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Imagine...a couple spends well over $40,000 in décor to create the perfect look for their wedding. The Bride and Groom where meticulous in their musical choices and order of the events; everything was in place to create the perfect Wedding Experience. Everything…except the speech from the Father of the Bride.
For over an hour, he spoke off the cuff and reminisced about his daughter’s life history. When his speech finally concluded, his new wife stepped up to the podium unannounced, and then spoke for an additional 30 minutes, boring the already tired audience to tears.
We’ve all suffered through it. Speeches that go off track and last too long. Inappropriate comments and speakers rambling on for what seems to be eternity. So what is the right length of a speech and how should a proper speech be formatted?
For this, I’m going to my Toastmasters public speaking training. A speech should last between 5-7 minutes and should contain a beginning, middle and an end. Very simple format, yet very effective. The beginning should outline what the speech will be about. The middle should contain 2-3 points, stories or anecdotes. With the end tying everything together. That’s it; it’s that easy! No need to reinvent the wheel at the expense of the guests and more importantly, the Bride and Groom.
Once the speech has been written in advance (yes, I said in advance; not in the limo on the way to the Church), it’s time to practice. Get a watch and stand in-front of a mirror with the script in hand and start reading it. If it’s running to long, edit it down and keep doing it until you’ve hit the 5-7 minute mark (5 minutes is ideal). Once that’s been completed, continue reading it aloud until you get a good feel for the words and flow of the speech. ***Please note, Bride and Groom speeches will typically run longer than 5-7 minutes, and that's ok; it's thier day.
The hour and a half for two speeches not only bored the crowd and killed the vibe, it affected the dancing. Or should I say, there was no dancing. By the time the floor opened and we completed the first dance, parent dances, bouquet and garter toss, the evening was over and the venue raised the lights (I hate when they do that!). Ironically, the bride’s step-mother then walks up to be me and asks “where did all the time for dancing go?” Nice! | 
