Toast To The Bride

What is the Toast to the Bride?

If you have attended a few wedding you know that the speeches and toasts can make or break the mood of the reception. Speeches are given these days by everyone from the bride and groom and father and mother of the bride and groom down to all their friends.

Everyone enjoys the thanks, praise and jokes when the speeches are well written and delivered. Nothing is more embarrassing than a poorly conceived and delivered speech.

But what exactly is a wedding speech … and what is a toast?

The tradition of wedding toasts is to give a praise or blessing to members of the wedding party followed by everyone raising their glasses, clinking them together and drinking in agreement. The classic opening of a wedding toast is to say “I would like to propose a toast!”

It is generally believed that the tradition of toasts started, probably in Greece, with a host showing that the wine was not poisoned by pouring everyone’s glass from a common decanter then taking the first drink himself along with a wish for everyone’s health. In the 17th century Europeans would flavor drinks with bits of spiced toast and drink to the hostess who had added the flavoring.

The tradition grew from a simple raising of glasses and drinking to today’s custom of presenting a prepared speech before the giving of the actual toast. The “toast of the evening” of course is the bride and groom. But no speech would be complete without thanking everyone and offering praise and congratulations to all involved. The perfect speech and toast to the bride should include all these plus provide a degree of entertainment to the assembled guests.

Today everyone watches television and see movies so the entertainment value of giving a speech is going to seem pretty dull compared to other choices people have. However, most people today rarely see live entertainment, especially that is talking about them, so a well prepared and presented speech and toast to the bride can be a fun novelty that may well be remembered for years.

So prepare and present your speech carefully and then be ready to say a heartfelt toast such as: “May you live as long as you love, and love as long as you live.”

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