No toasts. Thoughts?

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One of my FH's cousins asked us to be master of ceremonies - and we were more than happy to have her announce things to provide some sort of flow to the reception. We're going to do photos before, ceremony, cocktail hour/band, dinner, we'll have a thank you speech towards the end of dinner, then the dance floor opens up, cake after an hour or two, and eventually pizza towards the end of the night. Right at the end of the ceremony (because it's in a bar), we're going to have the master of ceremonies do a toast and then provide instructions about how the rest of the night will go.

View quoted message How are you planning your reception?

Yes!! That's our plan. A lot of people think many speeches tend to drag on anyhow. Do what you want

I'm having it so if you want to make a speech your more then happy to. Maybe set up a specific time after dinner to allow anyone to make one if they decide to. If you want to have a itinerary that you offer guests you can add speeches and in brackets "if you want to". But if people want to make one bad enough and theres no prompt I'm sure they will ask

Will you be having an MC? Or a DJ that will be doing that? If you have an MC then maybe he/she could say something if you want - but toasts aren't required.

To plan without toasts or any speaking bits other than your own speech I would have the MC/DJ announce your arrival/first dance/cake cutting/ etc. and there just wouldn't be a prompt to have people come up to speak.

Honestly it’s whatever your heart desires! If you don’t want a bridal party - no problem... have a “sweetheart table” instead . Toasts aren’t necessary- but I would suggest you and your hubby say a few words and thank your guests for coming

To add on the reception part, the speech you say is optional since your guests have come out to celebrate your marriage. Not all couples are comfortable to speak together. 1 person giving the speech is enough and short if you are not used to public speaking.

Pre wedding events don't need a speech generally though a thank you for coming and those who have put this together.

View quoted message Yep. Our venue has the best stuffed mushrooms 🤤🤤🤤

View quoted message You are doing appetizers correct?

I think you could go without speeches if you don’t want them. Doing speeches, as well as listening to them, are not everyone’s cup of tea.


Through dinner in between courses you could do your mother/groom dance, father/bride dance, bouquet toss and/or garter toss if you’re doing those of you want something going on during dinner. Otherwise, you don’t need to have speeches or anything going on during dinner . Just go from eating to reception dancing.

I've thought about ditching toasts too. We aren't having a wedding party, and I don't want people to feel like they need to make a speech. We're also skipping dinner. Our reception is a bit untraditional all around, but here's what we're aiming for:


Our plan was to move from the ceremony to passed apps and a bit of a receiving line, then first dance, a small dance/mingle break before cutting the cake, more dancing/mingling, then bouquet toss (I checked, my girlfriends are into it. We might just have all the unmarried people so it can be a bit less "single lady spotlight" and more of a challenge). I've got father daughter and mother son songs mixed into the list so we can have a dance but not have it feel like a scheduled moment and hopefully people will dance with us. At some point later in the evening we will thank our guests and have a toast.
I've asked 2 friends to co emcee to make sure things happen but I'll be flexible about it!