Speeches!

We did ours right after dinner was finished. That way people had at least eaten, and then our dessert buffet was being set up while speeches happened. Then when speeches were over, people helped themselves!

Since we are having a buffet dinner, we are starting our speeches as soon as the last table has been seated after getting their meal. It is likely that the people who are doing speeches will already be done eating at this point, so it made sense for us to space it out this way. We are having 5 speeches total.

We're doing speeches during dessert. IMO it gives people enough time to enjoy dinner, but still doesn't cut into dancing/party time.

I think we will be doing ours just after dinner. We gave everyone a time cap so it shouldn't be too long. It will also give the caterer time to get rid of dinner and set up the desserts.

Our venue recommended doing them during dinner service. I think that works best since people are eating and it doesn't extend the time people are sitting down before dancing starts.

You could also work it into your cocktail hour if you have one and it's long enough to accommodate your photos and some speeches.

Really, people are customizing their weddings to how they want them now, there is less of the "You have to do things this way" sort of attitude.