Wedding Toast Etiquette
Are you about to tie the knot? If so, then you’re probably looking forward to your big day and imagining everyone you care about giving touching speeches and wedding toasts.
What you might not realize, however, is that there is a bit of “toast etiquette” at play. Whether you want to go by the standard rules or not is, of course, up to you, but if you do, then it’s important to brush up on the rules of wedding toasts.
The Welcome Toast
So, you may be wondering, who gives that first toast to set the tone of your wedding and welcome everyone to the event? Well, traditionally, it should be the event host, often the maid of honor. They get to make a quick toast or speech to start things off and are then followed by the father of the bride or the mother or both. After that, it’s time for the parents of the groom to speak.
If you’re not sticking to traditional gender conventions, just decide the parent order ahead of time to keep things simple and conventional.
Post-Entrees
Once the entrees have been served, the best man and/or maid of honor have their turn to give a true toast. Even if the maid of honor gave the earlier welcome speech, that doesn’t count as their true toast. The main toast that’s truly to the bride and groom should happen at this point.
This is tradition simply because there won’t be interruptions from food servers and because it follows the general rule of family first.
Whether you follow these conventions or not, it is important to decide on a toasting order. That way, everyone isn’t trying to go at once and causing commotion. Whether you get married in Maui or just your hometown, having some plan or schedule can ensure your toasts happen the way you want.
