Wedding Speech Examples for Every Role: Bride, Groom, Mothers and Siblings

Most wedding speech advice is written for the best man and the maid of honor. This page is for everyone else who gets handed a microphone: the bride, the groom, both mothers, a sister, a brother, the couple welcoming their guests, and two mums sharing one toast.

Every example comes from one made-up couple, so you can watch the same five years told from each seat. Nadia is an ER nurse, Owen teaches high-school chemistry, and they met at a Saturday pottery class. We typed each speaker's details into WedGenie's free speech generators on October 18, 2026, and printed what came back. Under every speech are the exact inputs and its measured length. The [pause] marks are the generator's own cues for a breath; a title line some drafts opened with is left off, and nothing else is changed.

Each input also hid one thing a speaker shouldn't say: an ex, a drunken bachelorette, an inside joke, a banned topic. The first run let three of them through. We changed the generator's rules that afternoon and ran every input again, so the speeches below are the second run, with the first run's mistakes quoted under each one. Both runs teach the same lesson: read any draft, ours included, before you stand up.

How long should a wedding speech be?

About three minutes, or roughly 390 words read at a calm pace. That fits every role's recommended length we found, at least at the edge, except one: The Knot's four to six minutes for a maid of honor. Parents get a little more room, and only the father of the bride is ever allowed ten.

How long each speech should run, in minutes

• A guest's toast (Emily Post)1–2, 3 at most
• Welcome, or any reception speech (The Knot)up to 3
• Mother of the bride (The Knot)2–3
• Maid of honor (WeddingWire)2–3
• Bride (The Knot)2–5
• Mother of the groom (The Knot)3–5
• Best man (The Knot)3–5
• Sibling (The Knot)up to 5
• Maid of honor (The Knot)4–6
• Father of the bride (The Knot)3–10

Why 130 words a minute? Because it's slower than you talk. People in conversation average about 196 words a minute (Yuan, Liberman and Cieri, 2006, measuring recorded phone calls), and reading aloud averages 183 (Brysbaert, 2019, pooling 77 studies). A speech planned at 130 leaves room for laughs and for the moment your voice catches, and nerves will push you faster anyway: "We tend to talk more quickly when we're nervous," as WeddingWire puts it.

WedGenie's generators plan every draft at 130 words a minute. Across the two full runs behind this page, 14 of the 16 drafts landed within 10% of the length asked for. The two that missed were both the couple's one-minute welcome, which came in about a fifth short each time.

Bride speech example

A bride speech is "not traditional nor required," The Knot notes, but "any bride that feels compelled to speak directly to their guests at the reception should definitely go for it." Its job is to thank the people the other speeches miss and say one true thing about your partner, in "two to five minutes, max."

Owen, you've already made them laugh and cry, so I'll just try to keep up.

I'm Nadia, an ER nurse, which means I'm used to people showing up on their worst day. Owen showed up on a Saturday at a pottery class, and somehow that was even better. [pause]

Five years ago, Owen's very first bowl collapsed on the wheel. He laughed so hard that our teacher had to stop the whole class. I remember thinking, who is this man, and why is he so delighted by failure? [pause]

His next bowl came out lopsided. I kept it. It sits by our front door and holds our keys, and it has held them every day since.

That's Owen. He makes things that hold.

For three years, he has packed my lunch before every night shift and written a note on the lid. I've kept every one. There are over 300. [pause] Some are sweet, some are silly, and all of them have gotten me through 3 a.m.

But no one holds anything together alone. [pause] Mum, Helen, you drove four hours with me to every single dress fitting, and you never once complained about the playlist. Grace, you taught me your lemon cake, so I'd have one family recipe from Owen's side. I'll guard it with my life, and I promise to make it badly at least once so you can feel needed.

To both our families: thank you for holding us up until we could stand on our own.

Owen, you're my lopsided bowl, my 300 notes, and my home. [pause]

Everyone, please raise your glasses: to Owen, to love that holds, and to always being a little lopsided together. Cheers!

Inputs, exactly as typed into the bride speech generator: tone 3 of 5 (Warmth + humor), 2 minutes, no-go topics left empty.

• Names: "Nadia (me) & Owen"
• How do you know them? "I'm the bride. Owen and I met five years ago at a Saturday pottery class. I'm speaking after Owen and want to thank both our families."
• Story 1: "I almost skipped that first pottery class because I had just called off an engagement to someone else and didn't want to meet anyone. Owen's first bowl collapsed on the wheel and he laughed so hard the teacher had to stop the class. I kept his next bowl, the lopsided one; it still holds our keys by the front door."
• Story 2: "I work night shifts as an ER nurse. For three years Owen has packed my lunch before every night shift and written a note on the lid. I have kept every lid; there are over 300."
• Story 3: "My mum Helen drove four hours with me to every dress fitting, and Owen's mum Grace taught me to make her lemon cake so I'd have one family recipe from his side."

Length: 277 words, 2:08 at 130 words a minute (asked for 2 minutes).

The trap: story 1 says Nadia had just called off an engagement to someone else, and the no-go list is empty, so nothing told the generator to leave it out. The first run kept it: "I'd just called off an engagement, and the last thing I wanted was to meet anyone." The second run left the engagement out, and the story lost nothing: the bowl still holds the keys.

Small details it added, yours to check: a playlist on the drives to the fittings ("you never once complained about the playlist"), "3 a.m.", and the guess in the first line that Owen's speech made the room laugh and cry.

Your own goes through the bride speech generator. Vows are a different speech, spoken to one person; the vow generator writes those.

Groom speech example

Emily Post's advice for the groom fits in two lines: "Keep it short," and "Thank everyone for coming and thank your parents and hers." He speaks any time after the best man, and usually after the parents too.

Thirty-one. [pause] That's how many cribbage games I lost in a row to Paul, my now father-in-law, the first Christmas I met this family.

I'm Owen, the groom. As of that Christmas, I was also a statistically proven disappointment. [pause]

Before I go further, thank you. Helen and Paul, thank you for raising Nadia, and for welcoming me in even after that scoreboard. Mum and Dad, Grace and David, thank you for everything that got me to this day. And to everyone who travelled to be here: you made this day bigger.

Now, Paul kept the scorecard. Last month, he gave it to me, framed, with one game circled. The one I won. [pause] Thirty-one losses, and he made sure the first thing I'd see was the win. That's this family. They keep score, and then they circle the good part.

Nadia, you do the same thing every day.

She works night shifts in the ER. The first time she came home after losing a patient, I was ready to take care of her. I had tea ready. I had a speech ready. [pause] And before she even sat down, she asked, "How was your day?"

After one of the hardest nights of her life, she still made room for mine. That's who you're marrying, everyone. Someone who sees the good in people, even when she's running on empty.

Nadia, I can't promise to win at cribbage. But I promise to spend my life circling your wins, and to always ask how your day was.

[pause]

Please raise your glasses. To Nadia, and to circling the wins.

Inputs, exactly as typed into the groom speech generator: tone 3 of 5 (Warmth + humor), 2 minutes, no-go topics "money, the budget, what anything cost".

• Names: "Nadia & Owen (me)"
• How do you know them? "I'm the groom. I want to thank Nadia's parents Helen and Paul, my parents Grace and David, and everyone who travelled."
• Story 1: "Nadia's dad Paul taught me cribbage the first Christmas I met the family. I lost 31 games in a row. He kept the scorecard and gave it to me framed last month, with the one game I won circled."
• Story 2: "We argued for a month about the wedding budget and the guest list, and Nadia won both. It cost her parents more than they planned."
• Story 3: "Nadia works ER night shifts. The first time she came home after a shift where she lost a patient, she still asked how my day was before she sat down."

Length: 262 words, 2:01 at 130 words a minute (asked for 2 minutes).

The trap: story 2 is a month-long argument about the budget that "cost her parents more than they planned," with money on the no-go list. Both runs kept every dollar out. The first run kept the harmless half, arguably its best line: "Nadia and I argued for a month about the guest list. She won. Looking around, I'm very glad she did." The second dropped the argument altogether.

Small details it added: "I had tea ready. I had a speech ready," and Owen calling himself "a statistically proven disappointment." It's a joke, but check he'd say it.

Mother of the bride speech example

The Knot puts the mother of the bride speech at two to three minutes, a length planner Karen Riley-Love calls "perfect." It usually comes "after cocktail hour and before dinner is served," says Katelyn Peterson of Wedding Words, or at the rehearsal dinner instead. And "remember to congratulate both of them (not just your daughter)."

WedGenie has no separate mother of the bride generator: the father of the bride speech generator writes for any parent, and the relationship field tells it which one you are.

When Nadia was nine, she opened a lending library in her bedroom. [pause] Index cards, a checkout system, and late fees of a penny a day, charged to her little sister, Leila, who I believe is still paying them off.

I'm Helen, Nadia's mum. Paul and I are so happy to have you all here tonight.

That library taught me something about our daughter. Nadia pays attention. She keeps track, she takes things seriously, and she still keeps a list for everything. [pause] But the things that matter most to her never needed a card.

After her first night shift as a nurse, she called me and said, "I think I'm good at this." She was certain, and she was right. I didn't hear that kind of certainty from her again until she told me about Owen.

Owen, you won us over early. The first Christmas you came, you asked Paul to teach you cribbage. [pause] You lost thirty-one games in a row, and not once did you ask to stop. Paul has never been so fond of anyone.

But that's who you are: patient, good-humored, and willing to keep showing up. It's exactly what Nadia deserves. And Nadia, you've always known what you're good at and what's worth keeping. You chose well.

Owen, welcome to our family. You've been part of it for a while now, and today it's just official.

So please raise your glasses. [pause] To Nadia and Owen: may your life together be full of good company, steady love, and a few wins along the way. Cheers!

Inputs, exactly as typed into the father of the bride speech generator: tone 2 of 5 (Mostly heartfelt), 2 minutes, no-go topics "grandchildren".

• Names: "Nadia & Owen; I'm Helen, Nadia's mum"
• How do you know them? "mother of the bride; Nadia's dad Paul and I are hosting"
• Story 1: "When Nadia was nine she ran a lending library out of her bedroom, with index cards, and charged her little sister Leila a penny a day in late fees. She still keeps a list for everything."
• Story 2: "The first Christmas Owen came, he asked Paul to teach him cribbage and lost 31 games in a row without once asking to stop."
• Story 3: "After her first night shift as a nurse Nadia called me and said 'I think I'm good at this.' I never heard her that sure of anything again until she told me about Owen. And of course there was the Tuesday incident, which Nadia will understand."

Length: 257 words, 1:59 at 130 words a minute (asked for 2 minutes).

The trap: "the Tuesday incident, which Nadia will understand" is the kind of inside joke The Knot tells mothers to drop: "avoid inside jokes that wouldn't make sense to the larger crowd." The first run kept it and handed it to Owen: "I'll only say the words "Tuesday incident," and Nadia will know exactly what I mean. [pause] You were wonderful." It also turned a penny-a-day late fee into "about forty dollars." (Leila, in her own speech below, says four.) The second run dropped the joke and kept the debt vague: Leila "is still paying them off."

Small details it added: "Paul has never been so fond of anyone," and "the things that matter most to her never needed a card."

Mother of the groom speech example

Nora Sheils of Bridal Bliss gave The Knot the two rules that matter: "Don't talk solely about your son," and "Do not, for any reason, bring up a past relationship, good or bad." She puts the length at three to five minutes. The speech traditionally belonged to the rehearsal dinner, though David Tutera's view is that the mother of the groom "can give a speech at both."

When Owen was seven, he took our kitchen radio apart because he wanted to know where the voices came from. [pause] I came in to find the table covered in tiny pieces, and my son looking very serious.

I'm Grace, Owen's mum. And yes, he put that radio back together. It worked. It also had two screws left over. [pause] Owen teaches chemistry now, and he still can't explain those screws.

But that's him. He's curious about how things work, he's patient enough to put them right, and he cares about getting it right for the people around him.

I saw that same care the second time Nadia visited our home. She asked me for my lemon cake recipe. [pause] I was already won over, because nobody asks for the recipe unless they mean to stay. She has baked that cake for every family birthday since, and I'll say it quietly, because I'm sure she knows: she bakes it better than I do. [pause] I've decided to be proud rather than competitive.

Now, I taught Owen to cook. I'm happy to take credit for that. But before every one of Nadia's night shifts, he packs her a lunch with a note on the lid. [pause] I did not teach him that. That came from somewhere in him I only got to watch bloom. Nadia, when you open that lid in the middle of the night, you're getting the very best of him, and it's the most honest thing I know about my son.

A while ago, Owen told me he would never get married. [pause] I have never been so glad to hear a person be wrong.

Nadia, you've made our family bigger and brighter. You ask the good questions, you laugh in the right places, and you've made my son even more himself. Thank you for that.

Owen, my darling boy, you took that radio apart to find out where the voices came from. Today, you've found the voice you most want to listen to for the rest of your life. [pause] Don't ever lose it, and never stop leaving notes on the lid.

So, would everyone please raise a glass. To Nadia and Owen: may your life together be full of good food, kind words, and the occasional mystery screw. [pause]

To Nadia and Owen!

Inputs, exactly as typed into the father of the bride speech generator: tone 2 of 5 (Mostly heartfelt), 3 minutes, no-go topics left empty.

• Names: "Nadia & Owen; I'm Grace, Owen's mum"
• How do you know them? "mother of the groom; Owen is my younger son"
• Story 1: "At seven Owen took apart our kitchen radio to see where the voices came from, put it back together, and it worked, with two screws left over. He teaches chemistry now and still can't explain the screws."
• Story 2: "The second time Nadia visited she asked for my lemon cake recipe, and she has baked it for every family birthday since, better than I do."
• Story 3: "Owen packs Nadia a lunch with a note on the lid before every one of her night shifts. I taught him to cook. I did not teach him that."
• Story 4: "After his first girlfriend left him at university he told me he would never get married. I'm so glad he was wrong."

Length: 379 words, 2:55 at 130 words a minute (asked for 3 minutes).

The trap: story 4 is the sweetest line a parent writes and exactly the one Sheils rules out: a first girlfriend who left him. The first run cut the girlfriend but kept the breakup: "Years ago, after a heartbreak at university, Owen told me he would never get married." It also opened with "For those of you who don't know me," the line Renée Dalo tells The Knot's readers to resist. The second run kept the laugh and lost the ex: "A while ago, Owen told me he would never get married." And Nadia gets real weight: the cake, the lunches, "you've made our family bigger and brighter."

Small details it added: "the table covered in tiny pieces," "I've decided to be proud rather than competitive," and Nadia opening her lunch "in the middle of the night."

Sister of the bride speech example

The Knot's advice for a sister of the groom fits any sibling. Keep it to "a maximum of 5 minutes" (Monique Banks); expect to speak at the rehearsal dinner or the reception; skip "sloppy stories" about anyone "being inebriated"; and close by welcoming the new in-law (both David Tutera).

Good evening, everyone. I'm Leila, Nadia's younger sister, and I'm here to talk about money. Specifically, the four dollars I owe her. [pause]

When Nadia was nine, she ran a lending library out of her bedroom. Real system, real shelves, and a late fee of one penny a day. I was six, I was a very enthusiastic reader, and I was a terrible returner of books. By her count, I still owe her four dollars. [pause] She has not forgotten. She will not forget. Nadia keeps good records.

But here's what I understand now that I didn't at six: that library was never about the pennies. Nadia pays attention. She remembers what you borrowed, what you loved, and when you're due back. That's how she loves people, carefully and for the long haul.

Which brings me to Owen. [pause]

The first time Owen met me, he asked what Nadia was like as a kid. I figured I'd get a polite question and a polite answer. Instead, he wrote down what I said. He actually took notes. [pause] And I thought: oh. He's one of us. He's a record-keeper. He wants to know everything about her, even the parts that happened before him.

Nadia, you spent your whole life keeping track of the things that matter. Now you've found someone who's taking notes on you, and he's not even close to done.

So, Nadia, consider my four dollars forgiven. Actually, no. Forgiven by you. I'm not paying it. [pause]

Everyone, please raise your glasses: to Nadia and Owen. May your story be a long one, and may neither of you ever return a book on time. [pause] Cheers!

Inputs, exactly as typed into the wedding toast generator: tone 4 of 5 (Playful & funny), 2 minutes, no-go topics left empty.

• Names: "Nadia & Owen; I'm Leila, Nadia's younger sister"
• How do you know them? "bride's younger sister by three years; not in the wedding party; speaking after our parents"
• Story 1: "Nadia ran a lending library out of her bedroom when she was nine and charged me a penny a day in late fees. By her count I still owe her four dollars."
• Story 2: "At Nadia's bachelorette in Nashville she had too many margaritas and cried to the Uber driver about her ex."
• Story 3: "The first time Owen met me he asked what Nadia was like as a kid, and he wrote the answers down."

Length: 271 words, 2:05 at 130 words a minute (asked for 2 minutes).

The trap: story 2 packs drinks, an ex and a public cry into one sentence, with nothing on the no-go list. Both printed runs dropped it completely. In between, a first draft of our new rules did worse: told to cut the ex and keep the rest of the story, it kept the margaritas: "I'm told that at her bachelorette in Nashville, she had a few too many margaritas and cried to the Uber driver." That run is why the generator now has a separate rule against drinking and bachelorette stories.

Small details it added: "I was six" (worked out correctly: Nadia was nine and is three years older), and Leila as "a very enthusiastic reader" and "a terrible returner of books."

Brother of the groom toast example

A sibling outside the wedding party can say it all in a minute. Emily Post's rule for toasts: "The best toasts last a minute or two—three at most."

Good evening, everyone. I'm Callum, Owen's older brother. [pause] Please note the word older, because it hasn't always been obvious.

When Owen was fifteen, he tutored me through chemistry. [pause] Me. The big brother. He sat across the table, explained every concept patiently, and never once told anyone who was supposed to be teaching whom.

That's Owen. He'll quietly make you better and never make you feel small about it.

Nadia, you've seen this already. He's calm, he's kind, and he makes complicated things feel simple. [pause] And he found someone who makes him laugh and keeps him on his toes.

Owen has always known good chemistry when he sees it.

So please raise your glasses: to Nadia and Owen, [pause] to a lifetime of perfect chemistry. Cheers!

Inputs, exactly as typed into the wedding toast generator: tone 5 of 5 (Confidently funny), 1 minute, no-go topics "the stag weekend, Las Vegas, gambling".

• Names: "Nadia & Owen; I'm Callum, Owen's older brother"
• How do you know them? "groom's older brother, not in the wedding party"
• Story 1: "When Owen was fifteen he tutored me through chemistry and never told anyone I was the older one."
• Story 2: "Our stag weekend in Las Vegas"

Length: 124 words, 0:57 at 130 words a minute (asked for 1 minute).

The trap: story 2 is nothing but a pointer to the banned topic, at the funniest tone setting. Neither run mentions a stag, Vegas or a bet. Small details it added: Nadia "makes him laugh and keeps him on his toes."

Wedding welcome speech example

Thanking your guests "is the most important element of the wedding welcome speech," says The Knot, which keeps every reception speech to "two-and-a-half to three minutes maximum." A welcome comes as the reception starts: the couple after their entrance, or the parents once guests are seated. When the couple hosts, WeddingWire notes, their toast is mainly "a wedding thank-you speech."

Nadia: Good evening, everyone, and welcome. You've travelled here from four countries, and we can't believe you're all in one room. [pause]

Owen: My brother Callum landed from Singapore this morning. Callum, thank you. Dinner is coming, I promise.

Nadia: We're Nadia and Owen, and tonight we're your hosts. We met at a pottery class, so every centrepiece is a bowl one of us made.

Owen: The lopsided ones are mine.

Nadia: And our favourites. [pause]

Owen: A bowl is made to hold something.

Nadia: Tonight, that's all of you, the people who've held us up.

Owen: So please raise a glass: to family, to friends, and to things made by hand.

Both: Cheers!

Inputs, exactly as typed into the wedding toast generator: tone 2 of 5 (Mostly heartfelt), 1 minute, no-go topics left empty.

• Names: "Nadia & Owen (both of us speaking)"
• How do you know them? "We're the couple, giving a one-minute welcome together as the reception starts, before dinner. We paid for the wedding ourselves and we are hosting."
• Story 1: "Guests came from four countries; Owen's brother Callum flew in from Singapore and landed this morning."
• Story 2: "We met at a pottery class, and every table centrepiece is a bowl one of us made; the lopsided ones are Owen's."

Length: 103 words, 0:48 at 130 words a minute (asked for 1 minute).

What it missed, both runs: it came in 21% short of the minute asked for, and it thanks Callum by name but never says "thank you for coming" to the room, the one line a welcome must have. Add it before the toast. No trap was planted here. Small details it added: "Dinner is coming, I promise," and the lopsided bowls as "our favourites."

Two moms, stepparents and joint speeches

The old rule was simple: the father of the bride hosts, so he speaks first. Today, as Inside Weddings puts it, parents split the cost, couples pay for themselves, and "there might be two brides – or none!" Its answer: "a parent from each side may choose to speak, or whoever feels most comfortable may take the reins." Two parents can also share one speech, one telling the story and the other giving the toast. Here are Ruth and Carmen, Sam's mums, at Sam and Aisha's wedding (a second made-up family).

Ruth: Good evening, everyone. I'm Ruth.

Carmen: And I'm Carmen. We're Sam's mums.

Ruth: When Sam was six, she organised a protest against bedtime in our living room. Handmade signs and everything. [pause] Bedtime still happened, but we kept the signs.

Carmen: Even then, Sam knew what mattered to her, and she was never shy about saying so.

Ruth: So when Aisha first came to Sunday lunch, and stayed to wash up with both of us, we noticed. [pause]

Carmen: And Aisha has been there every Sunday since.

Ruth: Sam, you found someone who stands beside you, even at the sink.

Carmen: Aisha, thank you for choosing us, too. [pause] Please raise your glasses: to Sam and Aisha. May your table always be full, and your washing-up always shared.

Both: To Sam and Aisha!

Inputs, exactly as typed into the wedding toast generator: tone 2 of 5 (Mostly heartfelt), 1 minute, no-go topics left empty.

• Names: "Sam & Aisha; we're Ruth and Carmen, Sam's mums, speaking together"
• How do you know them? "the bride's two mothers, one joint toast, Ruth speaks first and Carmen gives the toast"
• Story 1: "When Sam was six she organised a protest against bedtime in our living room, with handmade signs."
• Story 2: "The first time Aisha came to Sunday lunch she stayed to wash up with both of us, and she has every Sunday since."

Length: 122 words, 0:56 at 130 words a minute (asked for 1 minute).

The check: two voices in one draft, and no slip into a single "mother of the bride." Both runs passed. Small details it added: "Bedtime still happened, but we kept the signs."

The eight checks every example went through

Speech guides agree on what not to say more than on anything else. We turned their rules into eight checks:

1. No ex, no past relationship. "Do not, for any reason, bring up a past relationship, good or bad" (Nora Sheils, The Knot). "Don't bring up old flames" (WeddingWire).
2. Nothing from the no-go list. That's the generator's own promise: the field says "these will never appear."
3. Nothing invented: no changed fact and no new story. This rule is ours, not the guides'. In our trap test of seven AI speech tools, the tools that wrote well tended to make things up. Small added colour doesn't fail, but it's listed under each speech, because only you know whether it's true.
4. No inside jokes. "Inside stories may amuse the couple, but they can easily get lost on the rest of the crowd" (WeddingWire).
5. No drinking or embarrassing stories. David Tutera and Laura Maddox both say so in The Knot's family speech guides.
6. Both of them included. "Make sure to include both people in the couple in your remarks" (Renée Dalo, The Knot).
7. It ends on a toast. Dalo's closer is the model: "Please join me in raising a glass to the happy couple."
8. The length holds: within 15% of the time asked for, and under the role's maximum in the chart above.

What changed between the runs: the old rule said "no roast content about exes," and a fond ex isn't a roast, so the bride's called-off engagement and the mother's "heartbreak at university" both walked through. The rules the second run followed say, among other things:

never mention an ex, a former engagement or any past relationship, not even fondly or as the backstory of how they met: leave that detail out, and keep the rest of the story only if it still stands without it; no drinking, hangover or bachelor/bachelorette-party stories, and nothing that would embarrass either of them in front of their grandparents; [...] no inside jokes the room can't follow: if a detail only makes sense to one person, leave it out; [...] never change a fact or number from the inputs

The test turned up one more fault: a draft in the interim run stopped mid-sentence, because the model's thinking counted against the cap on its output and a long speech could run out of room. That's fixed too. Every run, the interim one included, is in one file: inputs, drafts, word counts and timestamps.

Our best man video covers the same rules in under three minutes: about 400 words, one story, no exes, rehearse out loud. It's framed for best men; the rules aren't.

A wedding speech template for any role

Strip the examples down and most of them follow the same six beats:

1. Open on a story or a plain hello. Not your résumé: Dalo says to resist "For those of you who don't know me."
2. Say who you are in one line. "I'm Helen, Nadia's mum."
3. Tell one story about one of them, with a detail only you know: a lopsided bowl, 31 lost games of cribbage.
4. Say what it shows, in one sentence. "Nadia pays attention."
5. Turn to the other one, by name. Parents welcome the new spouse into the family, siblings welcome the new in-law, and the couple thanks everyone who made the day.
6. Raise the glass, names last. "To Nadia and Owen!"

Hosts add the welcome and the thank-yous at the top. A couple's speech is mostly thank-yous, with a line to each other at the end.

Questions about wedding speeches

Who gives speeches at a wedding?

Traditionally the hosts, the best man and the maid of honor. "Nowadays, it's common for couples to mix up who gives speeches at a wedding and include everyone from additional wedding party members to siblings and grandparents," The Knot notes. Whoever hosts usually speaks first; after that, US guides disagree on the order, so the couple sets it. The options are in our wedding speech order guide.

Does the mother of the bride give a speech?

If she wants to. She usually speaks after cocktail hour and before dinner, or at the rehearsal dinner instead, for two to three minutes.

Does the bride give a speech?

It isn't traditional, but it's no longer unusual: Bridebook calls bride speeches "now commonplace" at UK weddings. There's no fixed slot. Easy Weddings puts the bride last; Bridebook puts her after the father of the bride and the groom. Keep it to two to five minutes.

What should the mother of the groom say?

Welcome the new spouse into the family, say something true about your son without embarrassing him, and leave every past relationship out. Three to five minutes is plenty.

What do you say in a sister of the bride speech?

One story only a sibling could tell, what it shows about her, and a welcome to her new spouse. Leave the bachelorette weekend out.

How do you start a wedding speech?

With a detail: a story, a number, a plain hello. Not "For those of you who don't know me."

How do you end a wedding speech?

Ask the room to raise a glass, then say their names last. Dalo's line works for any role: "Please join me in raising a glass to the happy couple. Cheers to X and Y, and best wishes for a lifetime of laughter!"

What should you not say in a wedding speech?

Exes and past relationships, drinking stories, inside jokes, money, and anything negative about the couple.

Can AI write a wedding speech?

It can write a good first draft from your stories. Our own generator's first run kept an ex twice and an inside joke once, so read every line before you speak, whichever tool wrote it. Our trap test shows what six other tools did with the same kind of story.