Wedding Anniversary Speeches are most commonly delivered by a close friend or family member of the happy couple.

In this article, I’m going to outline how to brainstorm topics for a wedding anniversary speech that is touching and entertaining.

1. Highlight the milestone in their life. For example, if the wedding anniversary speech is for a twenty five year anniversary you certainly want to emphasize the milestone.
2. How did the couple meet? There is almost always a comical or interesting story behind the first meeting. Was your friend nervous? What was his first impression of her? What did she think of him? You can also talk about the thoughts that went through your mind when you first saw the couple together.
3. Another wedding anniversary speech idea is talk about the person who was critical in bringing the couple together. This does not have to be a story about a “set-up” per se, but there is usually one friend or family member who helped spark the romance.
4. You can always add a little humor to your speech. For some ideas on wedding anniversary speech humor, you can refer to our wedding speech humor ideas.
5. Congratulate the couple on projects that they have completed together. No, I don’t mean assembling IKEA furniture! Often couples have big projects that they are especially proud of. Try to think of charity projects, long trips they have taken together, or any other big projects that they audience might be interested in.
6. In a wedding anniversary speech you want to express gratitude to the person who organized the celebration. Thank any helpers who were especially important.
7. Did the couple have a cottage or favorite vacation destination? Can you think of any funny stories centered around their travels?
8. In a wedding anniversary speech you can also talk about their family. The children they have raised and how important their grandchildren are. You can also mention how they care for their elderly parents if applicable.
9. Make sure that you adequately prepare for the speech. I recommend at least one hour of practice time.
10. Raise a toast to the happy couple. Stand and deliver.

The information that you brainstorm above will create a great sketch for a wedding anniversary speech.

One of the most difficult speeches to write is the eulogy. Writing a eulogy for your father makes an already difficult task feel impossible.

Here are my top five recommendations for father eulogies.

1. Focus on one or two characteristics of your father. Of course you remember him as loving, funny, generous, etc. However, you want to focus your eulogy on only one or two characteristics that best define your father. What was he known for in the family? What personality trait was he famous for in the community? One mistake that I often read in father eulogies is that the author wants to fully describe their father’s life and personality. You can’t sum up the life of a man in a few minutes. You have to focus on a handful of characteristics to keep the eulogy well structured. The structure of a eulogy like any speech will have a beginning, middle and end that is clear to the audience.
2. Read a sample eulogy or famous eulogies in order to get a feel for the eulogy structure
3. Don’t try to organize your thoughts in the first draft of your eulogy. Let your feelings flow naturally. At first, your eulogy will sound scattered but that is normal because of the rush of emotions. Don’t constrain your creativity or emotion when you write the first draft. You should also accept that your first draft is most likely to be incomprehensible. Don’t be discouraged. You most likely have little experience writing eulogies.
4. Focus on the most powerful memory of your father in the eulogy. Perhaps it was a vacation to Disneyworld, driving to the summer cabin or him watching your ballet practice. Describe this memory in great detail using vivid imagery.
5. The end of your father’s eulogy  should end with a positive note. If you have some humor that you want to add, the conclusion is a great time to use it. It is similar to a movie in that you want the audience to leave the theater on a high note. Of course, with a eulogy, you are not trying to entertain anybody but you don’t want to end the eulogy on a depressing note.

One of the most irritating things to any audience is the use of clichés. I constantly come across cliches particularly in wedding speeches. You Must Avoid Clichés In Your Wedding Speech!

Yes, this involves effort because clichés are often the first thing that pops into our minds when we write speeches.

Here are a few clichés that I hear over and over again:

Wedding Speeches

1. Marriage of two minds
2. Old ball and chain
3. Tie the knot
4. Describe someone as having a great sense of humor

Birthday Toast

1. Fine as aged wine
2. Like father, like son

Eulogies

1. He who laughs last, laughs best
2. Cash in your chips

Be specific when you use adjectives – instead of saying beautiful say ravishing. Secondly, give examples after you list a characteristic. Often I hear speeches where the speaker lists ten characteristics without a single example. For example, someone will talk about how determined someone is without giving any real life examples to show that the person is strong willed.

If you are in doubt about whether or not you are using a cliche – you almost certainly are. Nonetheless, just run your idea past this cliche search engine. If it shows up on a cliche site – you cannot use it in your speech.

For your Father of the Bride toast, try to focus on at most two things that make your daughter unique.

Commonly, men will recall the way they felt when their daughter was born. How did you feel when you first saw her?

You can then fill in an anecdote or two from her childhood.

Here are some questions that will help you brainstorm for your Father of the Bride speech:

1. Has your daughter ever volunteered to help other people?
2. Does she stand out as a very generous person?
3. What skill does she have that is above average?
4. What do you think her closest friends love most about her?

The core of your speech will revolve around the following question: Is the world a better place because your daughter is in it?

The father of the bride speech can be broken down into 4 parts. In your father of the bride speech you need to:

1. Welcome everyone, and thank them for making the day so special.
2. Provide insights into your daughter as a unique and wonderful person. You can tell stories about her childhood or rebellious teenage years.
3. Formally welcome your new son-in-law into your family and tell the guests how happy you are about the marriage. You’re going to say that you’re happy even if you’re not happy.
4. Propose the Toast to the newly married couple.

It’s a simple speech and when you have the format in front of you it becomes even easier.

1. Always remember that the audience at weddings is one of the most encouraging types of audiences to speak in front of. They will laugh at your jokes and listen attentively. There is nobody in the audience that will be hoping that you perform poorly.

2. Have written notes at the podium with you. Even if you have memorized your speech word for word it still makes sense to have a written copy of your speech in your hands. There is the off-chance that you will experience public speaking anxiety and forget what to say. Having the insurance of a written speech handy eliminates that risk.

3. Make effective use of pauses. Commonly, inexperienced speakers will forget to breathe and pause after sentences and paragraphs. For example, if you’ve made a joke and the audience is laughing let the laughter soak in before you continue on with your speech.

4. Be brief. Your speech is more of a toast than it is a speech. Most people think that they are expected to deliver a lengthy speech that makes people laugh, cry and inspires the audience to change the world. The fact of the matter is that wedding speeches are meant to be less than five minutes. Most speakers violate this rule. Think to yourself, have you ever seen a wedding speech where you complained that it was too short? Most speeches are too long and this is due to inadequate preparation.

5. Prepare. Read your speech aloud, practice the speech in front of other people and record the speech on your MP3 player or digital camera. Pay particular attention to the timing of the speech. Is it under five minutes?

6. Check for duplicate stories. Usually the bride or groom will have afew stories that are standouts. Itis important to check with the other speakers to make sure that they arenot using the same anecdotes or stories.

7. Try to memorize the opening of the speech. The first two or three lines of the speech should not be read by notes. You want to grab the attention of the audience and display confidence and preparation.

8. Respect the formalities. You want to know the order of the speeches and whether or not you need to reply to another speaker. Similarly, you may be expected to speak on behalf of absent guests or relatives. You need to answer these questions in advance.

9. Most speakers have a tendency to mumble or not enunciate words clearly. It is important to practice speaking in front of the mirror or recording your speech into an MP3 player in order to practice enunciating each word clearly.

10. Remember, you are not David Letterman. Humor is one of the most difficult parts of public speaking. For some reason, most speakers insist on trying to be funny and it only results in forced laughter and inappropriate comments. Aim to write and deliver a lighthearted speech rather than a speech that has the audience rolling in the aisles.

In this day and age, some tech savvy wedding speakers like to use photos or a Power Point presentation for added effect. Adorable baby pictures, humorous teenage pictures and pictures of the groom and bride in love are common. Here are some tips for using a visual aid during a wedding speech.

1. Limit the number of photos to five. You do not want to trigger the dreaded boredom response by having too many slides. People will start to think that they are listening to a boring business presentation and tune out if there are more than five pictures

2. Only use slides that express something that you cannot express verbally. In other words, use the visual aids to enhance your speech. If you can do without the slide, it is better to stick with a story.

3. Make sure that you adequately deal with all technical issues beforehand. You might be nervous on the wedding day and you might forgot a cable for the AV machine. The audience will have little patience if you bumble around with the pointer while someone rushes to your side to help you sort out the technical difficulties.

4. Do not turn around while explaining the slide. If you have included funny bubbles or captions do not read the captions.

5. Do not let the audio visual aids lengthen your speech. A wedding speech should be between 3-5 minutes and Power Point slides are no excuse for lengthening the speech.