Posts Tagged ‘wedding etiquette’

Wedding Invitation Etiquette – Wedding Toast Etiquette For Your Wedding Day

How do you determine who speaks at the wedding reception and when? This depends on whether you are going to have a traditional reception or something that is a little more current. Traditionally, wedding toasts are not performed by the bride or other females. However, today many women want to speak at the wedding reception along with the men. The information in this article will deal with traditional wedding toast etiquette.

The most important thing to remember is that all wedding toasts should not be offensive to either the bride’s family or the groom’s family. Something that may be funny to one family may seem to be offensive and in poor taste to another family. Therefore it is good etiquette to make certain that the toasts are tasteful to both families. The speaker should also think about how formal the reception is. If the reception is very formal and black tie, the toast should be formal. A reception at a local bar or restaurant may be the proper place for more humorous stories. Be sure that the bride and groom prior to the wedding to be sure of what they are expecting as far as wedding toasts.

So who is the first to speak at a wedding reception? At a traditional reception, the best man usually goes first. Etiquette suggests that for a best man toast, he should tell a few stories about the bride and groom. Remember, this needs to be clean so that no one is offended by the toast. The best man should say a thank you to the parents of the bride and groom for helping them get to this special day. This is a special day for the bride so the bride should be toasted by the best man at the end of his speech.

After the best man gives a toast, proper wedding etiquette calls for the groom to go next. The groom should thank both sets of parents, the guests, his bride, and the bridesmaids. The groom should comment on the beauty of the bridesmaids and thank them for all of their help. When the groom toasts his bride, he may want to include the story of how they met with a little humor and sweet teasing. Appropriate etiquette would never have the groom tease the bride so that she is embarrassed or talk about the bridesmaids so much that he makes his new bride jealous.

Lastly, the bride’s father should say a few words. Etiquette suggests that he welcome the guests to the celebration. He can talk about the memories he has of his daughter before he gives a toast to the happy couple. He then announces that the festivities can now commence. Light teasing is acceptable but again, it should never embarrass the bride.

It is perfectly acceptable if other relatives or close friends want to speak at the wedding. The etiquette for wedding toasts is changing quickly. Brides can toast their new husband and her parents. This was never done in the traditional wedding etiquette. Plan for whatever is best for your family and friends.

Learn the secrets of wedding etiquette thank you notes and discover the methods of good etiquette when sending the invitation cards a week to the wedding at http://www.marrycustoms.com,the most renowed wedding etiquette site written by professional wedding planners.

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How Can You Deliver An Excellent Wedding Toast?

You should think about what you are going to talk about for the wedding toast if you will take part in a wedding. Since most of us are not professional presenter and it is always good to think about it and practice it first. A great wedding toast can make the guests remember the wedding for years.

Some people will be confused about wedding toast and wedding speech. In fact, the wedding speech is usually delivered by the father of the bride or the groom. On the other hand, anyone who takes part in the wedding may have a chance to deliver a wedding toast. As a matter of fact a wedding toast is usually shorter than a wedding speech.

You need to think about what you are going to say beforehand. You should be very clear what you are talking about and what you are doing. It is also good to practice it in front of a mirror. As mentioned, a wedding toast should not be very long. It will be perfect if it is only a three minutes talk.

In fact, you will need to follow some rules if you would like to follow some wedding etiquette. However, you should discuss with the bride and groom no matter you are going to follow this etiquette or not. Traditionally, the best man will give a wedding toast first. Then the groom will give one to his wife. And lastly it will be the turns of the fathers of the couple. Of course, you should only do that if you would like to follow the tradition. Some other people can also be invited to deliver a wedding toast. For example, the bride can invite her teacher when she was in the high school to deliver a wedding toast.

One of the things you may not know is that many people are trying to deliver a wedding toast without any preparation. However, it is not advisable to deliver it without preparation. You can perform a search on the web for some poems or funny things which can be used to described the couple. An interesting toast will certainly give additional touch to the wedding reception. The bride and groom will certainly thank you if you can deliver a wonderful toast.

Remember to be humorous when you are giving the wedding toast. However, no matter what you are talking about. You should never embarrass the couple. It is their big day after all!

Jerry Leung designs Double Happiness Chinese Wedding Invitations. He runs a website on Lucky Wedding Dates-2008 Chinese. Be sure to check Unique Wedding Favor Ideas.

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Do the Order of Wedding Speeches Really Matter?

Back in the day, you didn’t see the flurry of wedding speech activity that you do now. You probably heard from the Father of the Bride and the Best Man. And, that was pretty much it. But nowadays, everybody and their brother want to get up and toast the bride and groom. So, with this plethora of people, what is the proper order of wedding speeches in today’s world? Or does it even matter?

The Origin of the Wedding Speech or Toast

wedding speeches, or toasts, originated in the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Greeks and Romans would raise their goblets to their Gods hoping to gain favor. The Greeks would also perform toasts to avoid being poisoned. The Greeks were a suspicious bunch. You never knew who your enemies were. So, when the Grecians would gather for celebrations, they would all drink from the same pitcher and spill a little of their wine into the next person’s goblet. This would ensure there was no funny business going on.

The Romans began a practice of dropping a piece of burnt toast into the wine to absorb any impurities. Back in those days, wine would go bad easily. The burnt toast would make it taste better. When the Romans invaded Britain around 55 B.C., they brought the practice with them. The word "toast" comes from the Latin word tostus, meaning roasted or parched. The word stuck and over time, also referred to salute with a drink.

What should the Order of wedding speeches Be?

Well, that all depends. Are you a traditionalist, or a non-traditionalist?

If you are a traditionalist, the Best Man gives the first wedding speech. He generally toasts the bride and groom, and also acts as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

Following the Best Man’s speech, the groom will rise to respond, toast his bride, thanks the parents and so on.

Others may speak at this point. Finally the Father of the Bride will give his speech and thank everyone for attending.

If you are a non-traditionalist, all the rules fly out the window. The rules are: there are no rules. Spontaneity is the way to go and lots of people get up to toast the bride and groom. But, generally, the order of wedding speeches will go as follows if you are a non-traditionalist:

*best man speech
*Maid (or Matron) of Honor Speech
*Father of the Bride Speech
*Parents of the Groom Speech
*Groom Speech
*Bride Speech
*Any other Guests of Honor Speeches

Who Else Can Give a Wedding Speech

The other Guests of Honor are a long and illustrious list. It basically means anyone the bride and groom deem close enough to them to give a speech. But here are some ideas on who can give Guest of Honor Speeches at a wedding reception:

*The bride’s or groom’s siblings
*The bridesmaids (collectively or individually)
*The groomsmen (collectively or individually)
*Grandparents
*Godparent
*Guardians
*Close Relatives
*Cousins
*Best Friends
*Coworkers
*Bosses
*Children of the Bride or Groom
*The Wedding Officiant

Any of these people can give a speech if prearranged and okay with the bride and groom. After all, there is such a thing as too many wedding speeches. You don’t want the party-goers to be bored to tears.

So does the Order of wedding speeches even matter anymore? Not really. The days when wedding etiquette was etched in stone are long gone. More important are the thoughts conveyed during the speeches. As long as the bride and groom feel incredibly special and loved on their big day, the order of the wedding speeches does not matter.

Cherie Stirewalt has been in more weddings than she can count. Learn how to write and deliver and wedding speech that will leave them all speechless. Download your guide to writing wedding speeches today!

Article Source: ArticleSpan