Ending Your Wedding Speech

Ending Your Wedding Speech

People remember longest the last thing they hear. A poor ending can ruin a fantastic speech and a great ending can salvage a mediocre one!

How you end your wedding speech is very important. You want to end with a flourish with your concluding remarks as a high point . You can't leave it to chance and wing it on the day - it does need to be prepared in advance and well practiced.

There are multiple ways of ending a wedding speech. However, remember that every speech needs its own ending , appropriate to its tone, content and participants. Here is a list of possibilities:

Sentimental Close

A wedding is an emotional occasion and your speech should reflect this. If you mean something deeply, then say it out loud from the heart with courage, confidence and conviction: "Kate, I love you!"

This is when you make an apparently shocking or outrageous statement, then pause briefly before clarifying yourself. Here's an example: "Finally, I have a confession to make. When I took my vows in church today, I lied. I did not marry for better or worse. I married for good!"

Inspirational Close

There have been many inspirational speakers. If you find an uplifting line that would perfectly wrap up your speech, then adapt it and use it.

Wit and Wisdom Close

This is where you combine some humor with some wisdom. A line that combines truth with fun is a far more popular finale than a glum old proverb. Here is an example: "My dad taught me that marriage is an investment that pays dividends if you pay interest. and that's more than mere speculation. Believe me, I'm going to pay a great deal of interest!"

End with a toast with words of thanks or congratulatory words. Who you toast will depend on what wedding speaker you are. Generally it will be a toast to the bride and groom, or if you are the groom then you toast the bridesmaids.

Bracket Your Speech

This is when you link an attention-grabbing opening with a humorous, romantic or emotionally charged big finish. You set up a situation that can be continued at the end of your speech. This presents your speech as a satisfying whole , not just as a series of stories and jokes.

The two brackets consist of a set-up at the opening of the speech and a pay-off at the end. The words you will end with include those planted clearly at the start. Here is an example:

Set-up
"Ladies and gentlemen, they say love is blind. Well I certainly can't see far ahead. not without my glasses. and I readily admit that in the past at times I've been a bit shortsighted . and sometimes even made a bit of a spectacle out of myself. But today, with or without my glasses, I can see my future mapped out very clearly.'

Pay-off
"You know, today, for the first time in my life, I don't need to wear glasses to see what a bright and wonderful future lies ahead of me. And right now I really couldn't give a damn that I'm a bit shortsighted. Why should I?... Love is blind. And, in any case, all I need to see is (bride)."

Note how the repetition of the words 'glasses', 'shortsighted' and 'love is blind' helps provide memorable symmetry.

For more information on writing a wedding speech check out this site: WeddingSpeech4U.com