When Should We Have Our Wedding Speeches?

The Wedding Speeches. One of the most fun parts of the day. Traditionally a chance for the Father of the Bride to share stories of his little princess. The Groom to thank everyone and express his love for his wife. And for the Best Man to take the opportunity to annihilate the Groom with embarrassing stories. The speeches are always full of emotion and laughter. And a part of the day I love to capture. Speeches have also changed in their presentation and style with same sex weddings and more commonly couples not always wanting to stick with the traditional format and speakers.

On the point of tradition, speeches used to take place after the Wedding Breakfast, so called because it is the first meal after being wed. Recently many people have started to do their speeches before the meal! Why? Well, it is a matter for personal choice and in this blog, I will try and list the pros and cons for either. Most importantly though as with everything on your wedding it should be what you want to do and not just about sticking to the rule book because that is what everyone else does, no it is your wedding day you decide!

From my experience I would say it is now about half the weddings I cover doing speeches before and half doing them after. I have been observing at weddings to try and see if there is a difference in the atmosphere and how this effects the day in general. Now, I do have to say that whether you do your speeches before or after makes absolutely no difference to me. Also, there is nothing wrong with whichever order you choose to go for. I have personally found that when speeches are done before the wedding breakfast the atmosphere often feels more relaxed and less formal.