Wedding Toasts - Do It Right!

Wedding toasts have been a long standing tradition for many years.  Typically given by the best man, today's weddings often include a toast by the maid of honor as well, and possibly a parent, and/or sometimes a great friend of the couple.

These words to the newlyweds are often emotionally touching and/or humorous and are very welcomed by all.  However, if these speeches are not properly placed in the evening, it could potentially be a downer for your party.

The number of people choosing to speak on your big day will help determine at which points each person will have the mic.  For the best man and maid of honor, the most appropriate time for them to speak would be right after everyone takes their seats following the bride and groom's first dance.  At this point in the evening, guests are already at their table awaiting dinner service and it's very easy to get the attention of everyone in the room.

Should any additional family members or friends choose to speak on behalf of the bride and groom, there are a couple of better choices than to do so after the best man and maid of honor.  If they take the mic following the first two speeches, usually attention spans start to fade at this point and dinner service has to be pushed out even longer.  This moment is not really the best place to add a third speech.

There are a couple of great options for additional toasts.  First of all, consider the rehearsal dinner.  This is a wonderful time for parents to speak as it's a more intimate event, typically with just close friends and family.  The couple can really focus on the speaker and the words being delivered as they are not yet overwhelmed by the excitement and all the happenings at the actual wedding.

However, if the rehearsal dinner is not ideal, talk to the speaker and your wedding DJ to coordinate the toast after one of the dinner courses.  That way, guests have already had something to eat so they are not distracted by the thought of "when will these speeches be over, I'm starving!" Yet everyone is still at their table awaiting the main course so to get their attention for another few minutes would be an easy task.

What you don't want to do, is have any speeches take place during the dancing portion of the evening.  This can be a real mood killer.  Think about it.  All your guests are having a great time dancing the night away and then the party stops and everyone clears the floor to listen to a heartfelt toast by a parent or friend of the couple.  Bouncing back from this can be difficult, not to mention no one was listening to the speech because they are scattered on the dance floor or at the bar and they're still rocking out in their head to that kick butt song that your DJ was just playing.

No matter who you have provide toasts on your big day, a great wedding DJ will know just the right place for them, so be sure to discuss this with him or her at your pre-wedding planning session.

And who knows, maybe your maid of honor will give you a toast like this:

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