Microphone for speeches?

EAR123

My wedding reception is in a private space in a large restaurant. The room has very high ceilings with walls that don't extend entirely to the top of the ceiling, so we will get some ambient noise from the rest of the restaurant in our section. This is fine as it adds to the atmosphere and because we're not having a DJ or music, but I realize it may make it a little hard to hear any speeches without a mic.

The problem is that it is $700 for me to rent a mic/speaker (using the venue's must-use vendor). I just don't know if I can justify that expense for what will allot to my father speaking for two minutes. Should I suck it up on the cost or just skip the AV and hope he can speak loudly? The other alternative is to completely forgo a speech.

Thoughts?

donethat

How many people are you expecting?

EAR123

We're expecting 45-50, spread out among maybe 6-8 tables (finalizing numbers still).

southernbelle0915

Ask the restaurant if you can control the volume of the music. If you can turn off the music for this portion, I think you'll be fine with only 6-8 tables as long as people project. If you can't, then I think you do need to rent equipment so that people can hear. Or you could just not have these. Our MOH and BM did their toasts at our RD.

FYI though - they're toasts, not speeches, and should only last a couple minutes each. If there was seriously a long "speech" where I couldn't hear anything over background music and restaurant noise, I would be super annoyed.

Maggie0829

For that size group a microphone isn't necessary.  As long as the person who is talking speaks up it should be fine.

EAR123

Thanks, all. I think skipping the price is worth it, and we will take a chance with acoustics. We are spending so much on everything and I'd love to skip this fee!

Iamnowmrsjms

Agree w PP, no need to spend that amount on a mic with a group that size. 

[Deleted User]

Maybe consider having the person giving the speech move to the center of the room instead of at the head of the room. That way their voice won't have to travel as far & might improve people being able to hear them.

MandyMost

Erikan73 said:

Maybe consider having the person giving the speech move to the center of the room instead of at the head of the room. That way their voice won't have to travel as far & might improve people being able to hear them.

But then the people sitting behind him won't be able to hear anything. You should stay where you're directing your voice at all the people.

As long as the music isn't really thumping and is just background music you should be fine (with or without a mic!). 

At my rehearsal dinner we had 30 people and a number of people talked and it was totally fine to hear everything, although the room at the restaurant had a separate sound system so we were able to turn it down.