Groom Wedding Toast – Who to Mention/Acknowledge?

My wedding was pretty big – about 250 attended the cermony and the reception about 200!  And with my big family (and my wife’s family is not small), I was under a bit of pressure to make sure that during the groom wedding speech to bring attention to/mention everyone that deserved to be mentioned and thanked.

From everything that I was finding in my research, the purpose of the groom’s wedding speech is help everyone feel connected to the big event.  For me, it was a big, nasty ’supposed to’ that I didn’t want to do.  Not that I was terribly ungrateful, but I just hate talking/speaking in large crowds…  And if you think back on weddings you’ve attended, the groom’s wedding speech mentions, acknowledges the presence of those who have contributed a significant amount to the bride and groom’s lives.  Also, many attending may have come a long way to attend your wedding, at great expense.

So who do you need to mention?  Before we get into that, let me also say that if you go into great lengths mentioning everyone and their brother, and then leave a significant someone out, you can really hurt feelings – I would suggest notes to help you keep this organized.  So who do you mention?

Family – your family and your bride’s (that you know – and if you don’t, do some research with your fiancé! – getting this right will score big points with her family).

Friends – it is possible to have a load of friends at your wedding.  Make sure you mention the most significant, but it’s okay to make a blanket statement to cover the less-significant relationships.

Significant Influences – this could be a pastor, counselor, role model, etc.  It’s a way of stating who has helped shaped your life.

If you forget someone during the speech – it’s bound to happen if your wedding is of a significant size – make sure to pull them aside afterward and apologize for the omission.  People are very understanding, generally.