Delivering a speech at a wedding certainly is one of the most intimidating things you’re likely to ever have to tackle. Odds are, it will be adruous for you too – if you are the bride, father of the bride, mother of the bride, bridesmaid, bestman, groom – whatever your role is to be. It essentially doesn’t matter.

 

What you must be aware of is this – giving a well crafted wedding speech is a tough undertaking for the best of us.

 

Some people prefer listening to speeches to making them. If this is you, but you have an upcoming speech of your own to make, try to relax.

 

If you give yourself some good preparation, you can really deliver a top class speech.

 

And you can achieve success regardless of whether or not you are a naturally ‘gabby’ person or a able speaker. Contrary to what some people think, a less extroverted speaker can sometimes catch the attention of an audience even more.

 

A good first step in the process is always to write a robust ‘action list’ – once you have everything on paper, you are ready to get going.

 

So, where do you begin? In this post, we’re going to examine precisely what things you need to focus on in preparation for your speech – and how you can nail it on the big day!

 

1. Basic notes:

 

Such as venue, number of people to be in attendance at the wedding, time of the day etc. All of this will be helpful for visualization and to help you prepare mentally.

 

2. Breathing:

 

Good breathing techniques ( eg breath deeply from low down in your stomach ) will help you subdue your feelings of nervousness and give you more vigour to talk.

 

3. Speech outline:

 

You need to get a hold of a high quality sample wedding speech to base your own speech upon. Then, when you’ve written your own, you can begin learning it off by heart.

 

4: Practice:

 

Now that you’ve got your speech all prepared, you need to practice reciting it – say it aloud. Just like it’s the real thing. Work on making the delivery a bit different each time, so that it doesn’t become like a rehearsal.

 

Do it this way and you won’t be so quick to panic on the big day, even if you hit a sticking point in the speech. Being able to ad-lib is a great asset to you.

 

5: Visualization:

 

Visualization is used by many people as a confidence booster and preparation aid. Imagine yourself delivering fabulous speech and it might help you to carry it through successfully in reality. A lot of sports professionals and business people advocate this approach.

 

6: Keep it simple:

 

Remember this – your audience is made up of family and friends. You know what their likes and dislikes are. Be yourself and keep things simple.

 

 

Get these things right, and you’re half way there! It still will not be easy. But, with fantastic preparation like this, you’ll have given yourself the best possible chance of success.

 

If nerves do start getting the better of you, don’t panic! That would certainly worsen the situation. What you should do instead is this: take a long, deep breath and a drink of water ( quite normal looking, by the way ) and simply continue as if nothing has happened. Even though a few seconds of a pause may seem like a long time to you, your listeners will hardly even be aware of it. Take my word for it. So, get to work. Prepare well and get a solid speech temple to work from – your listeners will thank you for it! Go for it!