How to Propose a Hilarious Wedding Toast (Ultimate Guide)

Propose a hilarious wedding toast

A hilarious wedding toast uses jokes that match the mood of the environment. It can involve general jokes about marriage or personalized ones focused on the groom or the bride. Ideally, these should be delivered sensitively and intelligently, which requires preparation.

A wedding toast consists involves the delivery of congratulations or blessings to the newlyweds. Weddings are important milestones in people’s lives, and people usually want to make the day memorable. To ensure this, a successful wedding toast touches the heart of everyone in a meaningful way while also having some humorous component to it. It should match the lively atmosphere of a wedding. 

Prerequisite

Understand your audience– what would the newlyweds think of the speech? The guests? Will they receive it well, or might they be embarrassed or annoyed by it? 

Imagine yourself in their position and consider your past experiences with them. Sometimes, well-intentioned speeches can pull at the wrong strings, and it’s no easy task covering that up in an important event. So do your research!

Here are some ways you can look into analyzing your audience.

Furthermore, body language plays a crucial role in how receptive people are, and so does voice modulation.

The Actual Speech: How to Write?

Brainstorming the speech
  1. Brainstorming: write down whatever ideas come to your head first, then slowly compare them against each other. Knowing what might suit the occasion and finding just the right words to get everyone going can be confusing. That’s a common experience for a lot of us, and it gets easier the more we do it. So don’t worry if all you have initially are some scribbles as ideas!
  2. Use narratives: narratives are engaging, and people tend to like hearing them. This could be some experience you had where something related to the newlyweds happened that somehow brings focus to some positive quality or an aspect of the relationship. Adding humorous aspects is also helpful, of course. Feel free to dramatise a story but do not exaggerate it so much that it seems like an odd thing to say. There are all sorts of approaches for storytelling that you can check out if you think they’ll help you.
  3. Concise and pleasant: do not go for too long. You might have much to say about them, but that can be saved for another time and day. The day should be about the newlyweds; your contribution through a wedding toast should not change that. Two to three minutes is the sweet spot.
  4. Be sincere: don’t say things just for the sake of it. Even if people don’t show it, often they can tell insincere remarks. This just creates negativity, so whatever you say should ideally be heartfelt.
  5. Make it humorous: Apart from the humorous component of the narrative, you can use more of it here and there to make it more light-hearted and fun. You might use wordplay, puns, or funny anecdotes in various ways to achieve this.
  6. Be careful about the ending: the toast should end pleasantly. Even if you have built a lot of tension with some suspenseful story or something of that sort, the audience should not be left guessing and wondering even after it’s done. Make sure there is a good closure. You might raise a glass to the couple’s happiness, congratulate them, and show them your love and support in your own personal way.

And, of course, practice is key. Never leave it to spontaneity on an important day because anything can go wrong. You know that feeling sometimes when we have some thoughts that sound very intuitive in our head, but when we say them out loud, they seem wrong? 

Try to look at yourself in the mirror to build confidence and comfort with how it looks and sounds, or you could ask someone else to give you feedback. If you know beforehand that it sounds good and you can deliver it properly, you won’t think about it during the speech, right? There, you can be confident and present.

What about the hilarious component?

Hilarious Wedding Toast

Here, you can either use some general jokes or something very specific to the people addressed. General would pertain to ones that would apply to any person in a wedding, such as what they’re about to lose or gain. Specific would be based on your experiences with the person that allows you to make references that are meaningful to both of you and understandable for everyone else.

One tip to be mindful of: Avoid inside jokes unless you can explain the context to everyone. Otherwise, they’re left excluded and confused.

Here are a few questions you could consider to come up with funny ideas:

  1. Was there a time when being too nice got them into trouble? This can highlight their quality as well as create some laughter.
  2. Was there a time when the person did something funny and later regretted it, causing them to learn from that experience?
  3. Is there something this person does to go out of their way for their partner that you have noticed, which can be sweet and funny simultaneously?
  4. Is there some habit this person has that seems strange to others but suits them well?
  5. Is there something they told you that you found very funny that others might also appreciate?

A few examples of funny wedding toast include:

  1. I would never question her decision-making, and neither should you because she also chose you, isn’t it?
  2. I remember the time when you came across him. It took one moment for you to forget all of us, and I can see why!
  3. As a wise man said, “With marriage comes responsibility.” 
  4. If you hadn’t taken her at that moment, that place, I am afraid all the other people waiting in line would have gone for it. And failed! because no other person would meet her standards, isn’t that right, [groom]?
  5. He’s really something else, and I am convinced you two will live a much happier life than Romeo and Juliet because we’ll all support you.

Best Opening Line

The intention is to provide sufficient context for the main speech to make sense.

  • This could include your name, your relation to the bride or groom, and even stuff like how you feel about giving this speech.
  • The latter part can be an icebreaker. Imagine saying something like, “I love that you think of me as close enough to deliver you this, but wooh! That’s a lot of people watching,” this could make people laugh and smile at you for being so honest.
  • The opening can be made hilarious by saying something that is obviously untrue, addressing people in a strange way, etc.

Examples:

  • Generic:
    • Good evening/Hi, everyone. This is [name], I hope you folks are having an amazing time so far. I’ll be speaking about…
    • “Hellooo folks, you know me, and I don’t want to take too much of your time, so let’s cut to the chase. John is…”
  • Funny:
    • “Bride, Groom, their beloved ones, and the people who snuck in, it’s time for me to deliver the best speech that you have ever heard, which I may or may not have scribbled last night on the hotel‘s notepad.”
    • “Hi people, it’s finally the day when I get to reveal to the world the real John. I will lay bare all your deeds… and of course, what an amazing human being you are…”
    • “I am going to have to start by thanking Joe for giving me the opportunity to shit on him. I can see it in your eyes, the signs of deep regret.”

Best Closing Line

A good closing should aim to congratulate and allow the main part of the toast to happen by getting everyone together to raise their glasses.

  • Ideally, adding something meaningful that everyone can reciprocate would be great.
  • You can make this part funny by adding some personalized humor, e.g., “Hope you spend more time with her than you do on your PS5,” but make sure that it’s not something that can be received wrongly.

Examples:

  • Generic:
    • “So what are we waiting for? Let us raise our glasses in honor of these two wonderful humans- to their terrific life as a couple!”
    • A toast to my wonderful [relation e.g., friend] and [the relation’s partner]- I wish you all the happiness there is and more.
    • “Let us raise our glasses for [relation e.g., friend] and [the relation’s partner]- a fabulous life for fabulous people!”
  • Funny:
    • “Now all said and done- I’m sure we three will become one happy family.”
    • “Let’s toast to this dynamic duo- one plans vacation and the other just shows up.”
    • “Now, let us toast the happy couple: may your love be as limitless as the bar tab tonight!”

Scripted Template

This is an example of how it could look like, following the instructions we covered so far:

“Good evening, lads and ladies. Let me introduce you to myself- I am the “best” man. But tonight, lets talk about Adam. He’s not as good as me but he tries his best. I hope you are all here to bless the newlyweds, not just eat the good food. Adam and I go way back. We have learned how to shit together and eventually how to take people’s shit and give them shit back.

In his college days, Adam would drink, puke, drink, try to stop, then guess what? DRINK AGAIN! What an untamed creature, eh? And boy, does he get into trouble. In his words, ‘I do not find trouble, it invites me, pursues me, chases me out.” So folks, when he called me initially, and told me he did something crazy, I got all these nasty flashbacks. But I am most definitely pleased this time, because it was about this girl he had found, they fell in love, and now they’re tying the knot. Well, some may call that a trouble in its own way, but statistically, people in marriages tend to be happier. Or… that’s what they would like us to believe?

Jokes aside, he has made the most out of his life. Not only has he been able to score his dream job, he has also found an out-of-league girl. I don’t know how he manages to do everything so perfectly. He is the most caring, quick-witted, and intelligent man I have ever seen and I am very grateful to have him as a friend.

You have grown into a proper adult now. I have no doubt you’ll be a wonderful husband to Amelia.

Congratulations to you both. Folks, may I request you to raise your glasses for this amazing couple right here!”

Hilarious Wedding Toast Examples

Wedding Toast Template

This is just an example of how a typical wedding toast might go.

  1. Introduction– if it’s a wedding where not everyone knows each other, introduce how you’re related to either of the newlyweds. This will establish some necessary context for them to understand what you’ll speak about next.
  2. Narrative– will involve interesting stories about either the groom or bride. You may reminisce about what you observed when they initially met if you were there. You may talk about the positive qualities of the person. Or even negative qualities in a humorous way such that it does not ruin the atmosphere. When explaining the narrative, feel free to express your strong emotions, like joy and excitement, to help build up the impact. 
  3. Qualities that concern them both- talk about why you might think they suit each other, how you see their relationship growing, or anything else that concerns them both as a couple.
  4. Congratulate and wrap up with cheers- wish them the best and invite everyone to raise their glasses in cheers!

We have covered the main topic; below, we will address a few more questions that are closely connected to the topic that you might be wondering about.

What not to say in a Wedding Toast?

  1. Things that might be hurtful, too embarrassing, or insulting.
  2. Rant about yourself and your feelings and anything. It’s about them, not you!
  3. Negative things about anyone at all if your objective is to keep the mood light, not have fun at someone’s expense
  4. Do not talk about sensitive topics like past relationships.
  5. Things you do not truly mean and speak half-heartedly
  6. Things others would not understand without context, like inside jokes
  7. Too much negative stereotypes about marriage

What do you say when proposing a toast at a party?

The methods remain the same, but adjustments need to be made to the context, which is a party rather than a wedding. You still commemorate the person or event but focus less on the relationship component, if at all.

Short Wedding Toast

There are times when you’ll get some 2-3 minutes for it, which allows you a lot of scope in what you speak about. However, on many occasions, it might be more appropriate to say just a few words and stop there. For instance, “May you remain both friends and loving partners; we wish you the best!”

Wedding toasts are one among many forms of public speaking that pull at the same fundamental skills. Do check out public speaking coaching to get to know more.

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