One of the most highlighted moments of the wedding is giving wedding speeches. It’s generally delivered by the groom, best man, maid of honour and the father of the bride. Of course, it’s a great honour to be asked to speak at one’s wedding. But with this great honour also comes great pressure. Particularly, if you have public speaking phobia and are worried that what if you start panicking as you set your foot on the stage.
But you just need to plan ahead and know the etiquette of delivering such a speech, and then it would be total breeze and you would be able to toast tastefully. A few do have and don’ts you need to keep in mind while preparing or giving a wedding speech:
• Do remember it’s all about the groom and the bride. Nervous ramblers at times tend to talk more about themselves and not the wedding couple. It’s obvious that most of your reflections and anecdotes would include you, but make sure that the focus is on the wedding couple when you are sharing your ideas and feeling and not on what role you play in their lives.
• Don’t end up mortifying your friend by including embarrassing personal incidents. Don’t go anywhere near off colour humour and sex oriented jokes. Conservative guests might get offended. Such kinds of anecdotes are best left for stag or bachelorette parties.
• Do keep in mind that short speeches are the name of the game. Keep it sweet and short. A lot many people are scheduled to toast, so if you spend a lot of time on the podium, the guests would start getting antsy. It should not be any longer than five to seven minutes.
• Don’t consume too much wine before giving your speech. Agreed that you are nervous and you need some kind of stimulant to soothe your nerves but try not to go overboard. It will be a definite turn off for the guests and you would not be able to deliver your speech coherently in that inebriated state.
• Do make eye contact with the wedding couple and the other guests present at the wedding. If you are planning on using index cards, don’t go on reading directly from it; make sure to maintain eye contact. Lack of eye contact can give the impression of you not being sincere and that you do not care for the audience.