Wedding Speech Delivery Dos and Don’ts
Do's
Speak slowly and clearly
Pause
Make eye contact
Be emotive
Practise
A fantastic wedding speech is no good if your audience cannot hear what you are saying. If you are delivering your wedding speech in a large room, conduct a sound test before you start your speech. This isn’t as technical as it sounds; just ask the people at the back of the audience if they can hear you.
Give your audience a chance to take in your jokes and stories. Writing your wedding speech on to cue cards is an excellent way to remember when to pause as you can pause between each cue card.
This will really engage your audience and make you appear confident (even if you don’t feel it). Even if you plan to have your wedding speech in front of you, keep looking at your audience. During a pause is a good time to do this.
This doesn’t mean you have to bawl your ayes out or roll around on the floor laughing at your own jokes. But do show your emotions and gesticulate. The more animated and lively you are, the more animated and lively your audience will be.
Start practising your wedding speech as soon as you start to write it. Deliver as much of your wedding speech from memory as you can. This will make your delivery sound most natural. Try to memorise the first few lines of your wedding speech. If you are looking at your audience at the start of your wedding speech, you’ll really grab their attention.
Don'ts
Get drunk
Use in jokes
Give in to hecklers
Give into the shakes
Read your wedding speech
Before your wedding speech. Dutch courage might seem like a good idea at the time but your audience will disagree. Having one drink to calm the nerves can be a good idea. Have a few more to celebrate after you’ve delivered your wedding speech.
The audience you will be delivering your wedding speech to will be a very mixed crowd. From immediate to extended family, friends, friends of friends, young and old, and they won’t all know the bride and groom very well. Make sure your stories and jokes can be understood by everyone so explain who people are if it’s vital to the story.
Some people love to join in wedding speeches, so don’t take it personally. Have a few responses prepared so if anyone does heckle you, you’ll have a witty retort to fire back at them.
You’re bound to be nervous when giving your wedding speech. If you think you will get shaky hands, write your speech on to card, rather than paper. This won’t make any noise when your hands are trembling, unlike thin pieces of paper.
Having your speech written out on cue card in case you have a memory blank is a great idea, but don’t just read out your speech. Your delivery will be much more natural if you know your wedding speech well.
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