Wedding Etiquette Forum

Are you or your groom giving a thank you speech at your reception?

I am trying to think of something to say but i am just not good at this type of thing.  Do we have to do a thank you speech?  If we do, what do i say??? I do not want to individually thank wedding party/ parents, I want to thank everyone for travelling to be at my wedding and i want it to come off cute, funny and short. Help

Re: Are you or your groom giving a thank you speech at your reception?

  • For sure! We're having no toasts/speeches other than this one.

    You're guests will appreciate this!

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  • The best speeches/toasts are those that tend to be spontaneous and from the heart.  

    You thank the significant people in your lives for their support and encouragement.  You can acknowledge people "collectively", i.e., your parents, your wedding party, your family, your friends, and so forth, if that is easier than trying to name people individually.

    You thank those who have travelled near and far to show their love and support.  You encourage them to enjoy themselves at the reception.  
  • My husband wanted to thank everyone for coming and sharing our special day with us. He got about 2 sentences in and his voice started cracking and getting choked up, so he just kind of wrapped it up there. Very cute and sentimental and you could tell our guests enjoyed seeing how important the whole thing was to him.
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    Anniversary
  • We did not.  Both H and I are not fans of public speaking so giving a speech wasn't even a consideration.  We also didn't feel it was necessary since we went around and thanked each person individually during dinner.

  • Two of my friends did this at their wedding after their table visits, and they both cried during. It was really sweet... it was nice to be thanked at the table visits, but this felt like it meant more. I will definitely be doing this.

    Remember, it doesn't have to be more than a couple of short sentences expressing your gratitude.
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  • phiraphira member
    5000 Comments 500 Love Its Second Anniversary 5 Answers
    We're planning on giving a short one in the middle or near the end of the night. We were at a wedding where we couldn't hear the bride and groom say their vows at all (outdoors by the ocean, no sound system), so it was kind of weird essentially NOT hearing them speak the whole time.

    You do NOT have to do one.
    Anniversary
    now with ~* INCREASED SASSINESS *~
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  • We did, but I like to hold a mic…and possibly hear myself pontificate…AW :-x
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

  • niki&robniki&rob member
    Second Anniversary 25 Love Its 10 Comments Name Dropper
    edited March 2014

    Well, I ended up putting some words together, thank you for the inspiration ladies!  Though it's short and not funny at all, here is what i have got.  Do you think i should add more?  I am going to be very nervous so i figure this is good enough.

    <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 

    From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for coming and celebrating with us today.  Most all of you travelled a great distance and made big sacrifices to be here, this truly makes us feel loved and supported. We hope you all have a great time tonight, Cheers!!

  • edited March 2014
    I'm a fan of doing this, it's a nice touch and guests appreciate it.  Your write up sounds fine.... short, sweet and sincere.
  • lc07lc07 member
    Tenth Anniversary 2500 Comments 500 Love Its 5 Answers
    We did and just winged it. I agree with the PPs not to mention people by name in thanking them. I thanked each of our vendors and people who contributed and I forgot someone. I still beat myself up over it.
  • SP29SP29 member
    Sixth Anniversary 2500 Comments 500 Love Its 5 Answers
    I am also a supporter of a thank you "speech", however it doesn't have to be anything long and drawn out.

    DH and I did one, we thanked each of our wedding party guests, our parents/family as a group and our guests for coming. However you could simplify it a lot more. I had planned on saying a bit more to our guests, but I could feel myself getting choked up, so I also wrapped it up then. 
  • The "welcome to the reception,and thank you for coming to the wedding" speech is made by the hosts.  The fewer speeches, the better.  My daughter thanked the guests for their presence and their gifts with proper thank you notes.  She thanked us by a personal visit after the wedding.  "Thank you, Mom and Dad!  it was perfect!" was all she needed to say.  Oh, yeah, they also gave me a box of See's chocolate truffles!  Yum!
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  • phiraphira member
    5000 Comments 500 Love Its Second Anniversary 5 Answers
    @CMGragain See's chocolates? You have the best daughter ever.
    Anniversary
    now with ~* INCREASED SASSINESS *~
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  • We didn't. We walked around and thanked everyone personally.
  • I hate public speaking, but I'm sure my FI wants to do a speech, so I'll sit there and let him. We'll be doing a receiving line and going around tables to thank people though.
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  • Yes. My husband and I stood up and he said, "We just want to thank everyone for coming tonight. And thank you for all our friends and family for making this wedding possible." (They helped us set everything up.) And then I said, "It means so much to us to have you all here. So here's to community!" And we raised our glasses.Then I said, "Now let's cut the cake!" That's it. 

    We didn't have any other speeches or toasts planned. We also thanked all our guests individually, but it was really important to us to make a toast to our community.
  • We plan to do a speech. It will most likely be me because I don't mind public speaking (comes with the job) and FI hates it. This is what we are planning:

    "We wanted to take this time to thank all of you for coming to celebrate with us tonight. Thank you to our parents who have raised us to be the people we are, our wedding party for standing by us through this process and today, and to the rest of our friends and family who have watched us grow up and grow together. Your support means so much to us and words are truly inadequate to show our appreciation. We love y'all!"

    I think anything that is truly sincere will be perfect and your guests will appreciate the thought!


  • Yes, H did. But I stood up there with him. I think is lasted about 15 seconds. Then we opened up the dance floor.
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  • vmj23vmj23 member
    Fifth Anniversary 1000 Comments 250 Love Its 5 Answers
    I haven't discussed this with my fiance yet, but i'm not good with public speaking and would personally prefer to just walk around and thank everyone.  I plan on asking my fiance if he want's to say a few words.  We do not have a maid of honor or best man, so I do not know if we will have any toasts.  My father is unable to give a toast (he had a stroke and has problems with his speech) and is concerned about it, so I think he was going to talk to my brother's to see if one of them can help him give one.
  • ei34ei34 member
    Knottie Warrior 2500 Comments 500 Love Its 5 Answers
    My hubby and I had went around and thanked our guests individually, so when our MC approached us during dessert asking if we wanted to do a thank you speech we hesitated but then went with it. It was super spontaneous though, not written out, we just thanked everyone for sharing in such a happy time and for their love and support over the years. We each took a turn with the mic but it was less than one minute long, we're not big on public speaking. Our mothers and aunts all said they really liked it though..
  • DH and I both said a short thank you at our reception, though we'd only intended for one of us to speak (his godfather got on DH's case for not saying something himself). I didn't prepare anything and just said something to the effect of, "DH and I would just like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for sharing in this day with us. We are so blessed to have so many friends and family here and couldn't imagine a more wonderful day. Please enjoy the meal and the live music by our DJ, the bar will be opened back up at X time, and the dance floor will open soon."
  • ElcaBElcaB member
    2500 Comments Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its First Answer
    You don't HAVE to, but it's a really nice gesture. It doesn't need to be anything long or elaborate, just a simple, "H & I would like to thank everyone for joining us to celebrate this amazing day. We are thrilled you're here, now let's party!"
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  • We did a short thank you speech, acknowledging family, parents, flower girls. Special thanks to everyone for joining us to celebrate, and used it as a segway into cake cutting. Everyone liked it.
  • I WANT to, but realistically I don;t think I'll be able to without bawling my eyes out LOL J will have no problem...he's a bit of an attention whore hahahaha.

    About 97% of our guest list consists of his friends and family, so I'd REALLY like to thank them for being supportive and welcoming to me. I'll probably just do it personally/individually at the tables.
    ~*~June 21, 2014~*~


  • It'll probably be me doing the thank you "speech" and FI will chime in at the end with the "toast". Literally. I'll say "thank you so much for sharing our day" and he'll say "cheers". Short and sweet.
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  • We did not. My parents technically hosted the reception, so they (well, my mom) gave a short welcome, thanking everyone for attending. 

    Neither DH nor I is a huge fan of public speaking, but if we had hosted, we would have made a short welcoming speech. I doubt either of us could get through it without cracking, though.

    I also don't think my father, who is also not a fan of public speaking, could have made a speech without crying a little. Mom was fine -- she lectures for a living, actually. 

    Everyone involved -- Mom, MOH, BM, priest -- gave short, sweet speeches.
    Anniversary

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    I'm gonna go with 'not my circus, not my monkeys.'
  • It doesn't need to be creative but I think it's important. At least for us- we're hosting and we have a lot of OOT guests.
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