Writing A Speech

Writing A Speech

It’s never easy writing a speech and this doesn’t change whether it’s a speech for a seminar, a speech for a class project, or whether it’s a speech for a wedding. In fact, unless you’re a paid speech writer, most people know they are going to be the person who has to get up in front of a crowd of people and deliver the speech that they wrote.

And this is really where most of us get into trouble. When we’re writing a speech, we tend to think in terms of what we would like to say, how we would like to deliver the speech with style, and how we’re going to give the best speech of our lives. In between panicking and worrying about delivering the speech of course.

This makes it almost impossible for us to write a speech that we can give naturally, and in a tone of voice that best suits us. For instance, most people will try very hard to introduce a joke or two when writing a speech, and this can be a good thing – unless you’re the type of person who finds it abnormally hard to get the punch line to sound like a punch line.

This can, and has, happened before, and if you do this on a continual basis, don’t worry – you’re not the only person in the world who can’t tell a joke when under pressure.

And that’s what happens when you’re delivering a speech. When you’re writing a speech, you’re under a different sort of pressure altogether. Here, at this point before you have to get up in front of a crowd of people and speak in a coherent manner, you need to get to your first goal, which is that of actually writing a speech.

Some people find this a laughably easy step and then freeze up when they have to deliver the speech, but for the most part, most of us find that writing a speech is just as difficult as delivering a speech. To be able to do the latter however, the former (writing a speech) is a very necessary part of the job – unless of course you can afford a speech writer to do the job for you.

If you’re stuck doing the honors however, there are a few rules of thumb that you will want to follow, but only one main one. And that one is, be yourself. Be who you are, don’t use big words if you don’t normally do so, and don’t try to be funny if you find this to be difficult in social circumstances.

And most of all when writing a speech, keep it to the point, informative and entertaining. You really don’t want your audience to fall asleep on you for lack of substance in your speech!

Wedding Toasts

Wedding Toasts

Wedding toasts can be a nightmare of blunders, long windedness, and forced joviality. Or they can be a fun and interesting way for people to share their joy with the newly married couple, and make a memorable day, even more memorable. Or like I mentioned earlier, they can be an unmitigated disaster.

A lot I believe depends on the type of wedding that you’re going to have. If it’s a formal wedding, you have a reasonably good chance of keeping things under control and giving the mike over to those of the guests whom you have already invited to make a toast.

If however, you have a more informal occasion, you might not find it so easy to keep things under control, and your beloved Uncle Freddy who has had a one two many, might find the mike in his hands, in which case all you can do is to sit back and wait to see what happens.

On the other hand, you will find wedding toasts can be the life of the party so to speak. Having a slew of wedding toasts can become very boring, very fast, but if you can keep the can of worms firmly tamped down, you might find that you end up with a memorable few minutes from the people whom you love, and whom you have invited to share your special day together.

It should also be noted that wedding toasts can be said by anyone wanting to give their good wishes to the bridal couple, and if you’re not on the list of people to give a toast but suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by the joy and happiness you’re feeling and want to share it with everyone there are a few rules that you should follow to make your wedding toast a pleasant one.

And the very first thing that you need to do, is to keep it short. Wedding toasts are not wedding speeches, and chances are that the wedding speeches have already come and gone. And if not, don’t worry there will be more than enough people who are there to make a wedding speech. So remember to keep it short, and sweet.

Be careful about what you say. Rude jokes and humiliating or potentially embarrassing anecdotes never go down well at such occasions. Keep things on an even keel, and remember that there is a wide array or ears listening in to what you’re saying, and also remember that embarrassment never works in such situations.

Wedding toasts for the most part should be clean and fun, in keeping with the festive occasion, and should not bring any bad feelings on the part of anyone, least of all the newly married couple. And don’t forget to raise your glass in toast, and to take a sip from your drink. Many people are so nervous about standing up to make the toast that they forget to do the actual toast!

Wedding Toast

Wedding Toast

The big day is here. Your best friend, cousin, brother, sister, favourite aunt, grandmother, mother, or father is getting married. This person is someone close to you, and you can barely wait to be a part of the love and joy that promises to be on the cards for today. And to help join in the celebrations you have decided to give a wedding toast.

And this is where you start to panic. Just the thought of standing up in front of all those guests is enough to make you feel nauseous and already you can feel your knees start to wobble alarmingly, and you have yet to even get to the reception! There’s nothing to worry about really. A wedding toast is most definitely not of the same duration as a wedding speech and you will only have to say a few short words.

Actually, since this is wedding toast, a few short words is all you should say, anything longer will make it sound like a speech and that’s the very last thing that you want to do.

So when do you give a wedding toast? Well, the times vary according to different family traditions, the formality of the occasion and the level of inebriation of the guests.

In other words, if you are not of the official wedding party and you have no idea when to give your wedding toast, you can do one of two things. The first is to try and find out discreetly when the toasts are likely to be given, or wait and bide your time until someone else gives a toast.

One sure sign that toasts are on the way is when the bubbly is popped and all the guests have been served with the champagne. These toasts are generally known as champagne toasts, and the trick to survive the many different toasts given at this point and still remain reasonably sober, is to take only a sip or two of your champagne. Chugging it down like you were at a frat party is probably not the best way to go.

That said, if you want to give a wedding toast there are a few things that you might want to look into before you do so. For instance some weddings are formal and by their very nature preclude too many spontaneously given toasts at varying times. This doesn’t mean that no toasts are given after the first round of toasts, but it does not happen all that often.

So look into the etiquette of giving a wedding toast before you stand up with your champagne glass in hand, and decide when would be the best time to give a wedding toast. You will also want to be at least semi-prepared as to what you’re going to say when you stand up to give the toast, and although this should be short and simple, it should most definitely not come out as blabber! And lastly, don’t forget to drink to your toast!

Wedding Sayings

Wedding Sayings

So you need to give a speech at your best friend’s wedding. Or maybe it’s your cousin’s wedding, or maybe even your brother’s wedding. And it definitely isn’t strange in this and age to give a speech at your mother’s or father’s wedding. Whatever the occasion though, the best way to get through the ordeal of giving a speech is to get help from some tried and true wedding sayings.

Clichéd wedding sayings are clichéd for a reason. They work, they are – for the most part at least – sincere, and they manage to convey the message across with no fumbling for words. Besides which they make the task of writing out a good wedding speech that much easier.

If you’re going to be taking inspiration from any of the wedding sayings however, you do need to be careful not to overdo it. Don’t make the entire speech, or even three quarters of it, one batch of wedding sayings after another.

Use the wedding sayings only as inspiration for your own speech and to lend you a helping hand now and then. Wedding sayings can add a great touch to your already great wedding speech, if only it is used properly.

That said, you can even take from one of the wedding sayings and revolve your own speech around that particular theme. The possibilities are endless. Or you can use any an appropriate wedding quote to take you from one portion of your speech into another.

And if you think that finding appropriate wedding sayings will be a difficult task, you can lay those worries to rest as well. There have been many people before you who have struggled with the same problem that you have, in writing a good wedding speech, and they too have found that various different wedding sayings come in handy.

And some of these people have gone to the trouble of compiling for your benefit, some of these wedding sayings so that you will now have the ability to find what you want housed under one roof, so to speak.

And if you don’t like the thought of having to search through a book of wedding sayings looking for what you want, you always have the option of using that most amazing of tools, the internet.

With the World Wide Web at your fingertips you can go about the task of finding the perfect wedding sayings for you, and finding the ones which can turn your wedding speech into something that is out of this world.

Wedding Poems

Wedding Poems

Wedding poems are a great way to get your joy and happiness over this special occasion, across to your audience of wedding guests. Of course, not everyone can pull it off and some people might find that the words of the poem stick in their throats. In this case, stick with what you’re best at, and give a good wedding speech. Leave the wedding poems to somebody who can pull it off.

In most cases, this will not include the father of the bride, the groom, or the best man, unless of course, the father of the bride has a poem which is special to both himself and to the bride. Then again, you might find that a groom is reciting from a book of wedding poems because he left it too late to write a proper speech, or maybe because he knows that it is the favorite poem of his new bride.

The best man himself might recite a poem, but in most instances you can be sure that it won’t be something that will bring you to your knees in tears of sentiment! That said, wedding poems can be a wonderful way of expressing all you are feeling, and what takes it that extra mile and makes it extra special is if you write the poem by yourself.

Wedding poems which are an outpouring of the owner’s thoughts are ones that are a treasure to remember, and this is especially so if the person who is reciting the poem is a close friend or relative. However, even if you don’t have a poetic bone in your body, in the sense that you are unable to write one, you can still find a suitably fitting poems to recite if you so choose to do so.

And there is no need to panic at this thought. You will find that there are books full of wedding poems which you use and refer to if you feel like it, or these are also good places to get inspiration from for your very own poem. Of course these are best used in moderation and only to help you if you feel like writing your own string of wedding poems!

The internet is also a great source of finding wedding poems which you can use. Most sites will offer these for free, and you will find that your needs are fulfilled nicely with these. As you can see there are a few different ways for you to get your hands on wedding poems which you can put t good use.

Wedding Quotes

Wedding Quotes

A wedding might be a day of joy for many people, but for some people it can be nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. That is of course until they get over their part of the proceedings and finish the task of giving a speech. If you’re not used to giving a speech, and haven’t the least idea about how to go about writing a wedding speech, having to give one can become a source of great frustration. For this very simple reason many people fall back on using wedding quotes to get them through the day.

Using wedding quotes can be a great boon to the first time speech-giver, but you need to make sure that you don’t fall into the trap of making your entire speech, one big mass of wedding quotes after the other. Of course there are other tools and things to help you write and deliver the perfect wedding speech, but how many of us can stand up in front of a gathering of people and manage to sound passably coherent?

Our brains seem to short circuit and the carefully planned and prepared speech we had labored over, goes out the window and instead we’re confronted with shaky legs, sweaty palms, a nervous laugh and a sea of faces swimming back and forth in our vision as they all wait for coherent sentences to fall from our lips.

This is where wedding quotes come in handy. If you peppered your speech with these, you will most likely remember one of two of these at least, and you can use them to good effect even if you forget your entire prepared speech.

Of course, if you feel queasy about the thought of even having to say one or two words, you can resort to giving a short but heartfelt speech, and wedding quotes come in handy in this case as well. If you try really hard you can even revolve your entire (short) speech around one or two quotes.

On the other hand, wedding quotes don’t need to be the province of only the speech-giving handicapped; these wonderfully overused and misused quotes can also breathe life into a speech and can also have the effect of sending your audience into gales of laughter or have them sighing over their glasses of champagne.

However, proper usage of any wedding quotes that you use in your speech is entirely necessary, as it can otherwise make your speech sound stilted and mechanical. And the very last thing that you want to do is to give a speech that is devoid of personalization and relies instead on stale old wedding quotes to get it through.

So use any good wedding quotes that you come across but use them only where appropriate and also remember to use them sparingly. Don’t pepper your entire speech with wedding quotes!

Wedding Ideas

Wedding Ideas

Are you out of wedding ideas? Do you want to do something different with your wedding, something that is bold and screams “you”, to all the guests? Planning a wedding can be a very difficult task indeed, and for many brides it is also a very stressful time in their lives.

All brides want their wedding day to be special, and they also want their special day to stand out in the minds of all concerned as a resounding success. However, the order of the day is to also make the wedding memorable in a different and special way that is unique. It should signal to your guests that three is something unique about your wedding, something that no one has ever done before.

This is why many brides turn to bridal magazines and things for wedding ideas and inspirations. More and more, you will also find that brides to-be are turning towards the services of wedding planners to help them get great new wedding ideas, and create the perfect wedding.

This however, can significantly drive up the costs of the wedding and you will need to be prepared to accept this fact. An increased need for a budget doesn’t always mean that you will get everything that you want. It can instead herald the fact that you are getting costlier items than you otherwise might have done. Then again, you could just be getting everything that you want for the increased price.

It is undeniable however, that hiring the services of a professional wedding planner can have great benefits, the main one being that you get the choice of a few great wedding ideas which you night have stumbled across yourself.

Then again, wedding ideas can be anything that you want it to be, and perfection is in the eye of the beholder. If you, as the bride, are satisfied that you have the utmost perfect wedding planned for yourself, then you have nothing to worry about.

And indulging in a few harmless wedding ideas can brighten up your wedding day considerably. It can also be a great way for you to relax and take the stress out of things. Unless of course you decide to change everything around in your already planned wedding to accommodate the new wedding ideas that you have. That can be just downright stressful no matter which way you decide to look at it!

Wedding Eitquette

Wedding Eitquette

Some weddings can be excruciatingly formal and for the guests, this can mean an interminable wait for the dinner bell to be sounded, or for all the wedding speeches to be wrapped up nice and tidy. However, common courtesy demands that not only must the hosts of the wedding reception adhere strictly to any wedding etiquette they feel necessary to have in the wedding, but guests must do so as well.

There is nothing ruder than a person who is constantly fidgeting in plain view when the speeches are being given, or a person who is always looking at their watch. And just as there are unwritten rules of wedding etiquette which should be followed by wedding party and guests alike, there is wedding etiquette which also determines who gets seated where, who is asked to give a speech, and also in which order the speeches are delivered.

It is also true that traditionally, it is the father of the bride who is first asked to speak, and this is for the simple reason that since he is the person footing the bill, wedding etiquette demands that he do the honors and welcome everyone to wedding reception. It is also a gesture of honor which is directed at the father of bride, an acknowledgement of sorts for all that he has done.

The groom will usually follow the father of the bride in the speech department, and wedding etiquette demands that he thank his new father-in-law for the wonderful reception. There are also other types of wedding etiquette, other than that which you see used for speeches. These are all too easy to get confused with wedding traditions, but when you look closely at these, it is possible to differentiate between the two.

For instance, opening the dance floor to the guests is usually done by the bridal couple, and this not tradition per se, but wedding etiquette instead. Father and daughter having their customary dance, is not wedding etiquette, but simply tradition. Then you have the tradition of cutting the cake, throwing the bouquet etc. These are all traditions and can go any which way that you please.

Wedding etiquette on the other hand, demands certain things of you which needs to be fulfilled, like for instance having a receiving line for all the guests at the beginning of the reception. This is not only common courtesy, but also a part of wedding etiquette which must be fulfilled. Thanking the guests for coming to the reception, is also another such part of wedding etiquette that must be looked at.

As you can see there are a number of things that can be construed as wedding etiquette, and these can also be confused equally with wedding traditions. If you find that your wedding is drawing nearer and nearer, you can make a list of the things which are necessary for you to do, which can be construed as wedding etiquette, and which ones are traditions.

Wedding Humor

Wedding Humor

If there is one thing that is going to lift a wedding speech from the very depths despair, it has to be some patented wedging humor. Weddings are great places to find all sorts of humor and jokes running amok and if you naturally have a funny bone in your body, you would do well to let it loose, especially if you are deep in the throes of writing a speech.

Wedding humor is also great in that, applied generously and appropriately it can breathe life to just about anything that you say. Of course, wedding humor is also a double edged sword. You will need to keep it as clean as possible to account for any children and people with easily offended sensibilities who are listening in, and who might be lurking in the audience.

If you have rowdy or bawdy jokes which are best left in the locker room, leave it for a more appropriate time, and for a group of people who would definitely appreciate those sentiments. Another thing that makes wedding humor a double edged sword is the very nature of the humor itself. Your humor and jokes might be great, but have you ever heard of such a thing as, too much of a good thing?

Yes, there are limits to humor as well, and if you are slated to give a wedding speech, using the clichéd, and non-clichéd, bits of wedding humor can be a great thing and can keep your audience awake for the entire time. But remember to only give a veritable dusting of humor, sort of like the icing on a cake.

Wedding humor can also be a great way to break the ice when you’re placed next to someone you’ve never met before, at dinner. Just remember the punch lines, remember to make it funny and most of all remember to whom it is you’re talking, and about what you’re joking.

If you’re not someone who is comfortable with using humor, and you have trouble delivering a punch line with the appropriate panache, then use it as sparingly as possible. Even wedding humor and jokes can go awry if not delivered in the manner that it needs to be.

That said, if you can bring yourself to deliver even gentle lines of wedding humor, you will find your speech taking off, your conversation skyrocketing and your outlook on life become brighter. Just remember to have a smile on your face, and pretty soon without your even realizing it, it will become genuine and you will find it easier to laugh and make jokes.

Traditional Wedding Toasts

Traditional Wedding Toasts

If you’re thinking about giving a wedding toast, but are finding yourself a little short of ideas on what exactly to say, give yourself a break and look at some traditional wedding toasts instead of the newer and snazzier wedding toasts.

Traditional wedding toasts are traditional for a reason. They work. And they do the job of conveying to the bridal couple just how you feel, and has the added benefit of being sincere if delivered properly.

Just because the trend these days is to break away from all things traditional and strike out on your own, you don’t need to follow in these decidedly murky footsteps. Let’s face it, not everyone can be innovative and give totally great wedding toasts that are also original. That’s probably asking too much of a person whose knees are knocking together at the mere thought of having to give a toast.

Besides, most of the innovative wedding toasts that we hear these days will most likely become the traditional wedding toasts of the future, so if you find a trendy new wedding toast and can pull it off with the correct amount of humor, warmth and panache, then go for it.

But if you feel more comfortable being yourself and conveying your best wishes and joy in your own words, then don’t be afraid to make use of the traditional wedding toasts to suit your own ends. The trick here is to take the traditional wedding toasts and rearrange them around to suit you, your normal mode of speech and the wedding itself.

Another thing that you will find with traditional wedding toasts is that you will rarely go wrong with one. After all who can fault a generously given, “May all your troubles be small ones; may all your dreams come true; and may your days be filled with love, light and laughter.”

Everyone likes these types of wedding toasts and you know that you can’t go wrong with traditional wedding toasts such as that. Feel free to add a few words beforehand if you want to make it more personal, but remember to keep it short. This is a toast after all, not a speech.

So although trendy and innovative might be the watchword of the day, if you’re one of those individuals who finds it difficult to string two words together coherently when faced with a situation where you have to speak out in front of a group of people, stick with the traditional wedding toasts. Remember, they’re traditional because they work, and that’s really what you want – a good wedding toast that sounds just right.

Wedding Blessings

Wedding Blessings

Not to be trite or anything, but weddings are (almost) always happy occasions and a time to celebrate the joys of life. It is also a time when friends and family of the happy couple can join in with them and help them to celebrate their new life together. To this end, wedding blessings are a good way for you to show your happiness and to share your joy with everyone present.

Wedding blessings of course, is just another way to say “wedding toast” and generally runs along the same lines. Remember here that wedding blessings or toasts, are not supposed to be speeches and should not run into many long and tedious minutes worth of speaking. You want to share your joy, not spread boredom!

Wedding blessings, depending on the person giving them can run the gamut from happy, to sentimental, to rousingly cheerful. This is the time when you need to let your happiness at the joyous turn of events show, and this is when you need to shine.

Of course, into some people’s happiness comes a giant rock of worry, because let’s face it, not everyone can get up in front of a crowd of people and say anything let alone give one of the best wedding blessings ever!

The answer to that of course, is to keep to your chair and let other people handle the speeches, toasts and wedding blessings. But what happens if you are asked to stand up and deliver a toast or wedding blessing?

Well, for one thing, if you have enough time to prepare you can look up some interesting, and funny, or sentimental wedding blessings from a good source which can provide you with a few of these time honored sayings. Or you can start to panic and wonder why this had to happen to you.

Another option is for you to pretend to have laryngitis, but that might not go down too well when you forget yourself and start to talk as soon as the period of wedding blessings and toasts are over and done with!

Of course, since wedding blessings are in no way as long as wedding speeches can be, it is a blessing in itself, and really if you stick with option one from the earlier paragraph (not the laryngitis, but the one where you prepare a wedding blessing in advance), you will find that you are alright and that you have nothing to worry about, well, except for actually standing up and giving the wedding blessings of course!

Wedding Congratulations

Wedding Congratulations

Have you ever been to a wedding and hit a complete blank wall when it comes time for you to extend your congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple? Well, if you have, don’t worry, you’re not the only person to do so. Certain situations just tend to make your forget what you were going to say, and this is why keeping a small book of wedding congratulations can come in handy.

These can help you to get through even a difficult task such as making a wedding toast, all you need to do is to keep the relevant sayings in mind. But then again, that was the entire problem wasn’t it, the fact that you couldn’t keep any good wedding congratulations in your mind.

Some people will mumble something that passes for your generic congratulations and be done with it, but others will cast around in their brain to find something more fitting for the occasion and come up with odd things.

So at a time like that, don’t try to find something positively genius to say, stick with the most basic of wedding congratulations, and move on. If you didn’t do well, then only you will be aware of this fact, and you can later go through the book on wedding congratulations and sayings which you bought just the other day, and look longingly at all the things you could have said, but didn’t.

The one thing that can be said about this, or indeed any other such situation, is that it gets decidedly easier as you go through a few of them, and you will find that eventually you can deliver a smooth, “Many happy congratulations!”, with a straight face and an unwavering voice.

There are however, only a limited number of ways in which you can give wedding congratulations to a bridal couple and once you have one that suits you, you can keep using it, even going so far as to make variations of it when necessary.

As mentioned it keeps getting easier with practice, and if you feel really nervous of going up to the couple and giving them your best wishes, you can even practice in front of a mirror until you feel comfortable with yourself.

There are more people out there than you might even realize who have the same problem that you do and who feel nervous when they are thrust outside of their normal social environment and find that they have to do something they have never done before in their lives.

This is why a book of wedding congratulations and sayings can come in so handy. And if you can’t find such a book near you, then you can always make use of something like the internet to help you find the sayings that you need.

Speech Writing Help

Speech Writing Help

Whether you’re desperately in need of help to write your speech, or whether you’re only moderately in need of aid for writing your speech, there’s nothing to worry about, there are many avenues you can pursue to look for appropriate speech writing help. And the good thing about these different avenues is that you can find the necessary help for just about any type of speech you might have to give.

This means that if you have to prepare a speech for your college speech class, or if you need to prepare a speech for work, or even if you need to prepare a speech to give at your best friend’s wedding, you will most definitely be able to find speech writing help to suit your needs.

Speech writing help comes in forms and disguises from your best friend, to your college professor, to speech writing software. You will also find that speech writing help can be found in the guise of professional speech writers – you supply them with your needs and wants for your speech, and they supply you with a beautifully written speech!

That of course, is cheating in the eyes of some people, but if you have the need and they have the ability to fulfill your need, then why not, right? (Unless of course your speech is part of a college project for which you will be graded!)

All that aside, if you decide that you don’t have the energy to go looking for speech writing professionals and you most definitely don’t want to beard the lion in his den and ask your college professor how to go about writing a speech, you can always resort to asking your best friend – or you could just get some speech writing software. Most times you will find that a good speech writing software program is all the speech writing help that you need.

It will mean that you need to work on your speech at least a little bit, but the bulk of the hard work will be taken over by the speech writing software program. This can come in very handy especially when you’re pressed for time, like if you’re the best man and have left the speech writing until the very last minute.

It’s at times like these that speech writing help in the form of a good software program can step in and help to save your bacon. You will also find that with a good speech writing help tool such as the speech writing software at your hands, you will be less afraid to venture into the muddy waters of writing speeches.

Speech Writing Software

Speech Writing Software

This is it, the big day has come ever closer and you’re starting to panic. You know that you can’t put it off much longer but really, you’ve all but hit a brick a wall in trying to write your best man speech. This is where speech writing software can come in handy.

True, you might have left one of your more important duties until the very last second but there’s no need to despair. A good speech writing software program can do wonders for you and even perform miracles. All you need to do is to stop panicking and start thinking, because even speech writing software needs some input from you as to what the content should be.

Other than that, you will find that most speech writing software programs available these days are fairly intelligent and can generate a good speech for you. The only problem you might encounter is if it sounds too mechanical or impersonal.

In this case you will need to get your hands dirty and wade into the ins and outs of your newly created speech and tweak it here and there so that you get a speech that sounds sincere yet warm, and more importantly, sounds as if you wrote it yourself!

If you have a need to write a speech for a reason other than the fact that you’re the best man however, you will find that a good speech writing software program will come in handy then as well.

Speech writing software can easily help you to get a speech ready in short order for just about anything that you might need it for. This includes speech writing for business purposes, educational purposes, or even recreational purposes such as being the best man at your friend’s wedding.

Some people have also found that with good speech writing software at their disposal, they have better confidence when delivering their speech as well. This is the confidence that comes with the knowledge that you have a good speech in your hands and that is worth more than words can say.

Once you get all that sorted out however, you will find that with your speech writing software that it is clear sailing from then onwards, so there really is no need to worry about the speech you need to give in little over four hours. What you might want to worry about however, is where you placed the rings for safe keeping!

Order Of Wedding Speeches

As with anything in life that is truly important there is a certain order to be followed to do something properly. And this applies to one of life’s greatest moments – your wedding. Here you will find that a certain order of wedding speeches will be followed for tradition to be carried on.

Traditions however are not set in stone, and while they are for the most part followed to the letter, as in the order of wedding speeches given during the reception, it is also true that traditions have a way of changing an evolving. And really when you look at it, the traditions that we follow these days, and which some people believe to be set in stone, were but new and innovative changes when they were first introduced.

It took time and perseverance for traditions to come about, and of these only the strongest and most enduring survived the test of time. This is why when you take something as traditional as the order of wedding speeches, it will come as no surprise that there is a revolution in the making.

These days, the traditional order of wedding speeches where first the father of the bride speaks, then the groom and then the best man, has by and large, not been replaced so much as it has been subtly altered to fit the changing times. Whether these changes will take hold and become tradition fifty or even a hundred years down the line is a different matter.

What matters now is that the order of wedding speeches is not as set in stone as it once used to be. If you have been invited to speak at a wedding, then the very first thing that you need to do is to find out whether the traditional order of wedding speeches is to be followed, or whether a more informal approach is to be followed.

This will also give you a clue as to how to proceed in your own speech, and what point and highlights you might want to touch upon. If you’re the father of the bride, the bridegroom, or the best man however, there are a few things that will be required for you to speak about regardless of whether or not the wedding is a formal one or not.

Only time will tell whether this new order of wedding speeches will become a tradition or not, but until then, and until tradition has again become firmly established, you can be sure that there will be changes, and that there will be a new order of wedding speeches to be followed at weddings, just as there will be a new generation of wedding ceremonies and receptions.

Little Sister Poems

Little Sister Poems

Ah, the joys of little sister poems recited at weddings. Can you really get enough of it? The question is, more to the point, if you’re the little sister in question, do you really want to recite, or have recited to you, a poem at a wedding. In my opinion, and being the littlest sister in question I can state emphatically that no, I do not want any of these things happening to me.

Having been forced to recite a little sister poem on the occasion of my oldest sister’s nuptials, I then lived in hope that I wouldn’t have to do the same for my other two sisters. My hope was in vain, and amazingly short. Especially the time when I pretended to have laryngitis!

I’m not like my sisters, or indeed any other female in my family, and detest with a vengeance anything that comes even close nauseatingly sappy. Had I been given the choice I would have been glad to give a rousingly good speech that did not resort to any sap. I was not so lucky.

Little sister poems are all good and well, as long as you hit just the right blend of happy sentiment and maybe even humor. And the best part is, you don’t even have to think up any of the nicely sentimental lines yourself. A verse from here, and another from there, and something which has meaning to the bride or groom in question, is all that is needed to make really good little sister poems.

And now that it is my turn to walk down the aisle, all I can say is that I live in dread at what type of little sister poems I’m going to have to listen to. Hopefully it won’t become too mushy and will be something I can live with, but then again, since I know it’s coming from the heart, I do believe that it will work out quite nicely regardless.

It should also be noted here for all you little sisters out there, whether you are going to be on the receiving end of these little sister poems, or whether you are going to be doling it out, remember that it might be sappy, but it’s all done for the sake of love, and in the end nothing beats that. So say your piece, or listen quietly, and revel in the knowledge that your family cares enough about you to go to such extraordinary lengths.

Pre Written Speeches

So, you’ve been asked to speak at a wedding. Already you can feel your knees shaking and your throat closing up so tightly that you can barely get a squeak out. This is a normal state of affairs for most people when they learn they have to give a speech of any kind, not only a wedding speech. The good thing about giving a wedding speech however, is the fact that you have at hand, pre written speeches which you can turn to in your hour of need.

These speeches are for the most part, works of art and depending on where you get them from, might even cost you an arm and a leg. But then again, what’s an arm and a leg if you can get up in front of a crowd of people secure in the knowledge that you have a doozy of a wedding speech to give.

This in fact, is the reason why so many people resort to using pre written speeches. For one thing, these have been written by professionals so you know that every penny you spend on them is good, and for another thing if you’re not one of the most literary minded people in the world then you don’t have the hassle of having to write out your speech – all you need to do is to use one of the many pre written speeches.

The one thing you need to be careful about when using pre written speeches however, is that your speech doesn’t end up sounding impersonal. This can very easily happen since none of these pre written speeches were written with you in mind. They are of a necessity a generic formula transformed into something that sounds wonderful, but which is also very impersonal.

So even if you use pre written speeches you might find that you still have to have change things around slightly to make the speech sound more like you, and definitely more personal. Just because you use pre written speeches it doesn’t mean that you have to stick with the formula exactly.

You can change things around slightly to better suit your own personal style of speaking. A tweak here and a small change to reflect your normal speech patterns will make all the difference to your speech, and no one will even know that you are using a pre written speech. Just remember to substitute the real names of the bridal couple for the names given in the pre written speeches! You really wouldn’t want to say John and Lindsey, when you meant to say John and Danielle!

Jewish Wedding Toasts

Jewish Wedding Toasts

Irish wedding toasts, Jewish wedding toasts, traditional wedding toasts. Why are they different and why do you find that more and more, they are cropping up in different weddings, Jewish, Irish or with a traditional slant? The reason for this is simple enough and is explained by two words: global village.

That’s right, the world is becoming a smaller place, and for this reason alone you will find Jewish wedding toasts cropping up in traditional weddings with not a Jewish bone in its body, and Irish wedding toasts cropping up not only at weddings, but also in popular culture such as books and movies.

To give a toast however, is no simple thing. Not everyone is comfortable with standing up in front of a gathered crowd of wedding guests and giving a toast. In fact many people will do just about everything that they can to not have to face the moment, stand up, get the attention of a whole room full of people, and have their say.

And if indeed they manage the miraculous feat of doing all of this, they might find themselves without a clear memory of what exactly it was that they said! This happens to most everyone who dreads public speaking. But sometimes a person might feel more pressured to deliver a good toast if they are well known by friends and family of the bridal couple, and this can cause problems.

If you know that you might be called upon to give a wedding toast, you might want to become familiar with a few wedding toasts, so that if ever the need arises you too can rise admirably and calmly to the occasion. To this end, you might want to take a look at a few Irish wedding toasts, traditional wedding toasts, and even some Jewish wedding toasts.

These can all come in handy when you least expect it to, and with at least one wedding toast of each type in your mind, you should have no worries on whether or not you can give a rousing good wedding toast.

Just remember that you are giving a wedding toast and not a wedding speech, so keep it short and simple. This is an especially good idea if you know that you are a poor public speaker.

But in truth whether you are at a Jewish wedding listening to or giving Jewish wedding toasts, or whether you are at an Hindu wedding, or whether you are attending your sister’s traditional white and orange blossomed wedding, you will find that the sentiments are the same, and that the toasts themselves all want only the same thing for the bride and the groom: long life and happiness.

Jewish Wedding Speeches

A wedding is a wedding is a wedding, right? Wrong. Every wedding is special on its own right, and every wedding day is special to the couple getting married. But if all weddings are different does this mean that all wedding speeches are also different? For instance, would Jewish wedding speeches be any different from traditional Christian wedding speeches?

And what about the rest of the world – do speeches given at any of these weddings differ, from the above mentioned Jewish wedding speeches et al? The answer, in many cases would be an unthinking, and emphatic “Yes!” If however, deeper thought is given, you can’t help but notice that although each and every one of these special occasions as well as speeches given, are different, they are also essentially the same.

This means that if you listen very closely to an Irish wedding speech, and compare it with some of the more traditional wedding speeches as well as with Jewish wedding speeches, you will find distinct similarities between them. The core sentiment of the speech remains the same: to wish the bride and groom joy in their life, now and forever more.

The difference then, lies not in the sentiment that is expressed in the wedding speeches, but in the religious, and cultural doctrine that will be an essential part of any wedding. Even in weddings with no particular religious slant whatsoever, you will find that wedding speeches given, reflect this tone of spirit.

So if you have been chosen to honor and celebrate with the happy couple by giving a speech, you have no need to panic, right? After all, at heart all wedding speeches are the same, and you might as well use the same speech you used two years earlier for your sister’s wedding. But wait, this time you are attending a Jewish wedding.

This means that you will in all probability have to bone up on your Jewish wedding speeches instead of using an earlier speech. Since there are some very specific traditions inherent in a Jewish wedding, you will need to make sure that you are familiar with the various ins and outs of it.

This way, if you need to, you can even make changes, off the cuff so to speak, and not have to worry if you have somehow managed to say the wrong thing!

But really, Jewish wedding speeches are more or less a reaffirmation of the love the bride and groom feel for each other, the joy you feel in being a part of this special occasion, and a blessing or a wish for the continued happiness of the bride and the groom. Kind of like any other wedding speech, isn’t it?

Irish Wedding Toasts

Irish wedding toasts are becoming more and more the norm these days. Not because it is only Irish couples getting married, but because many people have finally seen the timeless elegance and beauty of traditional (and even non traditional) Irish wedding toasts.

It is not unusual to hear a “Sláinte!” (meaning good health and pronounced something like “Slawn-tche”), at a wedding these days. In fact it has become so popular that you will even hear some of the guests replying kind – even if they aren’t Irish.

Some examples of good Irish wedding toasts are, “May the light of friendship guide your paths together, may the laughter of children grace the halls of your home, and may the joy of living for one another trip a smile from your lips, a twinkle from your eye.”

You can also have something along the lines of, “May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies, quick to make friends. But rich or poor, slow or quick, may you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.”

There are other good Irish wedding toasts to be found, such as, “May your troubles be less, and your blessings be more. And may nothing but happiness come through your door.”

This is a twist on one of the more often heard Irish wedding toasts, “In your life I hope you do four things: lie, steal, cheat and drink. When you lie, do it to save a friend, when you steal, steal someone’s heart. When you cheat, cheat death, and when you drink, drink with me.”

The traditional version of this toast goes along the lines of, “There are four things in life that you must never do: lie, steal, cheat, or drink. But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love, If you must steal, steal away from bad company, If you must cheat, cheat death, And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away.”

One of the best Irish wedding toasts though is this very traditional one where the bride and the groom give the toast, and the guests reply to it. “Friends and relatives so fond and dear, ‘tis our greatest pleasure to have you here. When many years this day has passed, fondest memories will always last. So we drink a cup of this Irish mead and ask God’s blessing in your hour of need.”

The response to this very traditional of Irish wedding toasts, goes along the lines of, “On this special day, our wish to you, the goodness of the old, and the best of the new. May God bless you both who drink this mead, may it always fill your every need.”

Irish Wedding Blessing

A wedding of any sort is not complete without someone giving wedding blessings, and with the diversity of people around the world, you can find a number of wedding blessings from different cultures coming to the fore. One such favored type of wedding blessing is that of an Irish wedding blessing.

Maybe it is the humor, or may be it is the sentimentality, it could even be the beautiful language in which these blessings are spoken, but more and more you can find at least one Irish wedding blessing being spoken at a wedding. And you can be guaranteed that it doesn’t become old and repetitious. These sayings are long lived already, and they seem set to become immortalized in the annals of human history.

The reason for this is of course, that a traditional Irish wedding blessing is so elegant, and so evocative, that it has become timeless. Many are the times that you will hear an Irish wedding blessing at a wedding and many are the times when you can look around and find a tear or two in the eyes of someone when such a blessing is given.

A good example of an Irish wedding blessing is “May you both live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.” Another good example is, “May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies and quick to make friends.”

And this is only the beginning. There are yet other great examples of a good Irish wedding blessing to be found, and if you look in the right places, you will find many of these sayings amassed in one place, such as in an Irish wedding blessing book, which contains numerous of these sayings. Or you can even find them on the internet.

There are many Irish communities living outside their beloved homeland who get together, and the internet is one good way to find not only these people, but also to find a few hundred different Irish wedding blessings.

The two mentioned above are very short, and sweet. They are used often, as are other blessings, but this has to be an all time favorite Irish wedding blessing. It goes something along the lines of, “On this special day, our wish to you, The goodness of the old, the best of the new. God bless you both who drink this mead, may it always fill your every need. – Sláinte!”

Irish Toasts

The good thing about Irish toasts, is that you don’t need to be Irish to appreciate them. Anyone who is not Irish can, and most of the time will, fully appreciate the Irish sense of humor and sentimentality. And let’s not forget the touch of the blarney that can sometimes creeps into Irish toasts as well. In fact it is this which makes some Irish toasts unforgettable.

And when you take Irish toasts for weddings, there is simply nothing more enjoyable. (And don’t forget to keep the champagne flowing!) With so many people wanting to toast the couple (any excuse to chug one down!), you can be sure that the champagne will flow readily and steadily.

For all that however, the Irish are a sentimental people and they know how to make the most of an occasion such as a wedding. You can be sure that along with the hankies, smiles will be breaking out. Not to mention the completely unpronounceable Celtic (Irish), which will bring a smile to your lips even if you don’t understand it!

However, this is what makes Irish toasts something to be treasured, and it just goes to show that the old ways are not dying, just growing stronger, and changing into something else, much in the manner of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.

If you have ever listened to Irish toasts you would have found that quite a few of them begin with the completely unpronounceable “Sláinte” (try pronouncing it as: Slaw-in-tche), which means good health. The “good” portion of this is implied, with the actual “Sláinte” meaning health.

Examples of a few good Irish toasts would be something like this: “Sláinte”; “Sláinte agus saol agat” meaning Good health and long life to you; “Sláinte chuig na fir, agus go mairfidh na mná go deo” meaning, Health to the men, and may the women live forever!

Those were only a taste of some of the more common Irish toasts. There are many other such Irish toasts, and you will find that not all of these begin, (or even end!), with Sláinte. For example you might hear this sometimes, “May your grass always be green, may your skies forever blue, may God bless the Irish, and may God bless you!” There are other good Irish toasts and if the need arises you should be able to find a book containing these. Otherwise for now, “May the luck of the Irish posses you, may the devil fly off with your worries, and may God bless you forever and ever.”

Irish Drinking Toasts

Irish Drinking Toasts

If you’ve never met an Irishman, then you don’t know what fun you’re missing out on. And if you’ve never had a drink (or two or three) with an Irishman, you don’t know what you’re missing. The Irish are as a people, jovial, and generous to a fault. They also have some of the best drinking toasts ever, and if you’ve never heard any Irish drinking toasts you’re definitely missing out on something!

Irish drinking toasts will normally tickle the listener’s funny bone, and if you find yourself in the company of several Irishmen, don’t be surprised if there is more than one toast. Along with their sense of fun and their steadfastness, you will also find that they love to “whet their whistle” many a time, which is why there are so many Irish drinking toasts doing the rounds.

And although you might think that an Irish pub would be the best place to hear some Irish drinking toasts, you would be (partly) mistaken. Some of the best places where their sense of fun and camaraderie comes out, is when they are at social functions.

So, for something like a wedding, you should not really be surprised to hear a few of the cleaner Irish drinking toasts being bandied around along with the traditional Irish wedding toasts and blessings.

Most of the time you will hear a “Sláinte” (pronounced something along the lines of “Slawn-tche”), which means good health. This and other Irish drinking toasts beginning with “Sláinte” are generally the equivalent of the proverbial “Cheers!” or “Salute!”, but you have to admit that it sounds a whole lot better than a simple “Cheers!”

If you have ever heard any Irish drinking toasts, you might have noticed that a suitably fitting response is always to reply back “Sláinte”. Since this means “health” it is perfectly acceptable to answer a toast with it. You will also find that many Irish drinking toasts begin with “Sláinte”, or have it contained somewhere within the toast itself.

Other good Irish drinking toasts have nothing whatsoever to do with good health, but they can be something more spiritual in nature. A good example of this is, “May the love and protection Saint Patrick can give, be yours as long as you live!” Or maybe even, “May God not weaken your hand”.

As you can see Irish drinking toasts are many and varied, not to mention colorful. They can bring tears of joy or sentiment to your eyes, and they epitomize all that is good about the Irish. “Here’s to a sweetheart, a bottle, and a friend. The first beautiful, the second full, and the last ever faithful.”

How To Write A Speech

How To Write A Speech

To know how to write a speech, you need to first know how to write entertainingly. At least that was what a friend of mine told me when I went to him for help. Naturally this led to a very short but pithy conversation, which I very maturely ended by throwing a pillow at him.

I could see his point, but it wasn’t a very valid one to me. To know how to write a speech, you don’t need to be able to write in an entertaining manner. You need to be able to write coherently. The entertaining part, at least in my mind, comes at the point when you have to deliver the speech. Even the best of comedic speeches can sound as dry as dust if delivered in funereal tones.

So that put an end to that trend of thought. But then we were left with the small factor of my needing to churn out a great speech in less than a week, not to mention the fact that I had to see on how to write a speech that would be convincingly good and not put my audience to sleep!

This point unnaturally enough, was the starting point for my speech. I wrote in big bold letters on my notepad, that I did not want to put my audience to sleep. Then I went on to list the many things that I did, and did not, want out of my speech, and what I ended up with was a nice mish-mash of things that would have had my high school English teacher in despair.

But it got the job done. It got my writing juices flowing and gave me the impetus to first of all get something down on paper. And that I felt was the first point everyone should know about, on how to write a speech. Don’t think overly hard, don’t worry about what you have to write, just get something down on paper and before you realize it you will have what will be known henceforth as the first draft of your speech.

Once this is done, I strongly suggest leaving the speech aside and doing something more interesting such as having a cold one at the nearest watering hole. That was the second item on my list of how to write a speech. This I found is a very good way to clear your mind of all the cobwebs that have been building up since you first learned you had a speech to write.

After that, when you are in a suitably clear frame of mind, most likely the next morning, (or afternoon!), you can then go back to your first draft, read it through, take the relevant bits and pieces of the speech which sound at least halfway decent to your ears, and work on a second, third or even fourth draft, until everything sounds just right. And that is how to write a speech for any occasion, on the fly.

Free Wedding Toast

Contrary to popular belief that there is no such thing as “free”, with the spawn of the internet, many things are available “free”. Of course, not all of these things are worth much, and in some cases you get exactly what you paid for – nothing. But in the case of the many different websites and people offering you the use of free wedding toast ideas, you will find that most of the time you have hit a gold mine.

Of course, these are free for a number of reasons which we won’t get into now, but suffice it to say that with a little bit of judicious searching, you will be able to find the perfect free wedding toast to suit the occasion perfectly. Of course, as these are free, and many other people might have had the same thought as you, you might also want to keep another free wedding toast (or two) up your sleeve, just in case.

That way, if someone beats you to the punch and gets in your favorite free wedding toast, you can always resort to using one of the other ones which you have. Then again, you might find that a free wedding toast just isn’t your cup of tea. You might instead be tempted to change and combine a few of these to make a really good wedding toast, that other guests will most definitely not have waiting in the sidelines to trump you.

Remember, these sayings and toasts are free for a reason. They are tried and true, and just about everyone in the world knows about them, or has heard of them at some point in time. This is the reason they are free. There is no copyright license on many of the free wedding toast and quotes because no one knows for certain exactly where they originated from.

In fact some of them come down from the times of antiquity and most definitely the owner has long since given up right to these. In fact, they have also changed so much in the retelling, with so many personal twists and tales, that they might be unrecognizable from the original.

Whatever it is, and whatever free wedding toast you use, don’t forget to make it personal. It might be a toast and not a speech that you are giving, but that doesn’t make it any less important in the eyes of the bridal couple, and for this reason alone you need to make it special, to suit the special occasion.

Free Wedding Speech Samples

If you’ve been asked to give a speech at a wedding and you’re in panic mode right now because you have no idea what to say, and absolutely no idea how you’re going to even be able to get up and have your say, don’t worry, you’re one of the many people who are in that same plight right about now. To counter this teensy problem, there are places where you can get free wedding speech samples to help you on your way.

These free wedding speech samples can be found in many places, but the most proliferate of these, is to be found on the internet. A small search will yield many results on free wedding speech samples, and you can use these as a suitable jumping off point for your own speech. And when you’re done, you can help another such panic stricken person as you, by posting your own wedding speech onto one of these sites.

This way, the same old speeches don’t do the rounds as there will be more and more new material filtering through to the masses. And you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you also contributed to the growing number of free wedding speech samples on the internet, and that someone else in the same boat as you are right now, might have found it to be highly useful.

That aside though, you will find that the internet is a great source to find a staggeringly large number of free wedding speech samples, and with a little bit of luck – and perseverance – you will be able to find from amongst the many free wedding speech samples, something that touches off a chord in your writer’s soul, and which will prompt you to write the best wedding speech ever.

Barring that, you can always use these free wedding speech samples as a great blueprint to writing a wedding speech. Think of it in the terms of a witch’s brew. A little bit from here, a joke or two from there, and sprinkling of seriousness from your heart, and voila! You have a homegrown wedding speech that fits the bill perfectly.

Of course you need to be careful when writing a wedding speech using these free wedding speech samples. It can become all too easy to become mired in them and lose the feeling of what you really want to say. It can become all too easy to use flowery language that you don’t normally use, and to use jokes and things which aren’t really in your normal repertoire.

The best thing you can do is to first get down the relevant points that you want to say in your wedding speech, and then use these free wedding speech samples to help you say it properly. They can give you the much needed insight into how to compose the speech in a manner that will not only be entertaining but which will also be interesting to all concerned.

Bridegroom Speech

For some, although not for many bridegrooms, their wedding day can turn into a nightmare because they need to get up in front of friends and family alike and give a speech. The bridegroom speech is sometimes more troublesome to the bridegroom than anything else he might have to face.

In fact, some of the more nervous public speakers find that they are unable to enjoy their own wedding day for the simple reason that they have to give a speech. Fear of public speaking is one of the most hotly feared things in society and some people even fear it above death itself!

If this is the case for a nervous bridegroom, he can find himself falling to pieces as the time draws nearer to deliver the traditional bridegroom speech. Traditionally speaking, the bridegroom speech is the second speech to be given and follows the speech by the father of the bride.

Depending on the formality of the occasion and the customs of the family, the speech will come either before the meal, or before the dessert – or really any time that the family has deemed it suitable to have the speeches.

The bridegroom speech will then be followed – customarily that is – by the best man’s speech. Or, here again depending on the customs and the formality of the occasion, the bride’s speech might follow the bridegroom speech.

If you’re the bridegroom and are nervous about giving your speech, there are one or two things that you can do beforehand to be better able to deal with the pressure. And the first thing that you need to do is to prepare yourself.

Yes, being the bridegroom, you might have a lot on your plate but you need to take the time out to write your speech, and to practice going through it at least once or twice to familiarize yourself with the speech itself. This can go a long way towards banishing your panic attacks on the actual day, and can also prepare you to give your speech with a semblance of confidence.

When writing your bridegroom speech there are also a few things that you might want to take into consideration and these are the most important parts of the bridegroom speech.

As the bridegroom there are certain duties that you will need to fulfill in giving your speech, and these mainly involve your thanking a lot of people for their unstinting help and effort to make your wedding day such a special occasion.

Chief among the accolades you will be handing out in your bridegroom speech is to your new father-in-law. Most likely he will be the one footing the bill for your wedding, so a big thank you is normally received well. Then you will also want to thank the guests for sharing your special day with you among other things, as well as remembering anyone else who needs special mentioning.

Champagne-Toast

At most weddings these days a champagne toast is very common and you will find that more often than not, there is more than one champagne toast happening. This is the time when friends and family get a chance to give their regards and best wishes to the newly married couple.

Of course, this also depends to a very great extent on whether or not the wedding is a formal affair or not. If it is a very formal wedding, then you might find that certain people have already been given the task of making the champagne toast. Most of the time, a few people would have already been sounded out about making a champagne toast, just as some people would have been asked to give a wedding speech.

Then again, if the wedding is more along the lines an informal affair, then things will probably be flexible. This means that if a guest wishes to, they will be able to give a champagne toast. Most of the time, you will find that the wedding speeches are given after dinner before dessert, or just before dinner.

Toasts for the most part tend to be given at certain key points during the wedding reception and these can vary according to traditions and things, which the family might hold dear to them. However, that said, if you do want to give a champagne toast and you’re not too sure when is the best time to do so, you can always wait until someone starts off the round of toasts – someone always does

The point of toast is to keep it short, and to the point. This means that you mustn’t ramble on ceaselessly and bore the guests to tears. If you have something to say then have your say, raise your glass and drink to your toast.

And this is also another point that you might want to keep in mind. Some people become so unnerved by the experience of standing up in front of so many people and giving a toast that they completely forget to drink to their own toast!

If you can feel an attack of nerves coming along at the mere thought of having to give anything even as short as a champagne toast, take deep calming breaths and paste a smile on your face.

Pretty soon the smile will start to become natural as the mere act of pretending to smile can bring a real smile to your lips. And since this is a champagne toast, you will want to make sure that you give the toast sometime after the bubbly has been popped.

After Dinner Speeches

At most evening weddings, be they the formal variety or not, you will find that after dinner speeches are the norm. Then again the norm does not mean that it is written in stone and you will also find that wedding speeches are given before the meal is served. These speeches are sort of a leading up to, of the meal.

After dinner speeches however, have become more popular as of late for a number of reasons, one of them being that the guests also tend to be more relaxed and in a mellow mood. This is also conducive to having them seated in one place for the time it takes to deliver the after dinner speeches!

Of course this is not the only reason for having after dinner speeches instead of speeches before dinner, but it does help. You also find that with after dinner speeches people are more ready to be entertained, they are more relaxed and so they also tend to open up more and be more receptive.

And for anyone who has to give a speech, a more receptive audience is always a good start. After dinner speeches also give the speech giver more time to become nervous and to worry about their turn coming up!

However all that aside, after dinner speeches at a wedding can swing either in a very formal manner, or they can be informal, with this depending largely on whether or not the wedding itself is formal or not. The first person to normally give the speech is almost always the father of the bride.

He is then followed by the groom, and the best man. After that sometimes, again depending on the formality of the occasion and the wishes of the wedding party, the bride might give a small speech, and sometimes even the bridesmaid.

It is also not unheard of, for the father of the groom, or some other such relative of the groom to give a speech. Normally you will find that after dinner speeches don’t last forever and a day, and most speakers will be kind enough not to drone on unceasingly.

It is also not strange to find that there are about six to seven after dinner speeches given these days, and if these are all in a short vein, not to mention interesting and/or funny, it is not all that terrible for the guests to have to sit through. Besides, when you have after dinner speeches, you can always look forward to the plethora of wedding toasts where you can take in the bubbly more frequently!

Wedding Speeches

A wedding is a time of joy and laughter, and there is no better way to express this than through a wedding speech. Many people find that having to give a speech is akin to standing on the ledge of a forty story building with nothing between you and the ground some four hundred or so feet below. However, if handled properly wedding speeches need not be the machine of torture that we expect it to be.

And this applies not only to the person who has to say the speech, but also to the speaker’s audience, the poor captive guests. If you have a good speech in hand, and are reasonably confident of your delivery of the speech, you can turn a night – or day – of dreary wedding speeches into something to be marveled at and enjoyed for years to come.

Of course, this is where the glitch comes in. To begin with most people find it difficult to get down on paper a speech that is really good. And for those of us who find ourselves able to write a halfway decent wedding speech, most of the time we will write it in such a way that it doesn’t sound like something that would come out of our mouths – thereby ruining a perfectly good delivery even before you get to it.

There are ways to circumvent this, like using speech writing software, or plain and simply taking a ready prepared speech off the internet, but there is a better method and this involves taking on the services of professional writers who have experience in writing wedding speeches.

For those of us who will resort to this method to get a great speech in our hands, the professional writers will be able to give you a few first drafts of wedding speeches for you to choose from, whereupon you can then decide on a style that you like for you own wedding speech.

Once you have the wedding speech in your hands, the next step to making the sure everybody at the wedding enjoys at least one of the wedding speeches, is to make sure that you either practice your speech until you’re comfortable with it, or you go through it a couple of times to familiarize yourself with it.

You can even jot down a few notes, preferably on the back of a palm sized card. You will then be able to refer back to these relevant points to make sure that your speech is staying on track.

And if the unthinkable happens and you have to change your speech around to suit the other wedding speeches of the moment, forge ahead with confidence. You have the ability to give a good speech, and deep down you know it. The most important thing is to be yourself and be sincere. And last but not least, don’t forget to raise your glass and drink a toast to the happy couple at the end of your speech!