Groom speech - a question of gifts

The groom speech has always featured the giving of gifts, and as with a few wedding traditions, this is something I have a bit of an issue with. Yes, the wedding day does present an opportunity to single out people who have been instrumental in making you the person you are today, and rewarding them for the friendship, or parenting skills, is no bad thing, however, doing it in the middle of a groom speech can be catastrophic. The length of the speech is fundamental to its success - the very best speeches do what they have to do in the most efficient way, and whatever you've practiced in your bedroom always takes far longer on the day. You really need to mitigate anything that's going to add to that.

So, there you are in full flow talking about your parents, and then you decide to present the mothers with flowers. Everything stops whilst ushers make their way to find the bouquets, trundle up to the top table and present them. This can all take several minutes, whilst everyone else is left suspended waiting for things to get going again. The speech once again begins, and within minutes you're talking about the best man and ushers, and decide to present them with a gift, so they all make their way up to see you, whilst again everyone is left hanging.And we haven't even got to the bridesmaids yet. Not only does this all add countless minutes to the speech, but it also really corrupts the momentum. Each time you stop, you've then got to get things moving again, and it just makes everything a lot more challenging than it needs to be.

My advice is to present all those gifts on the morning of the wedding, which will be a lot more intimate and meaningful. Your speech will remain a sensible length, it won't corrupt the flow, and just as importantly the ushers won't be wandering around with a glass bottom tankard they're inevitably going to lose.