History of the Wedding Speech
Wedding Speech
Wedding Speech
What is the history of wedding speech?
The history of the wedding speech goes side by side with the history of the wedding itself. Up to the middle ages, the wedding was a purely family affair. All that a marriage needed was a bride and a groom who agreed to live with each other. Parents, clergy and even witnesses were not a necessary part of the union and one can imagine that the wedding speech under these circumstances consisted of what the groom said to the bride and the bride to the groom.
As society advanced, the wedding began to take on rituals and ceremonies. One of these was the wedding reception and its attendant wedding speeches. The history of this speech is as varied as the kinds of wedding ceremonies. With the ancient Egyptians, wedding speeches had to include blessing and making offerings to the gods. In Europe, only fathers delivered speeches at weddings, whereas in the British Isles, mothers made the speeches and offered the toasts.
Wedding speech roles
In the past, with cultures observing pre-arranged marriages, wedding speeches were the sole prerogative of the fathers of the couple and no role was given to the bride and groom. Speeches in the marriage as Christians know them probably became part of the wedding ceremony in the 15th century when the Council of Trent established the procedure that weddings take place in a church and move afterwards to the bride’s home for a celebration. As with any celebration, speeches are bound to follow.
Many of the more traditional and conservative cultures still adhere to strict rules for wedding speeches, while the more liberal ones have become open to experimentation and innovation when it comes to the wedding speech.
In western, Christian societies, the wedding speech follows a certain protocol. The first speech is always delivered by the father of the bride. This probably hies back to the time when the celebration moved from the church to the bride’s home. In this speech, the father of the pride, who assumes the role of host, welcomes the guests, thanks them, then talks about his daughter.
The next speech is supposed to be delivered by the groom who acknowledges and thanks his new in-laws, the guests at the wedding and his own parents. The succeeding traditional speech is that of the best man who talks mostly about the groom, often in a jocular manner, and also conveys his thanks and appreciation on behalf of the bride and groom.
Today, however, speeches at a wedding have become a more flexible part of the ceremony. Some receptions have the bride, the maid of honor and special friends make speeches about their special memories of the newlyweds.
Rule of wedding speech
So far, the rules governing the speech have still been fairly predictable. The fundamental basis for the speech during a marriage ceremony has always been a bride and a groom, a man and a woman, and the relationship they have entered into. However, with the growing legalization and acceptance of same-sex marriages, new procedures are bound to emerge that will once again open a new page in the history of the wedding speech.