As the sound of wedding bells approaches, thoughts will be turning to the planning of the wedding speeches. Yes, that’s right even speeches need to be organised. There are traditional orders that can be followed or if you would like to change up the usual style this is definitely an option to be made. Remember this is your special day, one you will reminisce on for years to come so make sure it suits your unique style.

Order of Speeches

A traditional order of speeches and what they should contain usually follows in this way:

Father of the Bride – A welcome and thank you to the guests, some thoughtful words about your daughter and some funny stories too. A thank you to the family of the Groom and the Groom himself and importantly a toast to the happy couple!

Groom – Quite a long list of appreciation goes to your wedding party in your speech and some gift-giving too if you wish. The Bride may want to say some words if this is the case it is a good idea to share out the recognitions between yourselves. It is thoughtful to thank all the parents, especially if they have contributed financially to the wedding. Also, it’s very important to end your speech with some heartfelt words about your lovely new wedded partner!

Best Man – It is always best to pick someone who isn’t going to say anything too embarrassing but will include appropriate (being the main word here) humorous tales of your friendship that all guests will be amused by not just the lads! Usually, if any guests are unable to attend the ceremony the Best Man will relay messages from them and round up the speeches as generally, the Best Man is the last to speak.

This is the traditional running order of speeches but if you would like to include the Bride and Bridesmaids/Maid of Honour in the speech list it could go something like this:

• Father of the Bride
• Groom
• Bride
• Bridesmaids/Maid of Honour
• Best Man

It is totally up to you if you decide to add more speeches in or take some out, the best thing to remember is to try and keep speeches to a length of six to ten minutes each as you don’t want to make your guests feel too restless, especially the younger ones with short attention spans! It may be a good idea to space out the speeches through the wedding breakfast courses so they are not all in one go and everyone can have the time to digest the speech with the food.

Even though there is a traditional speech order to follow (if you wish) it is good to know that it is completely flexible to suit your unique wedding style. Don’t feel bogged down to keep with routine, be the wedding which stands out, the one which everyone remembers for having the best quality speeches which your guests will actually remember in years to come!