wedding speeches
Every role has a different job. The maid of honor explains the bride, the best man earns the laugh and then gives it back, the father of the bride hands something over, and the officiant holds the whole ceremony together. Pick your role, read the full example speeches, then write yours privately.
Three to five speakers, three to five minutes each. Agree the order with the venue so nothing is served through a toast.
Each guide covers the job of the speech, the structure that works, and full example texts you can read aloud.
Structure, length, and what to do when the story you want to tell is too private for the room.
Read the guideFunny without cruelty: where the jokes go, how many is too many, and how to land the turn into sincerity.
Read the guideWelcome the room, tell one story that shows who she is, welcome her partner, and close with a clean toast.
Read the guideShort by design, and easy to share between two or three speakers without repeating each other.
Read the guideThe complete ceremony, from processional to recessional, in wording you can read aloud as written.
Read the guideComplete speeches, written out, with speaking times.
Bring one true story. The writer produces three genuinely different speaking structures, keeps every version on this device, estimates your speaking time as you edit, and prints cue cards you can hold without shaking.
The most common running order is father of the bride, then the groom or the couple, then the best man, with the maid of honor speaking either before or after the best man. Many receptions now open with a welcome from whoever is hosting and let anyone who wants to speak go in the order that suits the meal. Agree the order with the venue in advance so the kitchen is not serving a course through someone's toast.
Three to five minutes, or roughly 400 to 650 words at a calm speaking pace. Two minutes is fine and never feels rushed. Past six minutes the room starts checking its phones, no matter how good the material is.
Three to five is the practical ceiling. Every extra speaker adds five minutes plus the shuffle of microphones and standing up, so six speeches can quietly consume an hour of the reception. If more people want to speak, offer an open-mic window later rather than adding to the formal set.
Either between courses or immediately after the main course. Speaking before anyone has eaten leaves a hungry room; speaking after dessert and coffee gives you the most relaxed audience but competes with the dance floor. Between the main and dessert is the reliable compromise.
No, and most people should not try. Print it in a large font on stiff cards, memorize only the first line and the final toast, and read the middle. Reading well beats forgetting gracefully.
Anything about an ex, anything from a stag or hen night that the couple's parents would not enjoy hearing, any joke that depends on someone in the room being the punchline, and anything about money, weight, or the couple's plans for children. If you have to preface it with 'they will kill me for this', cut it.