Conclusion: In a toast, the conclusion is already baked in.Stories and anecdotes are often the body of a wedding toast, but remember: they’re there as supporting material to prove your claim: that these excellent people are great for each other and have the love and support of their family and friends. If you say the groom is kind and thoughtful, what are examples of that? Is there a story you can tell? Make sure you talk about both of the people being married, even if you know one of them better than the other. When you’ve chosen a few top qualities, think in terms of evidence. What do you want this audience to know about these people? When preparing your toast, brainstorm qualities or characteristics of the couple that you want to communicate. Body: Here’s where you need to think about the message you’re trying to get across.You can also say something sincere or heartfelt a wedding toast doesn’t have to be funny, but it does have to be genuine. Self-deprecatory humor might work well here, as does meta-humor (after all, the crowd expects you to say and do certain things you can work with that). You can start with a joke or a funny anecdote, though be sure to pay attention to the appropriateness of your humor for the crowd. You should think about your toast as having an introduction, body, and conclusion. As we’ve seen throughout this course, public speech-even impromptu public speech-is always more effective with some structure. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that a casual wedding is a place for off-the cuff, unrehearsed remarks. Content: The content of your toast will depend on your role in the wedding, your relationship to the couple, the amount of time you have available, and the nature of the wedding.Before preparing your speech, you should find out if there’s a particular person or group at the wedding you should acknowledge with your toast. The most important thing to notice about “traditional” wedding toast order is that it ensures that everyone is recognized and thanked. What if there are two grooms or two brides? What if there’s a female best man? What if the couple paid for the wedding themselves? And so on. More importantly, every family and every couple is different. Most weddings, of course, will differ from this pattern, especially since all the speakers in the list above are men. The best man tells some funny stories about the groom, then says some heartfelt words before toasting the couple or the parents of the couple.The groom thanks the hosts, thanks the guests for attending and for their gifts, says some loving words about his new wife, and offers a toast to the bridesmaids.The father of the bride, who paid for the wedding, welcomes the guests, leads a toast to absent friends and family, and toasts the bride and groom.As you read this list, think about all the ways a modern wedding might diverge from these assumptions: An online search suggests that, traditionally, wedding toasts in the U.S. If you’re asked to speak at a wedding, it’s a good idea to get a sense of how traditional the wedding is intended to be (and which traditions it’s drawing from). Most weddings have some element of tradition in their structure or substance.
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