At most evening weddings, be they the formal variety or not, you will find that after dinner speeches are the norm. Then again the norm does not mean that it is written in stone so you will also find that wedding speeches are still given before the meal is served too. However, there are some advantages to having the speech after dinner.

The popularity of the speech after dinner has risen as of late for a number of reasons:

* One of them being that the guests tend to be more relaxed and in a mellow mood.

* This is one of the only times you will have all guests in one area and can get their attention very quickly and very easily.

* 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.

* Also, guests are now getting into more of the conversation mode, chatting with others and laughing. They are starting to become a little more comfortable with themselves, their surroundings and others.

As a guest speech giver the above list will certainly play in your favor, however, the waiting to give the speech may turn out be more nerve racking then a few uptight guests.

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 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!