Wedding speech Do's and Dont's

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 27th, 2010

So, you are the Best Man or the Maid of Honor at a wedding? And thinking of those tense moments when few dozen or few hundred eyes are going to stare at you, looking at you while you are delivering the speech. How to manage those not-so-sweet minutes that are going to put your heart racing in a sprint? There are some ways to follow so that you pass with flying colors to an extent that the whole assembly enjoys it, including you.

First of all, your wedding speech shouldn't be offensive to someone in the audience. It is always a good idea to avoid any comments on religion and politics. You may not have meant something, but it may get perceived that way. This may lead to some troublesome situation. Secondly, avoid being on a negative note. You don't need to tell people that this is the first time you are delivering such a speech before a huge audience like this. In any case, if it is a bad one, people will already have guessed it, You don't need to confirm it and lose some more confidence in the process.

Avoid jokes that fall in personal zone. You may crack jokes as a generic entity, but shouldn't dwell on a particular individual or community. This always leads to quarrelsome situation. Also, don't ever laugh at your own jokes. If you still feel that the joke was good but the public didn't respond to it properly, it will be a good idea to drop all the jokes from the speech.
When you are waiting in the queue to have your speech delivered, that is the tensest moment, at times more tense than the actual delivery of the speech. You can overcome this problem by repeating the first line of your speech to yourself while some one else is delivering the speech.

If you are going to speak about some anecdote or story related to the couple, check whether other speakers have already used it. If that is the case, it is always better to remove it from your list. Your audience may not be interested in hearing the same thing again.

Remember, if you have an opportunity to be a speaker at a wedding, treat this as the greatest opportunity of life. Important to know is that no one in the audience wants you to fail on this. Everyone is on your side. It may not be true for speech opportunities at other places.