If you’ve been asked to give a speech at a forthcoming wedding, congratulations! It’s a wonderful opportunity to express your feelings for someone close to you, and it’s important to make sure you get it right.

If you are the Father of the Bride you will usually speak first. Traditionally, the wedding day marks the moment when your daughter becomes a woman in her own right.

There is a traditional etiquette that is often followed for each wedding speech. Nowadays however the bride, bridesmaid gives a speech. As these are relatively modern developments there isn’t a fixed position or content for these speeches, but they should certainly be given before the best man’s speech.

The Best Man’s speech should always be last. This may sound peculiar, but chances are that you might only know half of the people in the room. It’s important to make some reference to who you are. You could make this humorous: “For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mark and I was the one who pulled the head off John’s action man and replaced it with my sister’s Barbie’s.”