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[W282]Wedding Rehearsal Dinner Speeches

by Elizabeth James, Eli

Wedding rehearsal dinners are very cherished and personal events and are usually held just prior to the wedding night. Out of the entire wedding celebrations and festivities, the wedding rehearsal dinner is the one special event which bride and groom are likely to enjoy and remember than any other wedding event. But wedding preparations tend to be so hectic that the composition of a well versed speech may prove to be a very stressful situation for many.

A wedding rehearsal dinner is considered to be a rewarding experience for the new couple and their families as it is conducted on a smaller base and is more intimate. Only the close relatives of both the bride and groom are in attendance whereas, a wedding reception hosts hundreds of guests whom the bride and groom barely know. The bride and groom have a golden chance in the rehearsal dinner to acknowledge all the people who have helped in the wedding arrangements. The dinner can be held in any place, whether a backyard, a rented room or can be in form of a barbecue.

Arrangement of a wedding rehearsal dinner comprises of getting the best man, maid of honor, father of the bride, and other family members to practice their speeches. The best man and maid of honor will practice giving a short speech before dinner and the father of the bride will also give a welcome speech for all the guests. The bride and the groom may also put some sincere thankful thoughts into words and give a short speech to honor all their guests.

It is advisable to write your speech well in advance say about two weeks before the wedding. Keeping the speech short and sweet is the key to catching your audience's ears. The speech should be simple and usage of difficult words and literature style should be avoided as that tends to get boring. An easy, heartfelt speech is sure to gladden the new couple and the guests more than a one with heavy handed words. An ideal wedding speech would be about 4 to 5 minutes, composed of words dedicated to the bride or the groom's positive qualities and memorable moments of life. It is also important to adopt a light, frank tone rather than droning on in a matter of fact way, preaching way as this may cast a dull tone over the festive atmosphere.

The most embarrassing situation would be to blow up your chance at delivering the speech. Practice well in front of a small audience to boost your confidence before the rehearsal dinner. A wedding speech is considered as a gift for the bride and groom if composed and delivered well, as a speech on their special occasion is something that will last forever in their memories.

All in all, a wedding rehearsal dinner will be gracefully ended by giving a toast to the happy couple. A round of drinks will be passed and final bows made. Champagne is considered most appropriate for such an occasion.

After dinner speeches however, have become more popular as of late for a number of reasons, one of them being that the guests also tend to be more relaxed and in a mellow mood. This is also conducive to having them seated in one place for the time it takes to deliver the after dinner speeches!

Of course this is not the only reason for having after dinner speeches instead of speeches before dinner, but it does help. You also find that with after dinner speeches people are more ready to be entertained, they are more relaxed and so they also tend to open up more and be more receptive.

And for anyone who has to give a speech, a more receptive audience is always a good start. After dinner speeches also give the speech giver more time to become nervous and to worry about their turn coming up!

However all that aside, after dinner speeches at a wedding can swing either in a very formal manner, or they can be informal, with this depending largely on whether or not the wedding itself is formal or not. The first person to normally give the speech is almost always the father of the bride.

He is then followed by the groom, and the best man. After that sometimes, again depending on the formality of the occasion and the wishes of the wedding party, the bride might give a small speech, and sometimes even the bridesmaid.

It is also not unheard of, for the father of the groom, or some other such relative of the groom to give a speech. Normally you will find that after dinner speeches don’t last forever and a day, and most speakers will be kind enough not to drone on unceasingly.

It is also not strange to find that there are about six to seven after dinner speeches given these days, and if these are all in a short vein, not to mention interesting and /or funny, it is not all that terrible for the guests to have to sit through. Besides, when you have after dinner speeches, you can always look forward to the plethora of wedding toasts where you can take in the bubbly more frequently!

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Both Elizabeth James & Muna Wa Wanjiru are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Elizabeth James has sinced written about articles on various topics from Babies, Marriage and Wedding Speeches. Need help FAST with wedding rehearsal dinner speeches? Learn how to write and deliver a speech that will leave them all speechless! Get help