Customer questions.

Mr. A. had a query about a non-standard speech.

Can you help with my non-standard speech?

Hello Mr. A.

A non-traditional speech.

Doing a speech other than the 'traditional' three (Father of the Bride, Groom, Best Man) presents you with extra difficulties.

In particular avoiding subject areas and the people that the 'traditional' speakers focus on and are expected to cover.

Briefly: Careful planning and liaison with other speakers can avoid problems and give you a clear run at a successful speech which complements the others without competing with them.

If you are giving a speech "on behalf of" one of the traditional speakers then:-

• You can use one of our Finespeeches packs, and adapt it as appropriate. For more complicated circumstances our Sparkling wedding speeches service will cater for your specific needs.
• Your task is made simpler by the etiquette and expectations family and guests have of those speeches. The speeches we provide will be suitable.

If you are not the traditional person giving that traditional speech it is a good idea to declare this at the start of the speech; how much the rest of the speech then differs is dependant on how closely you know the wedding couple and families.

Some possibilities/example approaches:

•  Introduce yourself, and what you are doing:
  • "Good morning ladies & gentlemen. I am Brian, and Bob has asked me to give the father of the bride speech ... "
• And maybe ... 
  • " ... and I'd like to say how proud I was to be asked. I'd like to say I was proud but terrified of public speaking would be more truthful!"
• Perhaps explain why you are doing the speech rather than the real father of the bride.
  • "As you will know Bessie grew up in Australia and her family can't be with us today due to health problems. They have written and telephoned over the last weeks to express their love for Bessie and their best wishes for her and Bert, particularly on this their wedding day. On our part I am sure I am right to extend our hopes for their improved health via Bessie."
• Perhaps explain how you are "qualified" to give the speech:
  • "Because of this background I thought I would be at a disadvantage when giving her Father of the Bride speech, but as I got to know her I discovered that there was lots to talk about".
  • Or perhaps,
    "Because of this background I thought I would be at a disadvantage when giving her Father of the Bride speech, but in fact a few letters and phone calls to Australia have revealed a wealth of stories from her past. (Which I am sure she hopes I won't be sharing with you)."
  • Or perhaps
    "'As Bessie's Uncle I have known Bessie all her life and she has known me all the years as she grew up. I fondly recall the many times I've heard Bob chastising her for some misdemeanour, concluding with ... 'and if you don't do what I tell you, you'll end up just like Uncle Brian!'."
  • Or perhaps
    "Her two lovely daughters ___ & ___ who are bridesmaids today have also been VERY helpful to me. So helpful in fact that the three of us felt it was only fair at this point for us to stop and ask Bessie how much she would be willing to pay us if I agree to skip straight to page 43 of my speech."

I hope you find these ideas spark your own thoughts. Meanwhile, we have two approaches to creating speeches that you can consider:

Sparkling Wedding Speeches

I suggest that you contact our speech writer and professional public speaker, Bruno Barton. He offers a bespoke speech writing service, which would be particularly suited to your "non-traditional" speech. This is written from scratch incorporating all the issues and stories that you specify. Our creative humour writing team ensures your humour is original and targets the topics that you require. You can contact him using our freephone service 0800 040 7844

See full details of this service, and how to order it at http://www.sparklingspeeches.com.

This option normally needs a minimum of two weeks for us to establish your requirements and to write the draft and final speech - so don't delay if time is an issue for you.

Fine Wedding Speeches

If your time available or budget do not run to this personal service, you may wish to buy some of our example speeches and supporting materials for the "traditional" speakers and adapt them to personalise your own speech - making sure that you do not overlap with the etiquette of those traditional speeches. Our article about wedding speech etiquette on our website provides details, see the HELP section.

http://www.finespeeches.com/help/

Whatever you decide ... best wishes for your speech.

Regards

Mark

Customer Services