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Tips To The Bride: Writing Your Wedding Speech
So, you’ve decided to deliver a speech at your wedding (YEY!). Traditionally, only the groom, his best-man and father-of-the-bride deliver a speech at the wedding… Well, this tradition is ready to be challenged by brides like you. Brides that have just as much love to share and thanks to give!
Nowadays, couples are constantly creating new and exciting traditions – adding in unique twists to make their wedding stand out! One of these is the bride’s wedding speech, which we absolutely love. Why shouldn’t the bride get up and shout a few woops! I mean, someone’s got to mention how beautiful your wedding venue looks! And if you still haven’t found yours, head over to our wedding venue search after this article!
The bride’s speech isn’t an old tradition, so there’s no ‘correct’ place for it to go. We think going at the start of all the speeches, (before any tears!) can work well and allows you to listen to the other speeches and not worry about yours– but this is your wedding, so feel free to take over all the speeches if you want.
Worried about what to say? Don’t be, this is your moment to shine! Here’s our little guide to writing your bride speech, packed with pointers – just to make sure your speech is top notch!
Writing the speech:
1) Thank your guests: You should start by thanking the guests for coming and for the gifts that you look forward to opening (yaaaaay!). Let them know how much you hope they enjoy the party!
2) Thank your bridal party: Proceed to the bridal party. You should point out how helpful your bridesmaids were; maybe even refer to a near mishap which was averted due to a quick-thinking bridesmaid (this is guaranteed to make your guests chuckle). And obviously, tell them how stunning they look – bonus points. And tell the best man to be nice in his speech – warning points!
3) Mention your flower girl or pageboy: If you had a flower girl or a pageboy, it is a great idea to give them a special mention in your speech, they are certain to feel special and love the attention. And their cuteness will get you some extra ‘awwwwww’s’.
4) Remember those who passed away: You may choose to remember those family members that passed away. This is an emotional topic, so think carefully before you decide on including this in your speech. Alternatively, you can delegate this to the groom, but maybe not the best man!
5) Tell stories about your families: It’s great to spend a bit of time talking about you and your beloved’s families. They most probably helped you in a million big and small ways and will love the special mention. Pick some anecdotes and stories about your family and thank your new in-laws for warmly welcoming you into their family – brownie points from your new family!
6) Talk about your love! Lastly (and most important!), you might want to talk about your beloved. How you fell in love with each other, how both of you have grown and changed thanks to each other. This is an opportunity to declare your love publicly, which, cheesy as it may be, is still pretty awesome!
7) Give advice to future brides: This is the perfect opportunity to dish about wedding planning, maybe crack a few jokes about how many nights you spent licking envelopes! Tell future brides about the challenges of wedding planning, but also how wonderful it can be! Oh, and don’t forget to tell them about your favourite wedding planning app!
8) Don’t make your speech too long. Yes, there are dozens of people to thank, and hundreds of stories to tell. But remember that you will probably be delivering your speech before the dancing starts, and you don’t want your guests to wait too long or they’ll get sleepy! Make your speech punchy and meaningful – pick your stories carefully and don’t spend too long on the why’s of the thank you’s.
Now you can write an amazing wedding speech! Want to help you soon-to-be husband out? Send him to our incredible tips to the groom for writing your wedding speech!
Preparing the speech:
9) Ask your bridesmaids for help: Surely one of your bridesmaids is good at public speaking! Reach out to one of your friends and ask them for advice on writing and delivering your speech, practice in front of them and ask for feedback!
10) Reach out to other brides and grooms: Know someone who delivered a killer speech at their wedding? Reach out! Read some wedding speeches, get inspiration and make it your own.
11) Don’t practice too much! Yes, as they say, practice makes perfect. But you don’t want a perfect wedding speech, you want to be passionate, funny and most importantly yourself! Make sure you are confident with how you are delivering your speech, but not too rehearsed, to allow for some magic moments!
Delivering the speech:
12) Soundcheck: Ok, maybe you don’t need a full-on soundcheck, but make sure you let your wedding staff know that you’ll be making speeches and test the volume of the mics beforehand! You probably won’t have time to do it on the day or the day before, so get a couple of members from your bridal team to do it!
13) Know your room: Whether you are planning on walking around the room, maybe approaching a few people or just standing where you are, it’s a good idea to know your room. Know where to look and how much space you have for movement! This will help you gain confidence and prepare!
14) Make sure you get it on camera! If you’re not having a videographer at your wedding, make sure one of your bridesmaids films your speech (and all the others). It’s a moment you will want to remember later!
15) Relax and enjoy the moment: If you want to deliver a killer speech, the trick is to have fun with it and enjoy your moment. There is no pressure on you, so just speak from the heart, and have as much fun as possible with this moment, which is your own!
Sneaky tool: Calculate how long your speech will take to read – http://readtime.eu!
Happy Speech-ing!
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