The wedding speech – just the words cause folks to cringe.

You've surely been on the receiving end of a poorly constructed wedding speech that you were forced to endure gracefully with a smile on your face, while on the inside you're begging for it to end soon.

You may also have been on the giving end, without a clue about how to avoid being the schmuck whose speech was obviously plagiarized from somewhere on the internet (let's pray you remembered to change the names).

You want your speech to be dynamic, interesting, heartfelt, and engaging, and these steps will help you achieve that.

 

• Don't Google it. A copied speech off the internet is neither personal or passionate. The speech should be specific to the couple and, guaranteed, any speech copied off the internet is generic and unoriginal.

• Use experiences. If you're important enough to be asked to speak at the wedding, then you obviously have a history with the bride or groom. Use memories to show people the funny, heartfelt, and intimate side of the couple.

• Don't humiliate. It's fun to share little quirks about the couple that will make people laugh, but this is a slippery slope. The last thing you want to do is humiliate anyone. Make sure, beforehand, that the couple can handle some good-natured ribbing, and know what the limits are.

• Avoid using gimmicks. Singing your speech, reciting poetry, etc., is not only cheesy – it's awkward. It doesn't matter if you have a knack for writing haiku ... you are talking about people who are close to you, not competing for a literacy award.

• Share – don't recite. You may have set up your index cards with your speech all laid out perfectly, but if you read, it's going to sound like you're ... well ... reading. To avoid the same robotic tone that you might use to quote your home insurance policy, you need to speak to the audience – not to your index cards. Instead of writing everything down, use key points to remind yourself about what you plan to talk about. Keep it natural.

• Short and sweet. You don't have to lay out the bride's life from birth. Nobody wants to sit around listening to you prattle on about all the fishing trips you've taken with the groom. A well-deployed speech will make the audience hope for more. If guests are heading to the bar in the middle of your “Ode to wedding cake”, then you've taken it too far.

• Get a opinion. Find the one person in your life who will always be bluntly honest with you and share your speech with them. They'll tell you if you've pulled off the charismatic address you're hoping for or if you need to head back to the drawing board.

 

Start planning your destination wedding today!