It can be fun to make toasts at a friend’s wedding, but if you don’t want to leave bad memories, remember to keep things appropriate. It’s okay, and even expected to make humorous remarks about the bride and groom, but if you get too personal or too vulgar you could cross the line and risk offending the people you’re trying to celebrate in your remarks. If you are trying to get some laughs with off-color remarks about the bride or groom, they may bear it with smiling acceptance and even laugh their heads off.
However, when speaking your wedding toast, be conscious of who’s in the crowd you’re addressing. If it’s full of older relatives like grandparents, or the families of one or both of the new marrieds that are very conservative, you need to choose your jokes with care. Personally, I’d also be careful if there are children in the crowd. It’s not fair and it’s not appropriate to expose small children to crude sexual references about the wedding night or what the bride and groom can expect on their honeymoon.
It’s better to base any humorous remarks for the wedding toast on neutral topics, like the groom’s golf swing or the bride’s spending habits in shoe stores. Joking about things like that won’t offend anyone, and will ensure that your wedding toast and remarks will add special meaning and not embarrassment. Unless you have a large fund of good, tasteful jokes, it’s probably a good idea to get a joke book from the library, or consult some websites that offer advice on coming up with good wedding toasts.
Having a good store of jokes and funny stories within your wedding toast about the bride and groom and any family members whom you know can take a joke can also help the wedding reception go smoothly if there are any delays or unexpected problems, such as the caterer being slow feeding everyone. If you can keep them laughing, people won’t get too restless.
Now this may sound like an obvious suggestion, but don’t imbibe alcoholic beverages too much before you’re called on to make the toast. Alcohol is a great tongue-loosener and also removes normal inhibitions, so drink with caution before addressing large groups. And if there is anyone in the wedding party or in the crowd who seems too looped, be a good friend and don’t let him or her take the mike. That person could wind up horribly embarrassing him or herself or the bride and groom. As long as you keep things clean and appropriate, I think just about anything else is fair game. A little good-natured teasing just adds to the fun, festive atmosphere.
So go have fun with your wedding toast!
