[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":381},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$ftIEU77gxmG7oFo0LZT45yMWloEbquGkJkVV4tJ5PCNE":3,"$fRPgg2xVnttuQpDEg_4PZ9no1solULoS5AaZrI4wSSSM":57,"blog-wedding-speeches-order-timing-and-who-says-what":83,"blog-related-wedding-speeches-order-timing-and-who-says-what":199},{"nav":4,"footer":23},{"showLogo":5,"logo":6,"links":7,"ctaLabel":20,"ctaUrl":21,"loginLabel":22,"loginUrl":21},true,"Build The Day",[8,11,14,17],{"label":9,"url":10},"Features","/features",{"label":12,"url":13},"Pricing","/pricing",{"label":15,"url":16},"Blog","/blog",{"label":18,"url":19},"Learn","https://learn.buildtheday.com","Get Started Free","https://app.buildtheday.com/admin","Log in",{"brand":6,"tagline":24,"columns":25,"copyright":6},"Beautiful wedding websites that make planning effortless.",[26,33,48],{"title":27,"links":28},"Product",[29,30,31,32],{"label":9,"url":10},{"label":12,"url":13},{"label":15,"url":16},{"label":18,"url":19},{"title":34,"links":35},"Popular Features",[36,39,42,45],{"label":37,"url":38},"RSVP Management","/features/rsvp-management",{"label":40,"url":41},"Seating Chart","/features/seating-chart",{"label":43,"url":44},"Photo Gallery","/features/photo-gallery",{"label":46,"url":47},"Budget Planner","/features/budget-planner",{"title":49,"links":50},"Get Started",[51,53,54],{"label":52,"url":21},"Create your website",{"label":22,"url":21},{"label":55,"url":56},"Privacy Policy","/privacy-policy",{"nav":58,"footer":64},{"showLogo":5,"logo":6,"links":59,"ctaLabel":20,"ctaUrl":21,"loginLabel":22,"loginUrl":21},[60,61,62,63],{"label":9,"url":10},{"label":12,"url":13},{"label":15,"url":16},{"label":18,"url":19},{"brand":6,"tagline":24,"columns":65,"copyright":6},[66,72,78],{"title":27,"links":67},[68,69,70,71],{"label":9,"url":10},{"label":12,"url":13},{"label":15,"url":16},{"label":18,"url":19},{"title":34,"links":73},[74,75,76,77],{"label":37,"url":38},{"label":40,"url":41},{"label":43,"url":44},{"label":46,"url":47},{"title":49,"links":79},[80,81,82],{"label":52,"url":21},{"label":22,"url":21},{"label":55,"url":56},{"id":84,"title":85,"author":86,"body":87,"category":180,"date":181,"description":182,"draft":183,"extension":184,"image":185,"imageAlt":186,"imageCredit":187,"imageCreditUrl":188,"meta":189,"navigation":5,"path":190,"readTime":191,"seo":192,"stem":193,"tags":194,"__hash__":198},"blog/blog/wedding-speeches-order-timing-and-who-says-what.md","Wedding Speeches: Order, Timing and Who Says What","The Build The Day Team",{"type":88,"value":89,"toc":171},"minimark",[90,94,99,102,105,109,112,115,118,122,125,128,151,155,158,161,165,168],[91,92,93],"p",{},"Speeches are the part of the day people remember and the part couples worry about most. A good one lands a laugh, a lump in the throat, and a room raising their glasses. A muddled one runs long, loses the thread, and leaves the caterer hovering with the mains going cold. The difference is rarely the words. It is knowing who speaks, in what order, and when in the day, so nobody is improvising over a microphone that will not switch on.",[95,96,98],"h2",{"id":97},"the-traditional-order-and-why-it-works","The traditional order, and why it works",[91,100,101],{},"The classic running order goes: father of the bride, then the groom, then the best man. It has lasted because it has a shape. The father welcomes everyone and toasts the couple, the groom thanks the guests and the wedding party and toasts the bridesmaids, and the best man closes with the stories and the warmth. It builds from formal to funny, and it ends on the biggest laugh.",[91,103,104],{},"You do not have to follow it. Plenty of couples now have the bride speak, or both partners together, or a maid of honour alongside the best man. The order matters less than the logic behind it: open with a welcome, save the loosest speaker for last, and make sure someone actually toasts the couple at some point. Write down the running order you land on and share it, because the people speaking need to know where they sit in the line.",[95,106,108],{"id":107},"before-the-meal-or-after","Before the meal, or after",[91,110,111],{},"There are two schools of thought on timing, and both are fine.",[91,113,114],{},"Speeches after the meal is the traditional choice. Everyone has eaten, the room is relaxed, and the plates are cleared so there is nothing to distract from the speaker. The downside is that your speakers spend the whole meal too nervous to enjoy it.",[91,116,117],{},"Speeches before the meal is increasingly popular for exactly that reason. The speakers get it done, relax, and eat properly, and the food comes out hot the moment they finish. It does mean asking guests to wait a little longer to eat, so keep them tight if you go this way. Some couples split the difference and slot one speech between courses. Whatever you choose, tell your caterer and venue early, because the kitchen plans its timings around yours.",[95,119,121],{"id":120},"keep-them-short","Keep them short",[91,123,124],{},"The single kindest thing anyone can do for a wedding speech is to finish it. Five minutes is plenty. Ten is the ceiling. A room will forgive a speech that is a touch short far sooner than one that overstays its welcome, and the best man who reads the room and wraps up early is always thanked for it.",[91,126,127],{},"A few things that help every speaker:",[129,130,131,139,145],"ul",{},[132,133,134,138],"li",{},[135,136,137],"strong",{},"One story, told well."," A single vivid memory beats a list of five thin ones.",[132,140,141,144],{},[135,142,143],{},"Names, not in-jokes."," The room wants to be let in, not shut out by references only three people understand.",[132,146,147,150],{},[135,148,149],{},"A clear ending."," Land on the toast so guests know when to lift their glasses. Nothing deflates a speech like an unclear finish.",[95,152,154],{"id":153},"who-to-warn-and-what-to-check","Who to warn, and what to check",[91,156,157],{},"The people speaking are not the only ones who need the plan. Your photographer wants to know when speeches happen so they are in position rather than changing a lens at the crucial line. The venue needs to know for the room turnaround and the sound. And someone, usually the best man or a toastmaster, needs to hold the running order on the day and cue each speaker in turn.",[91,159,160],{},"Check the practical things a week out, not on the day. Is there a working microphone, and does the speaker know how to hold it. Where do they stand so the whole room can see. Is there a glass of water to hand. These are tiny details that turn a nervous speaker into a comfortable one, and they are the first things forgotten in the rush of the morning.",[95,162,164],{"id":163},"keep-the-running-order-in-one-place","Keep the running order in one place",[91,166,167],{},"Most speech-day chaos is really an information problem. The order lives in one person's head, the timings in an email from the venue, the photographer's plan in a separate thread, and nobody has the full picture until it is too late to fix. When the running order, the timings and everyone's contact details sit together, the best man knows exactly when to stand, the venue knows when to clear, and the photographer knows when to be ready.",[91,169,170],{},"With Build The Day, the day's schedule and your suppliers live in the same place, so the speeches slot into a running order everyone can see rather than a plan passed around by word of mouth. Set the order, share it, and let the people speaking do the one thing they came to do. Say something true, keep it short, and sit down to a warm plate and a room full of raised glasses.",{"title":172,"searchDepth":173,"depth":173,"links":174},"",2,[175,176,177,178,179],{"id":97,"depth":173,"text":98},{"id":107,"depth":173,"text":108},{"id":120,"depth":173,"text":121},{"id":153,"depth":173,"text":154},{"id":163,"depth":173,"text":164},"Planning","2026-07-03","Who speaks, in what order, and when in the day. A calm guide to wedding speeches that keeps them warm, short and free of last-minute panic.",false,"md","https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1521321335080-61c4776db11b?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop","A hand raising a champagne flute in a toast at a wedding reception","Photos by Lanty","https://unsplash.com/@photos_by_lanty?utm_source=buildtheday&utm_medium=referral",{},"/blog/wedding-speeches-order-timing-and-who-says-what",6,{"title":85,"description":182},"blog/wedding-speeches-order-timing-and-who-says-what",[195,196,197],"planning","reception","speeches","-nrurG5dVLSyOQNArwWpUli_1XZ6h8vVWH9HHZqZ-vw",[200,261],{"id":84,"title":85,"author":86,"body":201,"category":180,"date":181,"description":182,"draft":183,"extension":184,"image":185,"imageAlt":186,"imageCredit":187,"imageCreditUrl":188,"meta":258,"navigation":5,"path":190,"readTime":191,"seo":259,"stem":193,"tags":260,"__hash__":198},{"type":88,"value":202,"toc":251},[203,205,207,209,211,213,215,217,219,221,223,225,239,241,243,245,247,249],[91,204,93],{},[95,206,98],{"id":97},[91,208,101],{},[91,210,104],{},[95,212,108],{"id":107},[91,214,111],{},[91,216,114],{},[91,218,117],{},[95,220,121],{"id":120},[91,222,124],{},[91,224,127],{},[129,226,227,231,235],{},[132,228,229,138],{},[135,230,137],{},[132,232,233,144],{},[135,234,143],{},[132,236,237,150],{},[135,238,149],{},[95,240,154],{"id":153},[91,242,157],{},[91,244,160],{},[95,246,164],{"id":163},[91,248,167],{},[91,250,170],{},{"title":172,"searchDepth":173,"depth":173,"links":252},[253,254,255,256,257],{"id":97,"depth":173,"text":98},{"id":107,"depth":173,"text":108},{"id":120,"depth":173,"text":121},{"id":153,"depth":173,"text":154},{"id":163,"depth":173,"text":164},{},{"title":85,"description":182},[195,196,197],{"id":262,"title":263,"author":86,"body":264,"category":180,"date":368,"description":369,"draft":183,"extension":184,"image":370,"imageAlt":371,"imageCredit":372,"imageCreditUrl":373,"meta":374,"navigation":5,"path":375,"readTime":191,"seo":376,"stem":377,"tags":378,"__hash__":380},"blog/blog/how-to-make-a-wedding-seating-plan.md","How to Make a Wedding Seating Plan Without the Stress",{"type":88,"value":265,"toc":359},[266,269,273,276,279,283,286,289,293,296,300,303,329,332,336,339,342,346,349,353,356],[91,267,268],{},"Ask a recently married couple which job they put off longest and a lot of them will say the same thing: the seating plan. It looks small on the list, a grid of tables and names, and then you sit down to do it and realise it is a puzzle where every piece can offend someone. The good news is that almost all of the stress comes from doing it in the wrong order, and at the wrong time. Get the timing right and it takes an evening.",[95,270,272],{"id":271},"start-it-late-on-purpose","Start it late, on purpose",[91,274,275],{},"The instinct is to crack on early, while you have energy and the list feels under control. Resist it. A seating plan built before the replies are in is a plan you will redraw, because every late RSVP, every plus-one that turns into a no, every aunt who decides at the last minute that she is coming after all, moves the pieces. The average UK wedding now sits 74 guests at the ceremony (Bridebook UK Wedding Report, 2026), and even a handful of changes across that many people is enough to unpick a finished plan.",[91,277,278],{},"Wait until your RSVPs are mostly in, which usually means a few weeks after your reply-by date once you have chased the stragglers. Then block out an evening and do it in one sitting. A plan built on settled numbers holds; one built on hopeful numbers does not.",[95,280,282],{"id":281},"build-out-from-the-fixed-points","Build out from the fixed points",[91,284,285],{},"Do not start with the hardest table. Start with the ones that decide themselves. Place the top table or the head table first, whoever you have chosen to sit there, then seat the two immediate families near it. Those are your anchors. Everything else hangs off them, and once they are down the room has a shape and the rest gets easier.",[91,287,288],{},"From there, group by who actually knows each other. The friends from university, the work crowd, the neighbours, the cousins who only see each other at weddings. People relax fastest next to a face they recognise, so a table where everyone has one or two people they know will hum along happily for hours. You do not need every guest to know everyone, just to know someone.",[95,290,292],{"id":291},"mix-but-gently","Mix, but gently",[91,294,295],{},"A table of total strangers is hard work for the people sitting at it. A table of people who already spend every weekend together can feel like a missed chance to widen the day. The sweet spot is a familiar core with one or two new introductions you think will get on. Seat the lively talkers where they can pull a quieter table along, and try not to strand the one person who knows nobody on a table of an established group.",[95,297,299],{"id":298},"the-tricky-tables","The tricky tables",[91,301,302],{},"Every plan has two or three knots, and it is worth naming them rather than hoping they sort themselves out:",[129,304,305,311,317,323],{},[132,306,307,310],{},[135,308,309],{},"Divorced or estranged family."," Keep them in the same orbit but not in each other's eyeline. Different tables, ideally not back to back, with the top table between them rather than beside them.",[132,312,313,316],{},[135,314,315],{},"The single friend."," Do not build a leftovers table of everyone who came alone. Fold single guests into a warm, sociable table where they already know one or two people.",[132,318,319,322],{},[135,320,321],{},"Children."," Decide whether you want a dedicated children's table or children sitting with their parents. Younger ones are usually happier and calmer next to mum and dad; a group of older kids often loves a table of their own.",[132,324,325,328],{},[135,326,327],{},"The work crowd."," Colleagues are easy to seat together, but think about whether your boss wants to spend the evening talking shop or would rather be folded in with your friends.",[91,330,331],{},"You will not please everyone, and a small amount of compromise is normal. Decide it, write it down, and move on.",[95,333,335],{"id":334},"keep-the-details-attached-to-the-names","Keep the details attached to the names",[91,337,338],{},"A seating plan is not just a layout, it is a set of facts that other people need. The caterer wants to know who is vegetarian and who cannot have nuts. The venue wants final numbers and any accessibility needs, the guest in the wheelchair who needs an end seat, the elderly relative who should be near the door rather than the band. If those notes live in a separate list, they get lost in the move from spreadsheet to table plan, and someone ends up with the wrong meal in front of them on the day.",[91,340,341],{},"Far better to keep the dietary requirements, the access needs and the plus-ones pinned to the names themselves, so that when you place a guest you place everything you know about them at the same time.",[95,343,345],{"id":344},"a-plan-on-the-wall-or-place-cards","A plan on the wall, or place cards",[91,347,348],{},"Once the tables are settled, decide how guests will find their seats. A single large plan near the entrance, listing each table and who sits there, is enough for many weddings and lets people drift to their table in their own time. Place cards add a personal touch and tell each guest their exact chair, which helps at a formal sit-down meal. Plenty of couples do both, a plan to find the table and a card to find the seat. Whichever you choose, leave one table slightly flexible for the inevitable late change, so a single extra guest does not force a redraw of the whole room.",[95,350,352],{"id":351},"keep-it-in-one-place","Keep it in one place",[91,354,355],{},"The reason the seating plan feels harder than it is usually comes down to scattered information. The guest list is in one document, the RSVPs are in your inbox, the meal choices are on a notepad, and the seating grid is a fourth thing you are trying to reconcile with the other three. With Build The Day, the list, the replies, the dietary notes and the headcount sit together, so the plan becomes the easy output of information you already have rather than a separate puzzle you build from memory. When someone drops out at day five, you update one place and the numbers move with you.",[91,357,358],{},"Start late, anchor it on the fixed points, group by who knows whom, and keep every detail attached to the name. Do it in that order and the job everyone dreads turns out to be a single calm evening.",{"title":172,"searchDepth":173,"depth":173,"links":360},[361,362,363,364,365,366,367],{"id":271,"depth":173,"text":272},{"id":281,"depth":173,"text":282},{"id":291,"depth":173,"text":292},{"id":298,"depth":173,"text":299},{"id":334,"depth":173,"text":335},{"id":344,"depth":173,"text":345},{"id":351,"depth":173,"text":352},"2026-06-30","The seating plan is the job most couples dread, and the one they start too early. Here is the order that makes it take an evening rather than a fortnight, with the tricky tables sorted.","https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1723832348140-a2d9eb1753b1?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop","A long wedding reception table dressed in white linen beneath a chandelier","Jennifer Kalenberg","https://unsplash.com/@jkalen71?utm_source=buildtheday&utm_medium=referral",{},"/blog/how-to-make-a-wedding-seating-plan",{"title":263,"description":369},"blog/how-to-make-a-wedding-seating-plan",[195,379,196],"guests","bQZNI9ZSkjXbo1yrR3LouCCyTdtYyYw-Dt8Y6eVqzX8",1783075455928]