Great Wedding Speech Quotes
A Maid Of Honor Speech – How To Mess One Up.
There are some things to be aware of to make sure your wedding speeches, Maid of Honor is a real success. Hopefully your speech will be a great success but you must get some basics correct. You must be sure in your own mind about this.
It’s easy to get excited thinking about your upcoming wedding speeches, Maid of Honor but you must consider several important issues.
These are easily overlooked in the excitement of the build up to the wedding. It’s easy to think you will the star of the show The trouble is that if you start thinking like that, it will almost certainly end in tears (not just your own!).
There are several areas you need to cover. The most important thing is to be clear in your own mind how you are going to play it. What are these areas?
1/ Should I use humor? 2/ How long should the Maid of Honor Speech be? 3/ How should it relate to the other speeches? 4/ How should I deliver it? One of the big challenges facing a maid of honor is out of your control. It’s the running order of the speeches. You are well down the pecking order and much of what you wanted to say may well have been said already. Make sure it “fits” in with the rest of the speeches.
1/. Is it good idea to try and be humorous?
There are a couple of problems with trying to be funny. The most obvious one is that you think you are funny but no-one else does (remember that scene in “Good Morning Vietnam” where the stuffy guy takes over Robin Williams’ radio show and tries to tell jokes?). The next is that you really are funny but the speeches beforehand have ruled out a humorous speech. Previous speakers may have upset or embarrassed people, which means that the last thing the room needs is another comic. It’s not your fault but you will get the blame.
You may have to face the fact that your sense of humour may be wrong for the guests or family. Someone may have humiliated the couple already. If you carry on regardless, you may be rubbing salt into the wounds.
2/ What’s The Best Length For A Maid Of Honor Speech? Please remember, this is the bide and grooms’ (and their families’) day. It is not your chance at winning “The X Factor”. You need to tailor your speech to what has gone before. It may not be pleasant but it is a fact. it’s possible that no-one wants yet another person to drone on for ten minutes (no matter how good you think your speech is or how long you have rehearsed it).
3/ Your speech has to dovetail with the others.
Just giving your prepared speech regardless of preceding ones could be problematic. You could be interrupting the smooth flow of the ceremony if you present your prepared speech as is without taking into account what went before. Who knows, someone may have stole your best jokes or stories?
I don’t mean say the same things. I mean keep in tone with the rest (except when all the others have bored the pants off everyone)
4/ Delivery (it’s not just what you say but how you say it). Have little, if any alcohol before your turn. It’s too easy to say the wrong thing which you can never take back afterwards.
Many people recommend a couple of drinks beforehand to make you less nervous before your speech. That’s OK but there is a world of difference between being “calm” and “legless”! I’ve often told a story of a Maid of Honor who was “totally lubricated” by the time it came to deliver her speech. She tried to make the speech without notes and basically, froze (literally). Whilst all the guests thought she was pausing for effect and waited for something very poignant, she had forgotten her lines (and most likely, where she actually was!). After the best part of a minute, the Bride’s father realised what was happening and put her out of her misery.
I really recommend playing it safe. It’s going to be a very long day when there will be plenty of time for drinking later on. My advice is to get your Maid of honor speech out of the way first.
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