Wedding Blessings
What better way to show the bridal couple at a wedding your happiness for them and to share your joy with everyone there, than to give wedding blessings. This is the time when everyone who means something special or important to the couple is present, and can join in and celebrate the wonderful occasion with them. Weddings are happy occasions and a time to celebrate the joys of life.
Wedding blessings, or “wedding toasts”, are pretty much the same and are supposed to be short, to the point, toasts for happiness, longevity, and joy. You do not want to bore everyone in the room with long tedious wedding blessings; just keep it short and sincere.
There is a wide range that wedding blessings can cover and this will depend on the type of wedding, formal or not; the person giving the wedding blessings, the personality of the crowd. Some wedding blessings are powerful, emotional showers of love and good will, while other wedding blessings are joyous , knee-slapping rousing speeches that get everyone in the room revved up. If you are giving wedding blessings, now is the time to show your feelings and your genuine sentiments to the couple and the crowd of well-wishers.........you need to shine.
But there are those of us who cannot get up in front of a crowd and would rather be dead than to do so........so for them, giving wedding blessings as a toast in front of God and everybody, is out of the question. When called upon at the reception to stand and deliver wedding blessings, some of these quaking aspens have been known to refuse to leave their chairs and defer the “honor” to someone else in the room. Others have feigned laryngitis, but were caught pants down as soon as they forgot and began speaking and laughing with their tablemate shortly afterwards.
But, if you have had time to prepare and came with a few funny lines or some sentimental wedding blessings up your sleeve, then you could stand and give your wedding blessings as if you had been planning on speaking all along. There are many traditional verses and lines that have stood the test of time and have come down through the years as well loved wedding blessings, and if you look, you can find the sources for these in books or the internet so you are always prepared when asked out of the blue, to speak.
Some people still panic when tapped on the shoulder without warning and asked to give wedding blessings off the cuff. They could have all the verses in the world shoved up their sleeve to their shirt collar, and they would still shake, and stammer, and go mentally blank. When wedding blessings are to be given, these people are best left alone in their chairs for everyone's sake.
One factor in giving wedding blessings which truly is a blessing, is that they are meant by design to be short. They are considered a toast and not a wedding speech, so even if you have only one or two ideas with you of what you would say if called upon; the fact that wedding blessings are supposed to be short, will save your neck. Just be genuine, say how you feel, call upon your two little lines written on your shirt cuff, and wish the happy couple well. You will do just fine.