Traditionally, speeches come at the end of the wedding breakfast as people sit back and relax after a hearty meal and laugh/cry/cringe at the fond childhood memories and the hilarious jokes that will inevitably be told at length.
But, increasingly over the past 15 years in wedding catering, we are seeing alternatives creeping in whereby there are speeches at the start (sometimes whilst guests are still standing on the lawn sipping Champagne – a very glass-efficient way to do things), directly after sitting down, or some couples even splice speeches between courses, with only the Best Man (or Men, or Women) after dinner.
So, what are the pro’s and con’s of each, and what’s worth bearing in mind?
Speeches at the end of the meal do mean there is zero risk of the food being delayed by extra long speeches, or surprise quizzes, slide shows etc. We once had such a thing. The bride and groom wanted speeches at the start, but were unaware of an elaborate quiz and slide show planned by the Best Men that lasted 40 minutes. Instead of serving perfect pink duck at the stroke of 3pm, we had to keep it from drying out or cooling down (feeding 100 people simultaneously means you start working towards to an agreed time of service quite some time before so you can bring everything to perfection at the same time).
If you can be sure that 3 x 10 mins really will be a total of 30 minutes, and/or are willing to add some contingency into the timings, then having speeches at the start means key people can relax and enjoy their food rather than sit there with a knitted tummy, not eating due to nerves at what they know is coming.
Splicing speeches between courses is good as any delays are cumulative which the kitchen can more easily cope with and guests get a short sharp burst of speech several times, but it does break up the atmosphere of the room rather.
Speeches at the end is definitely best if your speakers won’t get nervous and can still eat, but there are alternatives, they just need managing a bit more.
A few other points to bear in mind:
Timing a speech in advance does not work as you can’t allow for laughter, interruptions, toasts. If someone says “it’ll be 10 mins max” allow 15.
Best Men (plural) never share their slot, they always take the full 10 mins each, so 10 mins shared between them – you thought – can easily become 30).
Most guests don’t know more than a few other guests (or they only know you!) so, making them sit through 30 minutes of the Best Man’s memories of a boozy stag do will leave them completely cold and very bored (they’ll never tell you).
You could ask your M/C to ‘chair’ the speeches and tap a watch a few minutes before the agreed ‘finish time’. We always provide each wedding with a Front of House Manager who can do this for you if you wish.
However you do your speeches, you can be sure Kemp & Kemp Catering will have kept the toast drinks icy cold to the last minute before the first speech, and will pour to your glasses in reverse order, with the bride and groom as the last to be be served so a) they get it coldest of all and b) – assuming you’ve told the first speaker of this natty little ‘code’ – there is no risk of the first speech starting whilst we are still pouring. We’ll also plonk a full bottle per table so guests can self-serve in subsequent speeches – and we never charge for serving your simple daytime drinks or add corkage.
