Wedding Toasts to the Bride

Being the first day of your life together as husband and wife, the last thing you want to do is make a fool of yourself at your own wedding. Many a man has blundered his wedding toast to the bride and lived to rue his every word! Avoid letting that happen to you and take care when you prepare your speech.

Write and practice

If you’re not an accomplished public speaker, don’t try to bluff your way through the wedding toast to the bride. This is not a time for stuttering, stammering or inappropriate humor. No one minds if you tear up or become emotional; in fact, that would only add to the beauty of your words. But please don’t stand at the microphone and have no words to say, only to be left with: “My new wife looks beautiful, I love you honey.” Practice in front of a mirror if it will help ease your nerves.

Go easy on the anecdotes

Your wedding toast to your bride is meant to be a way of expressing to everyone how proud you are that she agreed to be your wife, how beautiful you think she looks and how much you’re looking forward to spending the rest of your life with her.

It’s not a time to tell funny stories about her that will make not only your bride squirm in her seat, but all the guests cringe as well. Sure, tell amusing anecdotes, but if your priority is to go for the big laughs, you’d better think twice.

Don’t waffle on and on

Lots of people dread speech and toast time because it seems to go on with endless drones about who did what to help, how proud everyone is and how delicious the food is. Yadda yadda yadda. Your job in the wedding toast to the bride is not to aim to entertain the guests, but to offer a heartfelt message to your new wife and to thank her family for welcoming you into it. Beyond that, there is no need to pad out your toast with uninteresting tidbits. Better to be short and sweet than to have everyone yawning.

Never make fun of the bride

This is a wedding toast to the bride, not a wedding roast. If you know what’s good for you, you will be gracious, complimentary and romantic, not use the opportunity as an excuse to make fun of her to show your amazing sense of humor. No one will appreciate it and your wedding night will be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

The toast is about the bride and her family

Don’t lose sight of the subjects of this toast. While you’re toasting the bride and her family, don’t allow yourself to stray off the path and start thanking the caterers for the wonderful job they’ve done or lead the guests in a rousing rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ to Aunt Grace who happens to be turning 80 on your wedding day. Save these little items for another time in the proceedings.

What to say

There are fundamental things you need to say in your wedding toast to the bride and her family.

• Compliment your bride on how she looks.
• Tell her how much she means to you.
• Thank her for becoming your wife.
• Thank her family for welcoming you as a part of theirs.
• Promise to be the best husband you can be.

Beyond that, make the toast positive, uplifting and romantic and your married life will be off to a beautiful start.