If you're planning your wedding speeches, who should speak and in what order? My advice is to think about the best order that will work for your wedding.
First of all, don't be put off by having to follow a rigid order of speeches. The important thing is to enjoy your wedding day and not be stuck trying to follow a traditional order for the sake of it.
Traditionally the father of the bride will start the speeches, thanking everyone for attending and. He will toast the happy couple.
The groom follows and will thank the father of the bride and compliment his new wife. It's common to thank all the guests for attending, the staff for the work they've done and to read out any messages from those unable to attend. He then toasts the maid of honour and bridesmaids.
The best man goes next and this is usually the one to spill the beans on the groom's past with a funny tale or two. The best man toasts the happy couple.
Optionally, the maid of honour and bride (saving the best till last is an obvious opening line here) can then follow. I would advise that you ask who wants to speak and factor in the timings of each speech, the last thing you want is for guests to be sitting for a long time listening to speech after speech.
Ultimately it's your wedding and up to you the order that you want to do the speeches. You might even consider where everyone is sitting on the table so that the speeches flow from left to right.
You could even break up the speeches so that they're not all at the same time, for example by doing a speech in-between each course, although I would recommend speaking with the caterers to see if that'll affect the timings of the meal if you were to do that.
When I'm hosting a wedding, I like to have a quick chat to run through some quick tips with anyone due to speak so it's useful I know who will be and in which order. It helps me understand who needs the mic next and means I can introduce the right person at the right time.
For those that need some extra tips, my wedding speech training can help give you the confidence boost to nail your speech.
