Wedding speeches can make or break the mood of a wedding. Everyone enjoys the praise, jokes and tasteful jokes that are spoken at these events, except for maybe the groom, who is often the subject of most of the jokes. But that aside, speaking is also one of the hardest things to do well. This article focuses on wedding toasts specifically.

But what is a wedding toast?

A toast is someone or something in honor of which people usually have a drink, somtimes following the clinging of glasses together.For example, In a wedding, the bride and groom would be considered to be "the toast of the evening", for whom someone "proposes a toast" to congratulate and for whom the wedding guests "toast" in agreement. It is often thought of as a western culture type event to "Have a drink to..." with reference to a person or event in which to have a drink in celebration of. The toast is simply an extension of this cultural habit.

It is generally accepted that the practice of toasting first originated in Greece, at a time when fear of poisoning was a significant concern to the people. So to put guests at ease, the host would pour the guests' wine from a common decanter, take the first drink to demonstrate its safety, then raise his cup to the guests and invite them to drink in good health.

The word 'toast' became associated with the custom in the 17th century, based on a custom of flavoring drinks with spiced Toast. The word originally referred to the lady in whose honor the drink was proposed, her name being seen as figuratively flavoring the drink.

Now, it is often customary to have a number of toasts throughout an evening of wedding speeches. They generally follow a brief speech or words about the bride and groom, or bridesmaids. It is also too often spoken, the most unoriginal toast is the only toast in the evening. That is, the words "To the Bride and Groom" or "To Mr & Mrs Smith". And in the horrible event of someone unable to attend due to a sudden death, the inevitable toast "To absent friends".

From an audience's point of view, there's nothing more boring, or laboreous than doing the same toast over and over again. We watch television for entertainment and stimulus of our sences, and public speaking is a form of entertainment for the audience, so lets explore a range of toasts to help spice up your speech and keep it original. And again, I highly reccommend having at least two different toasts memorized for your speech, just in case your original toast is already used in a previous speech or toast.

Here's a few ideas:

Here's to health, peace and prosperity. May the flower of love never be nipped by the frost of disappointment, nor shadow of grief fall among your family and friends.

A friends love says if you ever need something I'll be there. True love says You'll never need anything I'll be there.

May your love be modern enough to service the times and old fashioned enough to last forever.

May you live as long as you love and love as long as you live

To Happiness, Health, Wealth & Good Fortune

May the best day of the past together be the worst day of your future.