Wedding videographers and photographers are one of only a few people at a wedding who can see everything going on and we know and understand when guests are bored during a speech, trust us!
Here's some tips on when to do the speeches, and how long they should be!
WHEN SHOULD WE DO THE SPEECHES?
My best advice for wedding speeches is to do them before the wedding breakfast, or after. Preferably the first option if the speeches aren't too long.
Doing them before dinner gets the most nerve-racking part of the day done and out the way, it allows the Bride, Groom, Father of the Bride and Best men (plus whoever else is doing a speech) to relax going into their evening. Knowing they can sit, enjoy their wedding breakfast and be worry free knowing the speeches are ticked off.
If you'd rather do them during the wedding breakfast, do them after the mains, this gives everyone a chance to eat and line their stomachs for the night ahead and get merry while socialising with other guests - you'll also probably get a few more laughs or tears depending on your speech, because most people will be a few beers / glasses of wine in!
DO NOT do your speeches during each course - we've done plenty of weddings where they have starters > speech > mains > speech > desert > speech and most of the time, speeches run over, it's inevitable, if you tell your father to do a quick 5 minute speech, chances are it'll be 15 minutes. Doing speeches during each course usually results in the evening being massively delayed, meaning your first dance and band / DJ who you've probably paid a lot of money for start later, losing your value for money.
HOW LONG SHOULD THE SPEECHES BE?
Speeches are the perfect opportunity to tell stories, embarrassing or not and talk about each other in front of all your loved ones. It can truly be an incredibly emotional, funny and delightful way to enter the evening. However... this can be the opposite if they go on forever!
Based on previous weddings and advice from other wedding creatives, the perfect length / amount of speeches is 3 speeches in total, lasting 10 minutes each. A 30 minute chunk of the day dedicated to speeches is considered a perfect structure and will keep your guests entertained.