How To Give A Toast

Er, it seems obvious doesn’t it? But actually those listening need a bit of direction. It goes like this…

Firstly, make it clear if this is a personal toast (e.g. a Groom toasts his Bride in the middle of his speech) by simply looking at the person to which it is directed.

If you want all the guests to join in too (e.g. The Father of the Bride toasts the newlyweds at the end of his speech), you should look at the guests and direct them when proposing the toast:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Please join me in drinking to the health and happiness of Rob and Laura
And then turn towards the person or people being toasted as you name them again: Rob and Laura

Traditionally…

• The father of the bride toasts the health and happiness of the newlyweds
• Best men find a more inventive way of toasting the couple
• The groom toasts the bridesmaids. However, we think grooms should give sincere thanks to the bridesmaids within the speech and instead use his toast as the climax to his speech; the ‘happy ever after’ to the story he’s just told.

Basically don’t read any etiquette guides! You don’t have to opt for the boring or the traditional.

One father of the bride we worked with wished the newlyweds ‘the passion of Burton and Taylor, the longevity of Elizabeth and Philip and the bank balance of Kanye and Kim’ before toasting ‘happy unions’.

With our advice, one groom decided to conclude his speech by thanking his bride for clicking on his online profile picture before proposing a toast to Photoshop. It got the desired laughs…