It was traditional for the groom to make a wedding reception speech on behalf of the bride and himself. He would open the speech by saying ‘My wife and I’, which usually got a small laugh. Nowadays it is not uncommon for the bride to make a separate speech. A lot depends on personal preference.
If the single speech option is chosen, then the groom should use his speech to thank all those involved in the wedding and the reception. He should do this on behalf of himself and his new wife.
If the dual speech option is chosen, then it needs to be decided exactly who is going to thank who. You don’t want to be thanking some people just once and others twice, as this wouldn’t be fair. Even worse though is missing someone out altogether, as this is embarrassing to the bride and groom, and can be very upsetting for the person concerned.
One exception to this is that the bride and groom should both thank the two sets of parents. It is a very important day for all of the parents, and they should be made to feel very special indeed.
An obvious demarcation line is for the groom to thank the best man and any page boys, and for the bride to thank the maid of honor and any bridesmaids. A decision then needs to be made as to who thanks the person who conducted the service, and the caterers and florists etc.
Regardless of whether you choose the one speech or dual speech options your speech needs to be functional and sincere, you need to thank a lot of people without it sounding as though you are simply running through a list. You can achieve this by injecting just the right amount of humor. This is a very difficult balancing act, and is why grooms speeches are considered to be the hardest to write and to give.
Starting to write the speech can seem like an impossible task, and you can often end up staring at a blank piece of paper for minutes, even hours, waiting to be inspired. At this point the groom usually decides to trawl the internet for ideas to start him off. However it quickly becomes obvious that the internet is only able to offer up inferior ideas and poorly written content. The old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ comes to mind. If you pay nothing, you get nothing.
A much better option is to invest in a book containing example speeches that you can adapt to suit your circumstances. This will give you high quality grooms speeches crafted by an experienced writer. You will feel more comfortable about your speech and will therefore be able to deliver it with confidence. Your grooms speech will be one of the most important speeches of your life, so a very small investment in a professionally written book is a price well worth paying.
