How to Deliver a Wedding Speech with Confidence and Authority

It is not unusual for best men, fathers of the bride and grooms to feel vulnerable about standing up to speak. The trick to delivering a successful wedding speech is to create a perception of confidence to make your audience feel that you are in charge (whatever you are actually feeling at the time).

Here are 7 tips to help you deliver your wedding speech with confidence and authority.

1. Take your time
   Think about the most powerful or influential speakers you know of. As a general rule they will either speak very quickly or very slowly. The former takes a lot of work, but the latter is actually very easy, and a great trick to earn yourself the confidence of the room. Look at a video of Derren Brown. He speaks very slowly, and very clearly. His audience knows that he doesn’t need to rush; he’s in control of the situation, and taking it at his own pace. Not only does it make the process of public speaking easier, it also simply sounds more controlled.
2. Print your speech onto cue cards
   Partly, this is useful for the simple reason that a cue card is smaller than a sheet of A4. However, the biggest thing you gain from having cue cards is the confidence they inspire in both you and your audience. From the audience’s perspective, you have clearly prepared for the speech you are giving. From your own perspective, having the cards there will remind you that you are equipped to deliver this speech, and psychologically, this puts the ball in your court.
3. Hold your cue cards at about chest level and about half a foot in front of you
   This way, when you look up at the guests, your speech will still be in your eye-line. You should not simply be looking down at a piece of paper. Look up; make sure the guests know that they’re your focal point; that they’re what’s important to you. When you watch a speech by somebody doing nothing more than looking down and reading from their notes, you can’t help but think they may as well just hand the piece of paper out and request half an hour’s silence for everybody to get up to speed. The reason they are watching a person rather than reading a sheet of paper, is because they want someone to talk to them, to engage with them; someone in whom they can have confidence.
4. Learn your speech
   You don’t have to know it word for word, but you certainly should have practiced it beforehand. The actual process of printing the speech onto cue cards will actually make it easier to remember, because you recall the words in different contexts. Glancing down at the cards during the speech itself should quickly stimulate that memory.
5. Smile
   You may be shaking during the speech; you may even be terrified. However, what you must not be is miserable; or at least, you mustn’t look it. A frowning speaker is a reluctant speaker; someone out of their depth, perhaps. Nothing gets you the respect of a room like standing in front of 50, 60, 100 people and simply grinning back at them. It shows the audience that they’re in for a good time, and allows them to trust you to give them that.
6. A little bit of performance is good
   Pick relevant people to look in the eyes. If you’re talking about the groom’s brother, then look at him! If you’re telling everybody the bride looks beautiful; show them. Gesture to her, even. You don’t have to bound around the stage, yelping, to get people’s attention, but you also won’t be interesting to watch simply standing still. These little touches can make the difference between a good speech and a great one.
7. You’ve already won
   The most important thing to remember is that the people in the audience all want your speech to go well. They are all sufficiently good friends with the bride and groom to have been invited to their wedding and, as such, have a personal stock in every aspect of it going well. You are not going up against a hardened Glaswegian stand-up audience, fighting against hecklers, and struggling to keep the room’s attention. They want to laugh; often they’ve had a sufficient amount to drink for it to be difficult not to. It’s a happy occasion, everyone is in high-spirits, and a giddy crowd is a responsive crowd. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Article by Wedding Speech Writing Specialist Lawrence Bernstein

Image Courtesy of Steve Gerrard Photography

Read more Wedding Speech Advice articles

Read other Wedding Advice articles