Readings and Speeches

Readings are one of the easiest ways to personalise your wedding ceremony and what type you choose will depend on your venue – religious readings and hymns, for example, are not permitted in a civil ceremony location.

Having readings at your ceremony is also a great way of including a special friend or relative in the day, especially if you haven’t been able to choose them as a member of the main bridal party.

Any public speaking can be daunting, but this handy section will guide you through and give you top tips on how to deliver a speech or reading to remember.

Simply choose from our ‘Wedding Readings and Speeches’ posts below to start planning your wedding like a pro.

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Who Does Wedding Speeches From the Bridal Party?

Traditionally, speeches have always been made by the father of the bride, the groom and the best man. Three blokes and only one of...

10 Hilarious Wedding Speeches

Whether you're the groom, best man or the father of the bride, or if you have just been asked to make a speech at...
Bride and groom laughing funny wedding speeches

5 Real Speeches to Make Your Guests Laugh

Ready to raise your glass to word-perfect wedding speeches? Do you want the whole room to be roaring with laughter or holding back happy...
hilarious wedding speeches

5 Alternative Wedding Speech Ideas

Weddings: the time when many of us are expected to suddenly become expert orators, effortlessly delivering a speech that perfectly balances sentimentality and humour,...
best man speech examples template ideas

Best man Speech Examples, Template Ideas, Jokes, and Everything You Need...

The best man speech is usually the most eagerly awaited of all the wedding speeches – no pressure! If you've been tasked with writing...
wedding speech tips to wow your guests

Groom speech tips: How to write the perfect groom speech

Want to know how to write the perfect groom speech? Professional speechwriter and founder of Great Speech Writing, Lawrence Bernstein, shares his tips on...
Best man speech

Best man speech: Tried-and-tested best man jokes that will win over...

Plan on cracking a few jokes during your best man speech? We look at the best tried-and-tested quips... Taking on the role of best man...

A Guide to Overcome Wedding Speech Nerves

A Guide To Overcome Wedding Speech Nerves... This ultimate speech guide will give the best tips and tricks to help anyone overcome wedding speech nerves, not...

How to write the perfect 2018 groom speech

How To Write The Perfect 2018 Groom Speech! Speech etiquette has changed. Be thankful for this. A 2018 groom speech will no longer be a tedious list...
Kristin Wiig, Rose Byrne

Should More Women be Making Wedding Speeches?

With news that Meghan Markle will be making a speech at the royal wedding reception on Saturday, is it time to say goodbye to...
Groom speech

What to Include in Your Groom’s Speech

Normally wedged between the father of the bride speech and the best man speech, the groom speech needs to stand out! Here, we offer...

10 Perfect Wedding Love Poems

Poet and former Young People's Laureate for London, Caleb Femi, has created his personal list of the 10 best wedding love poems of all...
From love poems and romantic film quotes to funny, quirky and cute wedding readings, use this guide to find the best civil ceremony reading ideas for you...

6 Civil Ceremony Reading Ideas To Personalise Your Wedding

We recently shared six of our favourite wedding readings for religious ceremonies and today it’s the turn of civil ceremonies with six great ideas. Here,...

Why You’ll Want A Bespoke Wedding Poem On Your Big Day…

Why You'll Want A Bespoke Wedding Poem On Your Big Day! Hamish Guerrini has been delighting wedding congregations for over twenty years with his heart-warming,...

How To Write An Amazing Mr And Mrs Wedding Speech

How To Write An Amazing Mr And Mrs Wedding Speech Mr & Mrs speeches are set to be a big trend throughout 2018. Here, the...

Raise your glass to a toast-worthy speech!

Expert speech advice from Michael Parker's The Wedding Speech Made Easy featured in issue 168 helping you with planning, speaking and delivering your big...

Groom Speech Jokes: How To Be Funny Without Resorting To Googled...

GROOM SPEECH JOKES: How To Be Funny Without Resorting To Googled Gags All wedding speeches should be funny, not just the best man’s. Here, the...
Get your wedding speeches sorted right now with this ultimate guide of ideas for the father of the bride, best man, groom bride and even bridesmaids!

The ULTIMATE Guide To Wedding Speeches To Have Yours Written In...

Raise the roof when you raise a glass with these secrets to success. This ultimate guide to wedding speeches will help you through every...
For the best man, groom or even bride, planning wedding speeches can feel like a lot of pressure. Use these 3 wedding speech examples to make it simple

3 Real-Life Memorable Wedding Speech Examples That You Could Use Too!

These couples ramped up their speeches to make them a roaring success. Here, they reveal how you can do the same with their wedding...
Wedding speech

10 Ways To Deliver The Perfect Wedding Speech

10 Ways To Deliver The Perfect Wedding Speech You’ve written it, you’ve rehearsed it and now you have to deliver it. (gulp!) More people fear...