At first glance, the wedding toast might seem like an insignificant, useless moment in the evening’s festivities. It may be lost amongst the ceremony itself, but a lot is riding on it. So what can you possibly get out of your wedding toast?
Sure, sure, if you just ignore all of the things that are left unsaid and unacknowledged in this moment of joy. But what if you approached your wedding toast as a chance to build off whatever feelings of love and commitment have been so perfectly expressed throughout the rest of the night?
The truth is that good wedding toasts don’t need to be complicated simplicity is often far more effective than complex phrasing and elaborate imagery. The few words spoken during your wedding toast should mean something: they should express something genuine about who you are as a couple.
If you approach your wedding with this in mind and avoid any clichés (like saying ‘I do’ over and over again), then your guests will appreciate the time that you take to acknowledge their vows and capture the essence of who they are as well.
Be Yourself
The most memorable wedding toasts are the ones that come from the heart. If you’re not feeling into it, your wedding toast will feel flat and uninspired. Furthermore, your guests will sense this and be far less likely to respond positively. This is important to keep in mind: you are the bride and groom, and no one else is quite as suited to give the tone of the evening as you are.
Avoid trying to be someone you’re not, and focus on coming across as genuine. Similarly, avoid writing your wedding toast in a style that’s completely outside of your normal personality. It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing like you’re a different person than you normally are, and your wedding guests will pick up on this. If you’re finding that you’re constantly shifting your tone and words to sound more ‘wedding-like,’ try to refocus on just being yourself.
Don’t Say “I Love You” Over and Over Again
Though saying ‘I love you’ is a wonderful thing to do during a wedding, it’s important to avoid saying it too often. Wedding guests may appreciate hearing it, but they also want to know that you mean it.
Saying it too often can be perceived as insincere, or even weak. If you want to use this phrase, make it count: instead of saying ‘I love you’ over and over again, try saying ‘I love you more’ or ‘I love you with all my heart’ or something similar. This is important for a few reasons.
Firstly, it will avoid annoying the heck out of your friends and family if you happen to be peppering them with ‘I love you. Secondly, it will help to avoid sounding like you’re just saying it because you’re supposed to. If you sound genuine, then you’ll be far less likely to offend your loved ones.
Stay Positive
The wedding toast should be a time of happiness and celebration, not one of sadness or regret. This is not the time to focus on the things that are wrong in your relationship or the things you’d like to change. This is the time to celebrate your love, your relationship, and all of the reasons why you fell in love with each other in the first place. Avoid using self-deprecation, sarcasm, and other negative traits to keep your tone positive.
You don’t want to be downplaying the significance of your relationship, or put a damper on your guests’ happiness. Instead, avoid all of the things that can turn a wedding toast into a downer and focus on the same things you would if you were by yourselves. This means that you should avoid all of the things that could get between you, like family issues, financial troubles, and other related issues.
Show How You Work Together
One of the many wonderful things about weddings is that they give couples the chance to show off their love and affection for each other in public.
This is something that many couples take for granted, and it’s something that many people don’t get to see regularly. There are countless examples of couples showing off the things that they love about their partners in wedding toasts: one partner loves the way the other always makes the bed or the way that they always make their spouse coffee in the morning.
These are the kinds of things that can make a toast truly unique and special, and they can also help to show off the positive aspects of your relationship. No matter how much love you have for each other, it can be easy to take for granted. Being able to show your loved ones how grateful you are for them, or the things that they do for you can be a wonderful way to do this.
Give Thanks
It’s not uncommon for newly married couples to make a toast in which they thank their families, friends, and other loved ones for their support. While this is a lovely sentiment to have on your mind during the wedding toast, you should try to avoid being too self-focused.
Wedding toasts are a time to try to draw a broader perspective than that which is solely focused on the newly-married couple themselves.
Instead, try to think about thanking everyone who helped make your wedding day possible, from the caterers and photographers to the officiant and wedding planner. It’s easy to fall into the trap of only thinking about yourself, but the more you can think about the people behind the scene, the more genuine your wedding toast will seem.
Wrap Up With a Variation of This
So how does a wedding toast go? Here are a few examples of what you could say: “My name is [name], and I’m here today to celebrate [name] promise to [names], and their love for each other.”
