I am probably going to get a lot of negative feedback from this blog post but I would like to express one of my pet peeves that I am seeing that more and more of at weddings these days.

Specifically, for the maid of honor speech I am noticing many bridesmaids are crying during the speech. I don’t just mean that these women are tearing up a little when they are saying something rather emotional. I am referring to a maid of honor speech where the woman has difficulty completing the speech because she is overwrought with emotion. Most people do not think that this is a major problem. I beg to differ.

First of all, you must put yourself in the position of somebody in the audience. Ask yourself a simple question, does the audience want to watch somebody stand up and cry? Every speech has a purpose and that purpose is to somehow serve the audience. For example, some speeches may be designed to inspire the audience, entertain the audience or inform the audience of some important information. Crying during any speech including wedding speeches is something that does not serve a purpose. As a matter of fact it is downright distracting. If you have something emotional or sentimental that you would like to share with the audience it is likely that your message will get lost if you end up crying during the wedding speech.

For some reason many people are under the misguided notion that crying during wedding speech actually adds an emotional punch. This is a modern day myth. If you examine any classical speeches from only 50 years ago you’ll be hard-pressed to find a public speaker crying during the wedding speech. As a matter of fact, it was often considered bad etiquette to cry when delivering a eulogy. It was always considered honorable if one could deliver an emotional speech without crying. Somehow in this day and age the tide has reversed and many people find it necessary to cry during the maid of honor speech. My suggestion is to refrain from outbursts of

As the wedding season comes to an end in North America I thought I would take some time to answer a few reader questions that I have received over the summer about wedding speeches. These are some of the common questions that readers have sent me about some of the problems that they were having with an upcoming wedding speech.

First of all, I received a lot of questions about wedding speech etiquette. Primarily there were a number of people who wanted to speak at a wedding but they were not the father of the bride, maid of honor, groom, or best man which is the traditional wedding speech order. Subsequently, these people thought that they did not have a place to speak at the wedding. In modern weddings, it is not uncommon for several different people including the mother of the bride or the father of the groom to deliver a wedding speech. There are no hard and fast wedding speech rules in 2012.

The first thing that you should ask yourself is whether or not you were actually asked to speak at the wedding. If the groom or the bride has asked you to deliver a speech at the wedding you should strongly consider doing so. It might be considered rude if you decline such a request. If on the other hand you requested to deliver a wedding speech, you need to determine whether or not your speech content will actually be covered by some of the other speakers. If for example, you are the mother of the bride and the father of the bride will be delivering a speech you may end up repeating several of the same anecdotes or compliments. This would end up boring the audience.

Most importantly if you are an additional speaker you should respect the time of the audience. The audience has already had to sit through 20 minutes of speaking at a bare minimum. You do not want to be an additional speaker that takes up another 10 minutes of time. Chances are the audience will want to move on to the music and dancing part of the wedding. Be brief!

Weddings are one of the most joyful and anticipated occasions for almost for everyone. There is always a sense of excitement because most people can be assured that it will be a happy and joyous celebration. Everyone loves to celebrate, and what better way to celebrate than at a wedding where a man and a woman are officially joined as one? 
Weddings can also be quite emotional, especially during the ceremony. There are emotions that can bring tears to people's eyes and it is mostly because they feel touched by what they witness. It is especially an emotional time for the family of the bride and groom; however, it is usually always categorized as a special time. 
Now laughter in weddings is something that cannot be avoided. Laughter is a sign of happiness and excitement and that is something everyone feels throughout the entire wedding and reception. The reception is surely the best part of the wedding because of the food, music, and dancing. However, it will surely not be complete without the wedding speech jokes. 
These days, no one wants to just listen to someone give a serious speech without incorporating some form of humour in it. It is what keeps people attentive to the person delivering the speech. That is why, in every wedding reception, it is always good to put in wedding speech jokes. 
People who are close to the bride and groom can usually deliver a joke that holds a deeper meaning to the couple; which makes it very funny. However, if a person can't seem to think of a funny thing to say, then they don't have to worry about it. There are many jokes that can be found in different books or even online. It is an easy way to find some funny jokes that can hold a fraction of truth in them as well. 
There is always a hint of truth in a joke; so if a person is choosing a wedding joke, then they need to find something that can be quite relatable for any couple. As much as we would want people to laugh, we don't want to hit below the belt when it comes to speech jokes. So it is always good to choose wedding jokes wisely.
Fun humour can always be found in wedding speech jokes, and it is important that you can incorporate those jokes in the speeches given at the reception. It will give everyone the chance to relax, enjoy, and just have some good natured fun because it will surely be worth it all.

A daughter’s wedding can be an extremely emotional day for the father of the bride for many reasons. It is the day that he “loses” his little girl, the day that he gets to see her unite with the man she is marrying, and a day for the entire family to gather together in celebration.

For the father of the bride speech, a few jokes are usually used as an icebreaker to put everyone in a festive mood after the more serious wedding ceremony.

As this speech is typically the first given in many wedding reception ceremonies, telling a few good jokes can set the mood for the rest of the evening. These jokes can help to put the guests at ease, as well as ease the father of the bride. Retelling funny stories about his daughter’s childhood, the relationship that he has developed with his new son in law, or simply making a joke about himself or the situation are all ideal topics for a speech of this sort.

The speeches do not have to be serious or lengthy. As long as a valid point is made, and everyone is able to appreciate the emotion and sincerity behind it, a father’s speech will be successful. Father of the bride jokes within a speech can even be used to hide nerves – or poke a bit of fun at the guests. Within this speech, the father of the bride not only has the opportunity to be witty, but to address the guests directly.

This speech may be used as an icebreaker, but it can also be used to thank guests for coming, welcome them to the festivities formally, and let them know details about the night such as:

• location of the gift table and guest book
• what the items on the tables are for
• what time food will be served

It is important that the tone of the night is set with this speech. A clunky or awkward speech by the father of the bride could throw the whole atmosphere off, so remembering to keep it natural, heartfelt and concise are ways to ensure that the speech goes off without a hitch.

Another thing to remember is the no one expects perfection. As the father of the bride, emotions will be high, and the other guests will be expecting a bit of nerves. Beginning with a general joke and then working in to more personalized ones will not only captivate the audience, but create a festive atmosphere. A wedding is about celebration and happiness, so there is no point in dwelling on having a “perfect” speech – chances are that no matter what is said, the bride, groom, wedding party and guests will enjoy it.

Since the wedding speech order is considered a historic tradition then it is important to understand the customary order of the wedding speeches and know the modern changes made to the same.
The most common and formal wedding speech order is as follows:
• father of the bride
• father of the groom
• the groom
• the best man
The father of the bride will use his speech to acknowledge and appreciate the presence of guests. He should appreciate the support offered and finally pay a touching tribute to the bride. This speech should end with a toast to the couple.

The father of the groom will thank guests and acknowledge any financial support given. The groom’s speech usually compliments the father of the bride; appreciates the support given by family members especially parents through the years and later thank the guests. The groom should thank his best man and finally deliver a toast to the bridesmaids.

The last speech is for the best man who will thank the groom and toast the maids. This speech should be humorous and interesting. The best man also reads cards from invited guests that are absent. He should also take the opportunity to compliment and give toast to the couple. A toast to the parents is usually given by the groomsmen or the master of ceremony.

There have been changes to the wedding speech order and this is referred to as the modern order of the wedding speech. This features the bride and her maid of honor giving speeches. The bride will thank her guests for their presence and appreciate her family and maids for their support. The maid of honor will thank the bride for the opportunity of being a chief bridesmaid and would also compliment the groom and toast the couple.

The timing of wedding speeches varies depending on the religion and custom. Normally, the speeches are made before having dessert or just after the main meal are served. For a smooth flowing ceremony, it is wise to limit all speeches to three to five minutes.

When creating a wedding speech, it is wise to follow the following guidelines.
• One should always express their gratitude in their speech.
• The speech should focus on the couple and should not divert to other topics non-related to them or the wedding.
• Never include anything that is offensive in the speech as this could be very embarrassing. The humor should be decent and appropriate.
• A wedding speech should dish out compliments to the couple and other participants of the wedding.
• The most important aspect of a wedding speech is that of being relevant. The speech should be enjoyed by all.
• Include some words of wisdom or advice about marriage in the speech.
• Last but not the least, when concluding your speech; give a wedding toast to the newly married couple.

For a successful ceremony, plan in advance on who is going to speak, the wedding speech order and allot the time necessary for speeches.

So finally, the wedding day is here. Your little darling is getting married, and heart is whirling with mixed emotions. On the one hand, you are happy that your daughter is off to start her own family. On the other hand, you feel some sadness because  your little angels’ flying away to another nest from today for a completely new life, without your protection, care and comfort.

To make things simpler for you we created our Father of the Bride Speech E-Book. We created 20 sample speeches and some helpful pointers for writing the speech. We like to think that our speeches and guidance only helps you put your best foot forward in front of your friends and family.

Of course, for every father you want to fit into the archetypical strong father mold. Your daughter has leaned on you for years and years. Now, as her wedding day approaches it is important to retain that image of strength and guidance.  So shed away all those nervous feelings and ignore the flying butterflies.

Your job on her wedding day is to happily hand over your daughter’s hand in marriage to your deserving son-in-law. This Father of the Bride Speech E-Book aims at providing you with solutions for a classic speech for your lil’ darling. Some of the aspects covered in this E-Book are speech samples, body etiquette, overcoming your emotions, and other related issues.
From nervous amateur to seasoned MC, this Father of the Bride Speech E-Book provides you with the needed insight on how to structure your speech. The right openers, hilarious one-liners and touching toasts. You will be amazed at how the book brings out the best in you, no matter what style is.

Like all-important things in life, your daughter’s wedding needs pre- planning and adequate preparation. Sometimes it is better to start planning months before the event so that you are well prepared. While going through the various sections of this EBook, you will notice that you are preparing yourself as an individual for a grand celebration, well in advance.

A wedding ceremony is incomplete without wedding speeches and toasts. Wedding speeches form a part of the many traditions that a wedding ceremony must follow. Though it has been mandatory for the men to make all the wedding speeches on the D-day, these days even brides and brides maid’s go on to give their wedding speeches. The first one to start a series of wedding speeches in a traditional wedding ceremony is always the father of the bride.
The father of the bride raises a toast to the newly weds and guests and gives his speech which is followed by the groom who must thank him for opening the wedding speeches at the wedding ceremony. Writing a father of the bride wedding speech is not as difficult as it seems though. A little research and creativity can land you with a father of the bride wedding speech that is sure to leave everyone with a smile on their faces. A winning shot at the wedding of your darling angel assured. Remember, that the father is the pillar of strength and a source of constant guidance for the bride. It is therefore of particular importance on how he conducts himself before and after the ceremony; how he mingles with the crowd; how he addresses the gathering. In a nutshell, everything, just everything to make the grand wedding grander can be done with the help of a simple speech.

One thing that you need to do here is imagine Steve Martin in the classic movie ‘Father of the Bride’ and you would realize how much you could empathize with that character. However, it is the day when your darling would be waiting to put her arms
around you after the speech, and cry tears of joy. The emotions of happiness and parting have to be merged in an ecstatic combination in the speech.

I received an interesting question last week.

“Alex, how do you write a wedding speech for a wedding that stems from an office romance? Is it a sensitive issue?”

First of all, most office romances are kept secret. Every corporation has a different policy about office relationships but most parties like to keep the romance away from the prying eyes of coworkers. Usually, everyone in the office knows that there is a relationship and the two lovebirds still try to keep it a secret.

However, when we’re dealing with a wedding speech, it is obvious that the relationship is out in the open. There is no need to tip toe around the fact that two colleagues met and fell in love while on the job. Happens all the time.

However, there are some landmines that you should look out for.

First of all, if the relationship was kept secret for a number of months, do not mention it. It adds little to your wedding speech and it will only make it seem as though the bride and groom were doing something dishonest. You do not want to paint them out to be some sly lovers having a rendez-vous in a cheap motel room.

Secondly, office colleagues have a tendency to tell inside jokes in their wedding speeches.  Remember that you are speaking to an audience that for the most part does not know you.  Stay away from office jokes unless you can frame it as interesting and relevant anecdote.

Here’s an example of how one might incorporate a work story into the wedding speech. Notice how the story is relevant because it highlights a personal characteristic about the bride (witty) and it also talks about the first time that the bride and groom met.

The first time Tom saw Liz she was over at the water cooler talking to some of the secretaries, and Tom assumed she was one of the new hired secretaries. We had both been nervous about the new department head who was due to begin work that day and we wanted to make a good impression. It turns out, Tom did make a good impression on our new boss.
It was just after lunch when the boss’s secretary asked Tom and me to come into the office. We both felt we had our chance to get in a good first impression and score some much-needed points for possible promotion. I had the nerve to enter first and saw that the boss’s chair was facing away from us, so I blurted out, “It’s great to finally meet you, sir.”
To my horror the chair suddenly swung around and in the chair was Liz. Her immediate words, in typical witty Liz style, were, “And it’s likewise nice to meet you, ma’am.”
Tom obviously played his initial meeting with Jane much cooler than I did, which I suppose is one reason that we’re honoring the two of them tonight.

And in the end, my best friend Tom and my spectacular boss Liz– yes, Liz, I’m completely sucking up right now – are ready to start their new lives together as husband in life.

In this post, I’m going to break down a sample best man speech into the individual components to give you an idea of how a simple best man speech can be written quickly.

The first part of the best man speech is the introduction. The introduction is similar for every type of wedding speech.  Basically, you want to identify yourself as half of the people in the audience will not know you.

Here’s a sample introduction from a best man speech:

“Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to take a few moments of your time to first thank all of you for being here to share this wonderful day with Robert and Sophie. I must pause to say that the bridesmaids are looking wonderful, and are only outshone by Sophie, who I’m sure everyone agrees looks stunning  today. What a beautiful bride!
Actually, I’m still trying to figure out what Robert did to deserve this beauty.
It’s been a huge privilege to be asked to be the best man, and I couldn’t say no, since a few years ago I conned Robert into doing the honors at my wedding, where he had a lot of fun telling embarrassing stories about my childhood. So, now it’s my turn. Revenge is sweet, my friend!
For those of you who don’t know, Robert and I grew up next to each other, and I really can’t remember a time when we weren’t best friends. We’ve been through everything together, from pre-school, to the horrors of kindergarten, middle school and braces, to high school, college, and now even weddings.”

As we can see from the opening few paragraphs of this best man speech, a few things have been accomplished:

1. the best man complimented the bride
2. the best man introduced himself as the best man and explained his relationship to Robert – (childhood friends)
3. he established the tone of the wedding speech which is light hearted

“I couldn’t have wished for more from a best friend my entire life, and he’s always been there for me. Sophie, I know he’s a rock solid man who will always be there for you now.
For all of you who don’t know, John and Sophie actually met in a very unique way. They both happen to frequent the same gym, and the first day that he saw Sophie walk in the door of that gym, he sort of walked, or fell rather, right off the back of the treadmill. So, I guess you can say he’s the one that fell first.
For some reason Sophie actually said yes to that first date, and things just progressed from here. In fact, ever since that first date, I haven’t stopped hearing about her. I have to say, Sophie, you’ve made my best friend a better man, and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather see in his life today.”

In the body of the wedding speech, the best man tells a relevant story about the bride and groom.

1. he tells a quick story (only 30 seconds) about how the bride and groom met and fell in love. The audience cares about this type of story as most people have no idea about how the bride and groom met.
2. he compliments the bride again with a warm hearted comment about how the bride has made the groom a better man
3. the best man has stayed consistent with the tone of the speech which is short and sweet

“So today, it’s my extreme pleasure to ask everyone to stand once again and raise your glasses to Robert and Sophie. I wish you well, my friends. May your life be one of laughter, joy, and love together – forever!”

Finally in the last part of the wedding speech, the best man gives a toast to the bride and groom. It is a simple toast that wishes the couple well.

As you can see, when you break down a best man speech into 3 simple parts (intro, story, toast) it is an easy task. If you’re nervous about public speaking, using a short speech like the one above is a great strategy.

I wanted to share a free best man speech with my loyal readers. Please click on the banner if you want to see 20 more best man speeches.

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I cannot think of a time when I’ve been more terrified of saying the wrong thing. You see, Mark is my best friend, and this is the biggest day of his life so far. That’s a lot of pressure for me not to screw this up. I have already been threatened with the “beats” in the parking lot if I say anything inappropriate.

So if I seem nervous, that’s because I am. I’m over here sweating and Mark and Melissa are just laughing and having a good time.  The expression on their faces says it all. These two are totally in love, aren’t they?
Believe it or not, these two have always had that expression on their faces, whenever they were around each other from the day they first met. I remember that night vividly. Mark and I were down at our favorite bar for the night, and spotted these two girls sitting by themselves, so we stroll over and sit down next to them and start talking—don’t worry the story gets even worse. So we’re going through the usual small talk and the girl I’m talking to is clearly not that interested in me. It was Sally, in case you’re wondering, she’s over there with the other bridesmaids. Don’t worry Sally, I’m not bitter. As a matter of fact you and all of the bridesmaids look stunning in those outfits.

Back to the story – so I struck out with Sally, but John and Melissa just clicked. The bad part came when the girls’ dates came and chased Mark and I off–but not before Mark got Melissa’s phone number.
From pretty much that night on, they were inseparable. You could see it in their eyes that they were absolutely in love with each other, and you can still see that today. Just look, aw come on, don’t look away Melissa. See those beautiful smiles everyone? Those are the smiles of two people completely in love.

It is my duty to leave you with a little bit of advice about marriage.  “Love one another and you will be happy.  It’s as simple and as difficult as that.”

So on to the part I’m sure you’re all looking forward to, the drinking and the dancing! But before we start the celebration in earnest, first please raise your glasses high for my best friend Mark, and his beautiful new wife Melissa.

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If you enjoyed this free best man speech and are looking for more best man speeches, click on the banner below!

Here’s a sample best man speech that is short, slightly humorous and easy to deliver. It was written to be delivered by a still single best man.

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It’s time for the best man’s speech everyone – and that’s me. This is my chance to tell a few old stories about my friend Bill, embarrass him in front of his new bride and her family, that sort of thing.

Oh, and I shouldn’t forget to compliment the bridesmaids, who look so beautiful in those dresses!
Weddings always have a special air about them but this reception has been most festive. An open bar and some of Bill’s rugby friends is most likely the reason.

Now I must say I’ve been waiting almost two years for Bill and Lisa to tie the knot. I mean really, it took you two long enough! You could have gotten married the day after you met and you know it.

I remember the day when Bill first brought Lisa to my cottage. I watched them snuggling on the dock, under the stars and at that point I knew my dear friend Bill was cooked. He’d found his soul mate and it was obvious to me then and it’s obvious to me now.
Well why did they wait for two years? Oh, just to be sure you say. No, you were sure from day one and you know it. You see, that is what’s special about these two. They have always been sure about each other. I have never met two people who were so right for each other. Don’t blush now, you two know its true. You see these two first
met when we were hanging out back in college.
Two years later, here we are. We’re here because they decided they wanted to be here, and they made it happen. And I know that is how their marriage will be… when they decide it’s going to work, then it will. That is
just the way that they are.
So with that mind, let’s raise our glasses high and wish these two a lifetime of happiness. It’s an easy toast to make, because I know they are going to make a lifetime of happiness for each other, no matter what. I cannot think of any two people more meant for each other. Here’s to the new Mr. & Mrs. Thompson!