How Many Speeches Should I Have at My Wedding?

How many speeches should I have at my wedding?  This is a question asked by every single engaged couple planning their wedding and in this blog post I hope to lend some insight into this dilema.

So…You’re getting married. How exciting! You’ve waited for this day for your whole life, dreaming about the perfect night with the perfect mate, the perfect family and the perfect setting. Plans must be made and all of the relevant characters in the movie of your life have to fill a role which is suitable to create the perfect evening. You’ve booked everything. The caterer, the event planner, the flowers, the music, brides maids and now it’s all coming to fruition. The last question you’re faced with is how many speeches should I have at my wedding and who’s gonna speak? Mom? Dad? Best friends
from high school? Someone has to go up there and rave on about how great you are and how blissful this marriage will be.

So here’s a little unconventional advice from a relatively regular wedding goer: Leave the speeches to a minimum.  If you’re not uncomfortable with how few speeches you have then you haven’t whittled it down enough yet.

As much as people wanna hear about your childhood and all of the grandiose stories about what led you to this triumphant place in your life, the bottom line is speeches are generally boring and inspire your guests to hit up the bar for another shot of Jack Daniels or even to get up and go home altogether. No one hosting an event should ever want their guests to leave early, so might I suggest one or two short speeches and get the band back up rockin’ the house. More music equals more engaging the crowd and more likely to get your guests to stay at your wedding all through the night.

This can be done in many ways. You could have a backing track playing some of your old favourites which will keep those younger and older lovebirds addicted to the dance floor, or you could keep the band up there playing the tunes of your choice. Don’t worry about straining the musicians.  In fact, this is what musicians enjoy most about playing these types of events. Musicians don’t wanna be sitting around waiting and wondering when they’re gonna play next. They came to work and work they must.

I find sometimes the event planners get a little too techy with their papers and blueprints for the eve. I say throw that stuff away and let the band play! Music is usually gonna be the key at any party or event you make. Remember when we were teenagers and had those house parties? All the kids would constantly yell out “what happened to the tunes?” even if the music stopped for a total of 30 seconds. That’s the way we are as people these days, needing constant stimulation. So if you wanna take a fools’ advice, I say keep those speeches to a minimum and keep the tunes going all night. This will ensure you of the night you always dreamed of, with the majority of the crowd staying til’ the end.

I know this sounds biased coming from one of Toronto’s live wedding bands but what can I say… I see a lot of mistakes and just want to help you have that wedding that people remember forever.

And as always, if you are in the Toronto area and are looking for a live wedding band for your event contact us.

If you think I’m crazy or have some other ideas please write them in the comments below.  Congratulations!