touch for the groom to present both mothers {if applicable} with bouquets and then go on to say a few words about his fabulous new wife. A toast should then be maid to ‘the bridesmaids’ in order to finish off the speech.
Finally, the best man should make a speech which is normally considered to be the highlight of the speeches due to its amusing and entertaining accounts of the groom and a genuine reflection on their friendship. He should begin by reading out messages from friends and relatives who couldn’t attend and follows this with stories about the groom. Normally he should reveal something funny about the groom in order to embarrass him followed by how the couple met, their relationship and a few compliments to the bride. He then finishes with a toast to ‘Mr and Mrs [surname]’. The tone of this speech should be witty, but not vulgar and should appeal to all generations who are attending the wedding. It is then usual for the best man to announce the cutting of the cake.
All of the speeches should be carefully planned and practiced, unless the speech-giver is hugely confident and prefers to ad-lib on the day {which is not recommended}. Those giving speeches should not drink too heavily before they are due to deliver their speeches as a drunken speech-giver could cause embarrassment, forget to thank certain people or mispronounce a name which would reflect very badly on them. Speeches should not be too long as it is important to keep the guests attention and not test their threshold for boredom. Everything that is said should be relevant to the bride and groom and they should never be up-staged as it is their day.
