Wedding Speeches That Keep the Room With You - Wedding Celebrants Sydney / Wedding Celebrants Sydney
Wedding Speeches: How to Keep the Room With You
Most wedding speeches do not need to be funnier, cleverer or more emotional.
They need to be shorter, clearer and delivered by someone who remembers there are 100 people listening.
I have spent decades performing and speaking into microphones as a musician and wedding MC. The advice is surprisingly simple.
Five good minutes beats twelve average ones.
Know what the speech is actually about
Before you write a word, finish this sentence: “I want everyone to leave knowing…”
Maybe it is why you admire the couple. Maybe it is what changed when one of them met the other. Maybe it is the side of your son, daughter or friend that deserves celebrating.
Once you know the point, the stories become much easier to choose.
Tell stories, not lists of adjectives
“Kind, loyal, funny and generous” is nice, but it does not give the room much.
A 30-second story proving one of those qualities is better.
The disastrous holiday, the ritual phone call, the way they always show up when somebody needs help. Specific detail is where the good stuff lives.
Roast gently
Wedding humour works when the person being teased enjoys it too.
My test is whether the joke makes the room like them more. If it depends on humiliation, an ex-partner, private information or something the couple asked you not to mention, bin it.
Pauli’s rule: the wedding speech is not your long-awaited chance to settle a score with your sibling.
Use the microphone properly
Keep a handheld microphone close to your mouth and keep it there.
Do not gradually lower it to your chest while turning away to talk directly to the couple. Your story may still be excellent. Nobody can hear it.
Speak slightly slower than normal. Rooms absorb words differently from a dinner-table conversation.
Write for speaking, not reading
Short sentences help. Line breaks help. Large font definitely helps.
You do not need to memorise the speech. You should know it well enough that you can look up occasionally and connect with the people you are talking about.
Do not spend two minutes telling us you are nervous
Everybody already forgives you for being nervous.
Say hello, establish who you are if needed and get into the story. A good MC will introduce you properly so you do not have to spend half the speech doing your own admin.
Know how you are ending
Land the final thought, raise the glass and stop.
Do not reach a beautiful emotional conclusion and then say, “Oh, one more thing…” because you remembered page four.
What I do for speakers as MC
I make sure speakers know when they are on, where to stand, where the microphone is, roughly how long they have and what happens after them.
I also coordinate with the venue so the speeches happen when the room is ready to listen, not while 90 mains are cooling behind a kitchen door.
If you would rather enjoy the reception than manage speakers, timing and microphones yourself, send Paul Wheeler your plans. See my Sydney wedding MC service or get in touch here.