SPEAKING AT WEDDINGS

(Thanks to Dave Ternier at SpecialRequestWeddings.com for this information)

Offering a toast, a welcome to the family or some words of congratulations.

     As we all prepare in advance of the BIG day, here are some tips and guidelines to follow when preparing your speech for presenting at the wedding. As a bonus for receiving and reading this, some extra resources are available at the end of the following page.

1) LENGTH OF SPEECH, 5 MINUTES

The length of your speech should fit comfortably within approximately 5 minutes or so. As is often said, “brevity is the soul of wit”. If you would like to request a longer time frame for presenting your speech, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss modifying the reception agenda to include that.

2) TYPED & PRINTED

In order to best manage the paper that you will be reading your speech from, typing it out on a computer and printing it off onto (approximate) 5 x 7 index cards or recipe cards can often be helpful. If you do that, BE SURE TO NUMBER THE ORDER of the cards to avoid getting mixed up when you’re speaking.

3) FONT STYLE & SIZE

Do not make your font size too small. Wedding receptions are not often lit as brightly as your home office may be. Larger font makes reading your speech easier if you run into a situation where the light has been set at a very dim level. 15 point Arial or 15 point Times New Roman font is generally a nice and easy to read size and font style for anyone public speaking.

4) MICROPHONE TECHNIQUE

Unless you have plenty of experience speaking with microphones, the easiest way to use a microphone if you’re nervous about where it should be held, is to simply hold it gently with one hand and let it rest against your chin. This way, no matter what direction you move towards, the microphone will follow your head movements and what you’re saying will be perfectly clear for everyone.

5) WHERE TO STAND (if a wireless microphone is provided)

In order to accomplish the best visual for everyone in the room, you will be delivering your speech from one of a few different places, depending on your seating placement at the reception. On occasion, the room layout changes things, but unless otherwise instructed, this is what to expect:

If you are a wedding party member, you’ll stand up from your seat at the head table and deliver your speech from there. If you are sitting at a family/guest table (parents, other family members, friends, etc.), you will come up to the head table and stand behind either the Best Man or the Maid/Matron of Honour. This way, the Bride and Groom can simply slide their chairs back a little bit, angle them, and have the perfect view of you. If you are speaking on behalf of the grooms side, you’ll stand behind the Best Man, if the Bride’s side, you’ll stand behind the Maid/Matron of Honour.

If a wireless microphone is not provided you will stand at the podium.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

A great resource for anyone presenting a speech at a wedding is Tom Haibeck's book “Wedding Toasts Made Easy”. It is an easy to read resource that goes over basic guidelines for toasting, welcoming, toast ideas, sample wedding toasts, and some really fun lines and thoughts that you can incorporate into what you're going to say!

Finally, if you’re presenting a toast (as opposed to a “welcome”), don’t forget to have your glass with you and to complete the toast by asking everyone to stand and join you in raising your glass to the person(s) being toasted (use their real names though, don’t actually say bride/groom/couple). If you’re presenting a welcome to the family, you may bring your glass up with you and, in combination with your welcome, propose a toast “to the couple”, but this is not necessary.

Warm Regards,

GIL CAMPBELL

DANCELAND DJS & PHOTO BOOTHS

info@dancelanddj.com

www.dancelanddj.com