You’ve got down on one knee, she said yes, and you’re weeks, if not days away from finally exchanging vows in front of those you love the most. Now it’s time for (hopefully) the last palm-sweating task before you say I do and then sail off into the sunset/honeymoon suite: the Groom’s Wedding Speech.
For many, this is the moment you’ve been dreading. Where you’ve get up in front of a crowd of your nearest and dearest to talk about your lovely bride, whilst also trying not to forget to thank a whole heap of people.
Thing is, it doesn’t have to nerve-wracking nor does it have to be boring and staid. One of the best Groom’s speeches of all-time belongs to Tom Fletcher (of McFly fame) who famously used the titles and lyrics of songs he’d written over the years to form one outstanding speech (and if you’ve yet to see it, watch it here).
Now by no means are we advocating for a fifteen-minute musical number worthy of a Broadway show, but if the thought of standing up and trying to mumble your way through a few sentences is bringing you out in hives, we’ve got some fantastic alternatives…
If it’s the delivery (i.e. public speaking) that scares you witless, a video is the perfect answer. You can rehearse and record it as many times as you need before editing it and having it all sorted ahead of time. Whether or not you wear your suit is entirely up to you. Maybe you’d prefer a more low-key version where you sit in your living room and talk to the camera, or perhaps take the camera with you to a special spot and record it there. And as long as you have your phone, you don’t even really need a camera. How easy is that?! Then all you need to do on the day is say a sentence or two to introduce the video and let past you do all the hard work.
If musical delivery is right up your street but you can’t hold a note to say your life, consider a wedding rap. Not just the purvue of the Maid of Honour. If you’ve got the guts to get up and do it, not only will it be remembered for years to come by everyone there (and possibly a few million strangers too) but it’ll also break up what can be a fairly long affair, which your guests will no doubt love and thank you for. If going solo isn’t your style, you could always drag your best man and groomsmen into it as moral support.
If writing your own words really isn’t your thing, borrow someone else’s! Poems aren’t just for wedding readings – they make great wedding speeches too. And don’t worry, we aren’t just talking about E.E Cummings (though the man was a genius). Think When Harry Met Sally or a passage from one of your (or her) favourite books. We love this quote from Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh:
“When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity – in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern.
The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits – islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.”
A fantastic alternative that takes the pressure off of you but still shows your lady love how much you adore her. Put together a quiz all about her and your love story, then place them on the tables before everyone comes in. It’ll give your guests something to do whilst everyone gets settled and then you only need to share the correct answers.
Channel your inner Jimmy Kimmel/Lisa Fey and host an awards ceremony. So many of your family and friends have supported you in making the day of your dreams a reality so celebrate them too. You could even slip in a surprise award for your new wife.
Seen any other great alternatives? Let us know – we’d love to hear about them!
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