The 10 Best Ways to Ruin Your Wedding Speech

Everyone is nervous when giving a wedding speech – it’s natural to have anxiety over public speaking. However, most of us want to channel that anxiety and stress into a great performance that is going to be memorable and appreciated by the audience. You might just be able to achieve that goal with practice and by avoiding the pitfalls below.

1)  Rambling

Wedding speeches can be tough enough on the audience without hearing you drone on for twenty minutes without a coherent point. This is why preparation and practice are critical. You need to know what you’re going to say, say it, and sit back down. That’s the essence of good public speaking.

2) Apologizing

Whether you’re apologizing for not being a very good speaker, apologizing for talking for too long, apologizing for not knowing what to say, or just apologizing for almost anything, you really want to avoid it. People don’t like hearing that you’re sorry for all of these things. And apologizing for your speaking performance only draws negative attention in your direction.

3) Being Intoxicated

Even a small amount of alcohol is enough to throw you off your game and make your words sound like a rambling mess. Hold off on the drinks until you’re done.

4) Avoid Controversy

You definitely don’t want to touch on anything controversial during your speech, including issues of religion, politics, or anything else that might cause a stir. Remember you’re not a celebrity at an awards show.

5) Making the Speech about You

Giving a speech does put you in the spotlight but don’t let that fool you. The event is about the bride and groom so keep it that way. Keep your own stories and memories that don’t involve them out of the speech (unless they are directly relevant).

6) Ending Abruptly

Another bad idea is just to let the speech end suddenly with no formal conclusion. Maybe you let your last words fade off or maybe you just return to your seat after the final statement. In any case, you’re making a big mistake that is going to affect the impression of your speech.

7) Bringing Up the Bad Past

Being nostalgic in your wedding speech is great but if you start reminiscing about the bride’s ex-husband or about the days when the groom was free to hang out with his friends freely, you’re moving into territory that should be avoided at all costs in your wedding speech.

8) Giving Too Much Advice

While already married couples can give advice in their speeches, too much advice is not usually going to go over well with the couple or the audience. Advice is a bit tricky anyway because you don’t want it to come off like “We’re so wonderful. Look what we’ve done” so you want to be careful if you add any to your speech.

9) Saying Inappropriate Things

If you’ve always thought the groom was sexy or if you had a sex dream one night about the bride, don’t bring it up now. In fact, you really want to be careful about using any type of sex references, profanity, or offensive language in your speech. You never know who might be in the audience.

10) Mumbling

Make sure the audience can hear you. Talk loudly and clearly; otherwise, there’s no point to you giving the speech in the first place and all of your planning will have been a waste.

How to Give a Good Wedding Speech

Wedding speeches are an integral part of all weddings. While preparing and giving a wedding speech you need to keep certain points in mind. A wedding speech has to be light-hearted yet heart warming at the same time. A wedding is a very important occasion and to have chosen to give a speech on such an occasion is a big responsibility. Excitement, joy and freshness symbolize a wedding and so your speech should be in keeping with these emotions. You don’t want to give a bad speech and ruffle feathers right? So you need to keep the following points in mind while going about it:

•     Don’t give a very long speech. Since you are not the only one who’s going to be giving a speech you need to remember to keep it short. You have to hold the people’s attention and so don’t just go on speaking! Don’t exceed 5 or 6 minutes and if you are writing it down then keep it around 500-800 words. However don’t keep it too short or else the people present there will think you are in a hurry and you are giving the speech just for the sake of it! Minimum 4 minutes.
•    Make it funny. Humour is an important element of wedding speeches. You have to make listening to your speech an enjoyable rather than a boring task. So don’t forget to add the humour element in your speech. However don’t go overboard with your jokes and one-liners. You don’t want to end up hurting anybody’s feelings especially on this day! So keep the mood light-hearted yet keep it sane too.
•    Don’t forget to thank everyone! One of the most important aspects of wedding speeches is expressing your gratitude to a lot of people. If you are the groom then don’t forget to thank the bride’s family, your family and your friends and ofcourse all the guests present there. If you are the best man then thank all the guests present there and thank the groom for choosing you as his best man.
•    Personalize it. You need to make your speech sound personal too.  An impersonal speech may give the impression that you just picked up some speech from the internet and you couldn’t care less about the occasion. So THAT is a big no. So if you are the groom then remember to add those pleasant memories you had with your bride or her family or your friends present there. Likewise for the bride/groom’s parents or the best man.
•    Enjoy yourself! Last but not the least you have to enjoy yourself while giving the speech since only then will you be able to give a near perfect speech! If you are giving a speech then you are either the bride or groom or you are someone who is important for them. So this wedding has to be a big deal for you! And it shouldn’t be a problem to enjoy the wedding and this speech.  So go out there and have a good time and let them know how much this whole affair means to you!

So keep all these points in mind and you will always be remembered for the memorable speech that you give on this happy day.