Wedding Toasts Made Easy

Sooner or later it had to happen, right? Your best bud would get married leaving you cruising in the single lane on your own. You played that scenario in your mind a few times before.

At the same time he asked you to be his best man, which includes making a wedding toast at the reception for about 375 people. Public speaking is your worst nightmare, but you can’t let your buddy down so you said you’d do the job.

Banish some of the jitters early by focusing on the wedding toast not on your performance jitters. You can talk yourself into panic or you can talk yourself into giving one of the best wedding speeches ever heard. You pick!

Here are a few words to the wise to make your wedding toast top-notch.

- It’s important to get started early when planning, writing, practicing delivery and everything else involved in making a wedding speech. Don’t be tempted to “play it by ear”. Trust me, the results wouldn’t be pretty. Hit the books for research and the web for tips too.

- Learn to like butterflies. Make them fly in formation by embracing and harnessing the energy that fear produces. That extra burst of energy will enhance your wedding toast.

- Write, edit, relax and don’t look at the wedding toast for a few days. Then repeat the process as often as necessary until you just know you have done the best job you can. Look at this as a journey and try to enjoy the whole thing, otherwise it will just seem like a chore that you want to get out of the way.

- Use humor gently. Don’t use off-color remarks, or embarrassing stories that are better told at a stag than at a reception where people of all ages and backgrounds will hear your wedding toast.

- Take a stroll down memory lane. Recount how you met the groom, about a shared experience or two. Say what a super guy he is. In your wedding toast, compliment his choice of bride and comment about the wonderful future you believe they will have together. Today’s the day you can wear your heart on your sleeve.

- Be brief. Three to five minutes is long enough for a wedding toast.

- Face time! Practice delivering your wedding toast in front of a full-length mirror, complete with props and features. Time it too.

- Grab the mike. Not literally! Try to find a few moments and stand exactly where you will be giving the wedding toast. It will help you feel more comfortable when you take the mike for real.

- Extend arm. No, you are not shaking hands; you are preparing to give the actual wedding toast. Use a full glass, raise your arm from the shoulder, and look directly at the bride and groom when you toast them. This is the last part of the wedding speech.

- Move to the bride and groom and hug them when your wedding toast is complete. Then it’s back to your seat amidst well-earned applause.

Tags: Unique Wedding Stuff