To the lamp of love – may it burn brightest in the darkest hours and never flicker in the winds of trial.

Straight forward and to the point:

May ‘for better or worse’ be far better than worse.

A good bit of marriage wisdom for the wedding day:

The man or woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the bowed frame of years, you will always see the dear face and feel the warm heart union of your eternal love.

Make sure they actually want children:

May you have many children and may they grow mature in taste and healthy in color and as sought after as the contents of the glass.

My greatest wish for the two of you is that through the years your love for each other will so deepen and grow, that years from now you will look back on this day, your wedding day, as the day you loved each other the least.

It doesn’t matter where you get your appetite, as long as you eat at home!

Always a nice thing to say:

May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.

This is a fun toast for the wedding:

Marriage: A community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves – making in all, two.

May the roof above you never fall in and may you both never fall out.

Three toasts to both the Bride and Groom to use at the wedding reception.

Look down you gods and on this couple drop a blessed crown.

Remember that if you ever put your marital problems on the back burner they are sure to boil over.

Happy marriages begin when we marry the one we love, and they blossom when we love the one we married.

These are all good.

Let us toast the health of the bride; Let us toast the health of the groom, Let us toast the person that tied; Let us toast every guest in the room.

And Merry Christmas to you all!

Here are more wedding toasts for the reception I’ve recently found. Some are rather old-fashioned and corny but so are weddings.

These two are for the bridesmaids:

To the Bridesmaids
A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Here’s to these beautiful bridesmaids.

We admire them for their beauty, respect them for their intelligence, adore them for their virtues, and love them because we can’t help it.

Here’s a nice toast to the Groom:

Here’s to the groom, a man who keeps his head though he loses his heart.

Here’s a nice sentiment in a toast for parents to give to the bridal couple:

It is written: when children find true love, parents find true joy. Here’s to your joy and ours, from this day forward.

This one can be from the Groom to the Bride, or even from the Bride to the Groom:

Here’s to the prettiest, here’s to the wittiest, here’s to the truest of all who are true, here’s to the neatest one, here’s to the sweetest one, here’s to them, all in one – here’s to you.

Here’s one anyone can give to the Bride that includes a bit of humor:

May she share everything with her husband, including the housework.

This toast is for the Groom to give to the Bride with sincerity:

She knows all about me and loves me just the same.

There is a company that publishes a whole line of great downloadable wedding speech books appropriate for anyone in the wedding party. Save yourself time and embarrassment by just buying one of these inexpensive little books. An hour from now your speech will be done.

Click on the book pictured in the right column of my blog and you’ll be taken to the site where you pick the book you need for the perfect wedding speech or toast to the bride.

If you are going to be giving a toast to the bride or other wedding speech then learn how to do it well. It isn’t hard.

• To the bride and groom. May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.
• May your love be modern enough to survive the times and old fashioned enough to last forever.
• May you be friends to each other as only lovers can; and may you love each other as only best friends can.
• When children find true love, parents find joy. Here’s to your joy and ours, from this day forward.

As you can see a simple, sincere, and possibly slightly corny statement always makes a great toast.

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.”