Wedding Toast Tips

Some fundamental tips and hints to help you prepare to deliver a wedding toast that will not result in humiliation or embarrassment for yourself or others at the wedding.

Wedding Toast Tips:

© 2003, by Rose Smith

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.

If you are looking for some sample toasts, you may find an appropriate one in Irish Wedding Toasts or on the General Wedding Toasts pages on this site.

If, however, you are quite nervous about giving a wedding toast, or you aren't sure how you should go about presenting one, a great ebook I recommend is Wedding Celebration Toasts.

This ebook not only gives you gives you over 96 toasts to choose from traditional toasts to sentimental toasts to modern toasts, it also helps you with learning delivery tips, etiquette tips, toast order suggestions, 13 ways to start your toast, the history of toasts and rhyming toasts. It will even guide you through the who? what? where? when? why? and how? of giving a wedding toast. Click here to learn more.

That being said, here are some tips to help you get a start on preparing your wedding toast before the big day:

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.