WEDDING HINTS & TIPS | WHEN TO DO THE WEDDING SPEECHES
Intro
As with all my wedding hints and tips blog posts and videos, they are all done based on what I have seen and experienced; they are in no way me telling you how to do things, more an observation and talking point between friends!
What are the options for the timings of the wedding speeches?
There are three options when it comes to the timings of when you do the wedding speeches on a wedding day; I think there is one timing that is the best, there is one which is ok and one which is a no-no in my opinion.
All these options are only possible with the consent of the wedding venue or caterers, as they will need to know and be able to plan to make sure that the food is ready at the right time.
Option One - Wedding speeches BEFORE the food - Pros Vs. Cons
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PROS |
CONS |
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The room is clean with no plates or empty wine bottles everywhere, this makes for more cleaner and less clutter wedding speech photos. |
If you are having a later wedding breakfast and people haven’t eaten for some time, people can often get fidgety and just want to get to the food and to not listen to speeches before they get to eat. |
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The wedding guests and you guys will be looking you best, most people when they have eaten start taking off jackets, ties etc.. and you won’t have spilled anything down you at this point! |
If your speeches go on longer than agreed with the venue, then the kitchen / caterers will start to get worried and may have to cut the speeches short as the food will be getting either burnt or going cold. |
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It means the people doing the speeches have got them out the way and can enjoy the food. |
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Everyone will be in the room and focused on the speeches rather than be spread out around the venue, which tends to happen after the wedding breakfast. |
Option Two - Wedding speeches AFTER the food - Pros Vs. Cons
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PROS |
CONS |
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If you are having a later wedding breakfast and maybe the ceremony has fallen at a time when people were not sure if they should eat before the wedding, having the food before the speeches, means that everyone is nice and full and no longer hungry. |
The people doing the speeches will have to sit through the food before getting their speeches out the way and so may not enjoy the food. |
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For the venue, it means they can have the food ready for the start of the wedding breakfast and don’t have to worry about how long the speeches will be going on for and if the food is going to go cold or even burnt. |
I have seen people drinking so much as they are nervous about doing the speeches that they are too drunk to do their speech… |
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The room will look messy, no matter the venue, as the tables will have empty bottles, glasses, the napkins that have been used will be thrown on the tables etc.. this will be shown in the images. |
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The guests will not look their best as they will have removed their jackets, ties etc.. so they can enjoy the food. |
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In the summer months, after the food people tend to drift, they go to the bar, they go outside to enjoy the sun, have a smoke etc.. and people do end up missing the speeches or even making a scene coming back into the room during the speeches. |
Option Three - Wedding speeches DURING the food - Pros Vs. Cons
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PROS |
CONS |
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There are no positives to doing the speeches during the different courses! |
See all the cons above – having your speeches during the courses has all the cons and zero benefits |
Final thoughts
As I said in the intro, I’m not telling you to do one thing or the other; these are just suggestions as most people will have never planned a wedding, and I do think that I can add something to peoples planning.
If it were me, I’d want to do the speeches before the food; everything will look at its best, the room, the decor, the guests, and you won’t have red wine on your dress…
My second preference would be the speeches after the food, and this is probably just as common as speeches before the food; I think that’s because the venue encourages it as it makes their timings for cooking the food much more straightforward.
The third option is one which no one should be doing, its the worst of everything and the positives of none. Speeches during the courses became a thing in late 2021 and has carried on through out 2022 and is a terrible idea. The room will look messy like option 2, people will be drifting around and not paying attention, and for most venues, they won’t have served all the tables for the particular course before the following speech starts, and all you will hear throughout the speeches is the clinking of knives and forks as people eat their food.
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