Wedding Toast Tips

Wedding toasts are certainly much easier to prepare than a wedding speech is. Normally, the person proposing the toast will have a short humorous story to tell about the bride or groom (or whomever they are toasting) and will then proceed with the actual toast.

Here are some general guidelines to follow as you prepare your wedding toast:

• Keep your toast short, no more than one to two minutes. Remember wedding toasts are not wedding speeches.



• When you're ready to make your toast, be sure to stand up so people can see you.



• Before toasting, give the guests time to refill their glasses.



• If you are the one receiving the toast, stay seated.



• Hold your glass in your right hand when proposing the toast and raise the glass toward the person you are toasting when you are finished.



• After a toast, it is customary for everyone to clink glasses before sipping.



• Humor is good, humiliation is not. Do not bring up old romances or other extremely embarrassing subjects, and keep the stories clean and appropriate for the audience. Keep in mind that there are usually older people (grandparent's) and children present.



• Speak slowly and clearly. Make sure you are loud enough so the people at the back of the room can hear you, without yelling.



• As your making your toast, look around the room at the guests. As you finish up, be sure to make eye contact with the bride and groom, or the person you are presenting the toast too.



• Practice your toast before the wedding. Some people have a knack for winging it, but it's best to be prepared.
  
  

Recommended Resources

You've been called upon to make a wedding toast. Do you know what to say? Are you suffering from the "wedding toast jitters"? When presenting a toast, you need to make your words catchy, clever, and most importantly, tasteful. The good thing about wedding toasts (unlike wedding speeches) is that they are short, easy to memorize, and get to the point quickly. It takes less than a minute to deliver a great wedding toast.

However, you still need to plan out what you'll say. Trying to come up with a toast at the last minute can cause you to fall flat on your face. They're not as simple to deliver as you may think. Most people need help with preparing a good, gracious and often humorous toast. If you need help with writing an interesting wedding toast, check out Wedding Celebration Toasts.