Your Toast to the Bride & Groom Should Be Original - A Brief Outline and Toast Suggestions

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Wedding speeches can make or break the mood of a wedding. Everyone enjoys the praise, jokes and tasteful jokes that are spoken at these events, except for maybe the groom, who is often the subject of most of the jokes. But that aside, speaking is also one of the hardest things to do well. This article focuses on wedding toasts specifically.

But what is a wedding toast?

A best man toast is someone or something in honor of which people usually have a drink, sometimes following the clinging of glasses together.For example, In a wedding, the bride and groom would be considered to be "the toast of the evening", for whom someone "proposes a toast" to congratulate and for whom the wedding guests "toast" in agreement. It is often thought of as a western culture type event to "Have a drink to..." with reference to a person or event in which to have a drink in celebration of. The toast is simply an extension of this cultural habit.

It is generally accepted that the practice of toasting first originated in Greece, at a time when fear of poisoning was a significant concern to the people. So to put guests at ease, the host would pour the guests' wine from a common decanter, take the first drink to demonstrate its safety, then raise his cup to the guests and invite them to drink in good health.

The word 'toast' became associated with the custom in the 17th century, based on a custom of flavoring drinks with spiced Toast. The word originally referred to the lady in whose honor the drink was proposed, her name being seen as figuratively flavoring the drink.

Now, it is often customary to have a number of toasts throughout an evening.

From an audience's point of view, there's nothing more boring, or laborious than doing the same toast over and over again. We watch television for entertainment and stimulus of our senses, and public speaking is a form of entertainment for the audience, so lets explore a range of toasts to help spice up your speech and keep it original. And again, I highly recommend having at least two different toasts memorized for your wedding speech, just in case your original toast is already used in a previous speech or toast.

They generally follow a brief speech or words about the bride and groom, or bridesmaids. It is also too often spoken, the most unoriginal toast is the only toast in the evening. That is, the words Here's to the bride and groom.

Here's a few ideas:

Here's to health, peace and prosperity. May the flower of love never be nipped by the frost of disappointment, nor shadow of grief fall among your family and friends.

friends love says if you ever need something I'll be there. True love says You'll never need anything I'll be there.

May your love be modern enough to service the times and old fashioned enough to last forever.

May you live as long as you love and love as long as you live

To Happiness, Health, Wealth and Good Fortune

Gareth Berry is a toastmaster and has written wedding speeches that have been published all over the world. He has written and developed speeches, toasts, quotes and other speaking resources to assist with delivering memorable speeches. You can get a collection of his best mans speeches and speaking guides at http://www.ClassicBestManSpeeches.com

Tips For the Brother of the Bride

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If you are the brother of the bride, you may not think that you have much of a role to play in the upcoming wedding, but that is not true. There are plenty of ways in which you can participate and share in the excitement. Here are some tips on how to be a great brother of the bride.

A lot of guys are not really that "into" weddings, and unless it is your wedding, that is just fine. You may think that your sister and mom are going absolutely crazy over this whole wedding thing (especially if you are the younger, unmarried brother of the bride), and it may even be true. However, you will do yourself no favors by sharing that opinion with your sister, for whom the wedding is probably one of the biggest days of her entire life. A better tactic when your sister starts going on about the wedding is just to smile and nod while she talks; she may not even notice that your eyes have glazed over!

Most brothers of the bride will be asked to participate in the ceremony in some way. You will probably be asked to serve as a groomsman, and your duties will be much the same as those of the rest of the groomsmen. You get to help with the bachelor party, be fitted for a tuxedo, receive one of the groomsmen gifts, attend the rehearsal and dinner afterwards, and stand up with the groom during the marriage service. Single brothers will be pleased to hear that they are also responsible for escorting a pretty young bridesmaid up the aisle during the recessional.

As a member of the family, it would be nice for the bride's brother to go above and beyond what the other groomsmen may offer to do. It is a nice gesture towards the groom, and a way to help welcome him into your family. For instance, you might assist the groom in finding the perfect groomsmen gifts, as well as a wedding day gift for his sister (usually jewelry). You can also help with planning the bachelor party or guys' weekend away. And finally, the bride's brother can give the groom the inside scoop on the rest of the members of his family.

Speaking of the bachelor party, even though you are the bride's brother, you are there as a friend to the groom, so it is your duty to keep your lips sealed about what went on, unless something terribly inappropriate took place. You wouldn't be the first brother of the bride to be besieged by questions from a curious sister, but really all you should tell her is that everyone had a great time and that it was good clean fun. This will help to put her mind at ease, while also showing the groom that his future brother-in-law is a real buddy, not a spy for his sister.

At times the brother of the bride might end up taking on a more important role in the wedding. If their father has passed away, it would be very appropriate and touching for the bride's brother to be the one to walk her down the aisle and give her away. It is also very nice if you give a brief toast at the reception. Keep it brief and congratulatory; you surely know all sorts of embarrassing stories about your sister, but the wedding toast is not the time to bring them up!

With a little more involvement, the bride's brother might actually find that her wedding can be a good time. You also have the pleasure of gaining a new brother, and if you are single, meeting some attractive women (weddings often breed more weddings, you know). In the end, you might just come to discover that being the brother of the bride is not so bad after all.

Guy has been writing about society and weddings for a long time. If you have a topic you would like to know about. Let us know at SilverlandJewelry.com. Thank your attendants for being in your wedding with handsome groomsmen gifts.