Wedding Gift Etiquette

Tags: order, Speeches, typical, Wedding, what's

Order Of Wedding Speeches – Short Version – Traditional

The Best Man speaks first according to traditional lore concerning the order of wedding speeches. Traditionally he will toast the bride and groom. He may also need to act as a de facto Master of Ceremonies if no Master of ceremonies has been appointed. After the Best Man’s opening speech speech, the Groom should be cued by the Best man to respond by toasting the bride, thanking the parents, welcoming and thanking relatives from afar and anything he wants to add in this vein. In traditional order of wedding speeches, this is the part, after a suitable interval, that any Friend or Relative who is a noted and interesting public speaker or has a message to impart may be invited to speak. (It may be Aunt Ivy who you are hoping will remember you in her will if you remember her at the wedding.) The Father of the Bride speaks last – after paying for the wedding bash it is probably the most he will ever pay to have his say in public. He should thank everyone for attending and add any humorous stories he deems appropriate..

Note that if a Master Of Ceremonies has been appointed he should keep things ticking along with occasional anecdotes (funny or factual.) about speakers he introduces – so he needs to do a little research. But by following the general order of wedding speeches given above and keeping things rolling along with announcements and short stories he should discharge his duties with great aplomb and distinction.

Order Of Wedding Speeches – Longer Version – Modern Practice

With the advent of the 21st century, a lot of tradition has flown out of the window; with beach weddings and underwater weddings and skydiving weddings it was inevitable for some sort of change in the way we tie the knot.

Because this is the newlyweds’ show, they may request old friends and close relatives to get up and speak, irrespective of any formal or informal protocols.

Nowadays there is a less formalised order of wedding speeches which goes something like:

Best Man Speech tending towards humour Maid or Matron of Honor Speech tending towards lauding the bride Father of the Bride Speech welcoming guests and telling a few funny stories Parents of the Groom Speech welcoming a new daughter Groom Speech toasting his new wife and thanking guests Bride Speech responding to groom, thanking her parents and her retinue Any other Guests of Honor Speeches which are personalised to individual weddings

Following on this all-in family and friends theme, invitations may be extended to:

The bride’s or groom’s siblings, bridesmaids, groomsmen, grandparents, godparent, guardians, the wedding official, close friends or relatives, cousins, best friends, colleagues,   bosses, children of the bride or groom or even a particularly intelligent family pet.

It can get thoroughly out of hand – sometimes better described as an ‘out of order of wedding speeches’ than an ‘order of wedding speeches’.

Remember well that anyone asked to speak should be apprised of their task beforehand and the best man or master of ceremonies should announce their slots with a brief preview of what they will speak about. If you do not curtail  speeches to a maximum of 10 speeches/toasts in total, guests will get restless and bored, no matter how compelling the speakers style.

Order Of Wedding Speeches – Wow The Guests – Be Professional

Because we understand that  you may not have the time or inclination to construct a speech from our tips, we have reviewed dozens of books with speed and functionality in mind.

If you want a quick channel to impress wedding guests with your speech, we strongly recommend that you look at the wedding speech woes page.

Whether you want to simply know the order of wedding speeches or want one or several professionally written speeches to grab, edit and use immediately – this is your best kickstart action plan to obtain the best and most comprehensive resources.

Tags: order, Speeches, Wedding

Back in the day, you didn’t see the flurry of wedding speech activity that you do now. You probably heard from the Father of the Bride and the Best Man. And, that was pretty much it. But nowadays, everybody and their brother want to get up and toast the bride and groom. So, with this plethora of people, what is the proper order of wedding speeches in today’s world? Or does it even matter?

The Origin of the Wedding Speech or Toast

Wedding Speeches, or toasts, originated in the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Greeks and Romans would raise their goblets to their Gods hoping to gain favor. The Greeks would also perform toasts to avoid being poisoned. The Greeks were a suspicious bunch. You never knew who your enemies were. So, when the Grecians would gather for celebrations, they would all drink from the same pitcher and spill a little of their wine into the next person’s goblet. This would ensure there was no funny business going on.

The Romans began a practice of dropping a piece of burnt toast into the wine to absorb any impurities. Back in those days, wine would go bad easily. The burnt toast would make it taste better. When the Romans invaded Britain around 55 B.C., they brought the practice with them. The word “toast” comes from the Latin word tostus, meaning roasted or parched. The word stuck and over time, also referred to salute with a drink.

What should the Order of Wedding Speeches Be?

Well, that all depends. Are you a traditionalist, or a non-traditionalist?

If you are a traditionalist, the Best Man gives the first wedding speech. He generally toasts the bride and groom, and also acts as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

Following the Best Man’s speech, the groom will rise to respond, toast his bride, thanks the parents and so on.

Others may speak at this point. Finally the Father of the Bride will give his speech and thank everyone for attending.

If you are a non-traditionalist, all the rules fly out the window. The rules are: there are no rules. Spontaneity is the way to go and lots of people get up to toast the bride and groom. But, generally, the order of wedding speeches will go as follows if you are a non-traditionalist:

*Best Man Speech
*Maid (or Matron) of Honor Speech
*Father of the Bride Speech
*Parents of the Groom Speech
*Groom Speech
*Bride Speech
*Any other Guests of Honor Speeches

Who Else Can Give a Wedding Speech

The other Guests of Honor are a long and illustrious list. It basically means anyone the bride and groom deem close enough to them to give a speech. But here are some ideas on who can give Guest of Honor Speeches at a wedding reception:

*The bride’s or groom’s siblings
*The bridesmaids (collectively or individually)
*The groomsmen (collectively or individually)
*Grandparents
*Godparent
*Guardians
*Close Relatives
*Cousins
*Best Friends
*Coworkers
*Bosses
*Children of the Bride or Groom
*The Wedding Officiant

Any of these people can give a speech if prearranged and okay with the bride and groom. After all, there is such a thing as too many wedding speeches. You don’t want the party-goers to be bored to tears.

So does the Order of Wedding Speeches even matter anymore? Not really. The days when wedding etiquette was etched in stone are long gone. More important are the thoughts conveyed during the speeches. As long as the bride and groom feel incredibly special and loved on their big day, the order of the wedding speeches does not matter.

Tags: Matter, order, Really, Speeches, Wedding

As with anything in life that is truly important there is a certain order to be followed to do something properly. And this applies to one of life’s greatest moments – your wedding. Here you will find that a certain order of wedding speeches will be followed for tradition to be carried on.

Traditions however are not set in stone, and while they are for the most part followed to the letter, as in the order of wedding speeches given during the reception, it is also true that traditions have a way of changing an evolving. And really when you look at it, the traditions that we follow these days, and which some people believe to be set in stone, were but new and innovative changes when they were first introduced.

It took time and perseverance for traditions to come about, and of these only the strongest and most enduring survived the test of time. This is why when you take something as traditional as the order of wedding speeches, it will come as no surprise that there is a revolution in the making.

These days, the traditional order of wedding speeches where first the father of the bride speaks, then the groom and then the best man, has by and large, not been replaced so much as it has been subtly altered to fit the changing times. Whether these changes will take hold and become tradition fifty or even a hundred years down the line is a different matter.

What matters now is that the order of wedding speeches is not as set in stone as it once used to be. If you have been invited to speak at a wedding, then the very first thing that you need to do is to find out whether the traditional order of wedding speeches is to be followed, or whether a more informal approach is to be followed.

This will also give you a clue as to how to proceed in your own speech, and what point and highlights you might want to touch upon. If you’re the father of the bride, the bridegroom, or the best man however, there are a few things that will be required for you to speak about regardless of whether or not the wedding is a formal one or not.

Only time will tell whether this new order of wedding speeches will become a tradition or not, but until then, and until tradition has again become firmly established, you can be sure that there will be changes, and that there will be a new order of wedding speeches to be followed at weddings, just as there will be a new generation of wedding ceremonies and receptions.

Tags: Once, order, Speeches, Stone, They, Used, Wedding