Wedding Toasts for the Bride and Groom
Nothing offers the opportunity for awkwardness at a wedding like wedding toasts. We’ve all been to weddings where the best man hemmed and hawed his way through a boring speech — or, more interestingly but no less awkwardly, bumbled and rambled his way through his toast drunk as a skunk, and telling a story only he could follow. Surely there must be some middle way to make an interesting, funny, cogent toast to the happy couple.
The best man isn’t the only person to make wedding toasts or speeches. Often, parents of the happy couple, other members of the wedding party, relatives, and friends will also present a toast. It helps to plan ahead, of course. Think of a time that meant something to you that involved the bride or groom. Is it funny? touching? poignant? That’s a good start. Make an outline of the plot of your story. End with why or how the point of your tale makes the bride or groom a very special person in your eyes, and end with the actual toast: “To Matt and Cheryl”. Of course, you’d use the names of your actual bride and groom there.
It also helps to practice wedding toasts ahead of time. As they say, practice makes perfect, and this is no exception. Additionally, practicing makes it easy to make the toast without resorting to using notes. This gives the speaker the ability to be seen as a natural toastmaster instead of a stumbling nervous Nellie who is glued to his or her 3×5″ cards, reading the speech word for word. Since there is surely plenty of lead time in which to learn the speech, write it out several weeks in advance and practice it every day in front of a mirror until it flows smoothly and naturally. Come wedding day, give it a last once-over and have a snack 15 or 20 minutes before speech time. It’s probably best not to wash that snack down with one last rum and Coke, though — nobody wants to court alcohol-induced trouble.
With a little preparation, wedding toasts don’t have to be awkward or embarrassing. If all else fails, quotes and toasts can easily be found online; you don’t actually have to BE concise, well-spoken, and witty — you just have to SOUND like you are.
