WEDDING TOAST OR WEDDING SPEECH
What’s the difference between a wedding toast, and a wedding speech?
There’s really no difference, because in a sense, a wedding toast is usually done at the end of a wedding speech.
From Wikipedia:
“A toast is a ritual during which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill. The term may be applied to the person or thing so honored, the drink taken, or the verbal expression accompanying the drink.”
A speech, like I said earlier, can be ended with a toast. But a speech contains stories, anecdotes, or some memorable experiences with the couple, that you share with everyone at the wedding reception.
What makes a good wedding speech?
If you ask me, as a guest, a good wedding speech is one that is short, maybe 3 - 5 mins at most? The reason is that, you’re not the only one giving a speech. I’m sure that there are others in line who’s going to give one, and if you combine the time of the speeches, and toasts and whatnot, it’s going to take a long, long time. Some people might get bored. I know I will, but only if each speech takes forever. I’ve attended a wedding where the Maid of Honor not only took 10 mins for her speech, but she made us sit through her rendition of “That’s what friends are for”, afterwards. I mean, I get it, her bestfriend got married, but really, it felt like she was trying to steal the thunder from the bride. In the end, it was all about her, and how good her voice was. That was it. Tiktok has so many videos of wedding speeches that are so cute and funny, but there are also lots that will make your hair go up because it’s so cringy.
5 Tips for giving a good wedding speech:
Start and end with the “congratulations, and thank you all for celebrating with us” lines. Or something like that. Something to acknowledge the event and the people who came.
Choose a path. There are 3 paths to choose from when doing a wedding speech. The “emotional, tear-jerking path, the funny, laugh out loud path, and lasty, the combination of both. To be honest, it’s hard to achieve both if you want to make it short. Only the seasoned speech connoisseurs can make the people laugh, and cry at the same time. But at the same time, making THAT your goal, would make your speech feel inauthentic, if you’re not a natural. Remember, choosing a path is only for guiding you on what you should be talking about. Your goal is not to make people laugh or cry. Your goal is to make a good wedding speech that the couple, and the guests will remember. If you want to make people cry, choose a story that is authentic and close to your heart. Something that makes, even you, yourself tear up when you remember. IF you want to make people laugh, share a funny moment with the bride and groom. Or a funny anecdote. Or maybe a funny advise that you read somewhere. Something like that.
Avoid embarrassing stories. If there’s one thing that is so overused and unnecessary in a wedding speech, it is the embarrassing stories nobody cares about. This is a wedding, not a roast. People don’t need to hear “that one time at band camp” stories. It’s cringy, and uncomfortable to listen to. AND most definitely does not lift up the bride and groom.
No talent portion. No singing at the beginning or the end, no spoken poetry, no dancing, nothing that showcases whatever talent you have that you think everyone at the wedding should see. Nobody cares about that. Everyone will think you’re just doing it for yourself and not for the bride and groom. This is not your show, this is the wedding of your loved one.
Last but not the least, close with a simple, short advice. Do some research or maybe ask another couple like your grandparents if they’re together, about their secret to a long and successful marriage. Share it at the end of your speech before congratulating the couple again and raising your glass to toast.
One thing to put in mind when trying to come up with the speech, is that you’re not the only one doing it, so keep it short, sweet and memorable. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite wedding speech lines of all time. You can end your speech with this line. This is from the movie “Kissing a Fool” and it was Ross Gellar from friends who was giving it for his bestfriend:
“I hope that someday, I should be so lucky, we all should be so lucky, to find the same true love that these two share”.
