WEDDINGS

Rehearsal dinner speech examples

The five speeches below are made up. Take their order and their length, then fill them with a story only you could tell.

A chatbot can write a rehearsal dinner speech in seconds. It has never met the couple, and it won't be the one standing up the night before the wedding with both families watching. Below is a template, a list of questions to find your story, then five example speeches from one made-up dinner: a welcome from the hosts, a toast from a bridesmaid, a funny one from a sibling, a short one for an open mic and a thank-you from the couple. After them: who speaks and in what order, how it differs from a wedding speech, how long to talk, what to leave out and how to give it.

A rehearsal dinner speech template

Most toasts at the dinner can follow these five beats. If you're hosting, open with a welcome instead, as in example 1. Fill in the blanks, then read it out loud and cut any line you wouldn't say at the table.

Say who you are and how you know the couple: "Hi everyone, I'm ___. ___ and I met ___."
Thank the hosts: "___ and ___, thank you for tonight."
Tell one story that shows who your person is: "When ___, ___."
Turn to their partner: "___, ___."
Give the toast: "Please join me in raising a glass to ___ and ___."

Zola's guide to rehearsal dinner speeches suggests a plain start like "Hi everyone, I'm Lisa. Christine and I met through a student newspaper at Berkeley." It also warns that fill-in-the-blank speeches found online can sound canned, so use the beats for the order and your own memories for everything else (Zola on writing a rehearsal dinner speech). Show who your person is with something they did. In example 2, it's a soup. To learn the beats and rehearse them, see how to practice your wedding speech.

Rehearsal dinner speech ideas

Stuck for a story? Zola suggests starting from questions like these:

What's your earliest or clearest memory of them, and what does it show about them?
What quirk of theirs do most people not know about?
When did they first mention their partner, and what did they say?
What was it like the first time you met their partner?
When did you realize their partner was right for them?
How has their partner changed them for the better?

Pick one answer and build the speech around it.

5 rehearsal dinner speech examples

The names and stories are made up, and all five come from the same dinner, in the order the speeches might go. The longest is under 200 words, which takes under two minutes out loud. If the couple are two brides or two grooms, change the names and pronouns. The beats stay the same.

1. A welcome from the hosts

The hosts speak first, and Zola says that's traditionally the groom's parents. Welcome everyone, thank whoever traveled and helped, keep your story short and hand over to the next speaker.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Carol, Michael's mom. This is his dad, Jim. Welcome, and thank you for coming tonight.

Some of you came a long way. Priya's aunt and uncle landed from Toronto this afternoon, and Michael's college roommates drove eight hours from Atlanta in one car. They're still speaking to each other, so that's a good sign.

Raj and Anita, thank you for planning this weekend with us. And thank you to the wedding party for getting through the rehearsal in under an hour.

Michael called us after his first date with Priya. He talked for forty minutes and never told us where they ate. We didn't have to ask how it went.

Priya, we've been waiting to say this since that phone call. Welcome to our family.

Please raise your glasses. To Michael and Priya.

A few people would like to say something tonight. First, Priya's friend Jess.

Hosting as the groom's father or mother? The father of the groom and mother of the groom speech examples each open with a longer rehearsal dinner speech.

2. From a bridesmaid

Zola says the next speeches come from anyone in the wedding party who isn't speaking at the reception. That usually leaves out the maid of honor, the best man and the bride's parents, who speak tomorrow. This one is from a bridesmaid. A groomsman can use the same beats.

Hi everyone, I'm Jess. Priya and I met on our first day of nursing school, and we've been studying, working and eating together ever since.

Carol and Jim, thank you for tonight.

Priya keeps a note on her phone of every food the people she loves have ever said they like. When I had my wisdom teeth out, she showed up with a soup I'd mentioned once at a food truck two years earlier. She'd written it down.

The first time Michael came to game night, he brought my favorite chips. I'd never told him what they were. Priya had, and he'd listened.

Michael, she's been looking after all of us for years. I'm so glad she has someone who looks after her.

Please join me in raising a glass to Priya and Michael.

3. Funny, from a sibling

Zola calls the rehearsal dinner the time for roasts instead of toasts, if the night has room for some lighthearted fun. Keep the jokes on a harmless habit, let your sibling come out of it looking good and turn sincere before the toast. If you're not sure a story is OK to tell, ask them first.

Hi, everyone. I'm Dana, Michael's big sister. I've known him longer than anyone here except Mom and Dad, and they've asked me to keep some of it to myself.

Here's what I can tell you. Michael has read the instructions for everything he's ever owned. Every lamp, every bookshelf, every toaster. He once read the manual for a flashlight. It had one button.

When he told me he was going to propose, he had a binder. It had tabs, a plan for rain and a plan for if the rain plan fell through. Priya, remember the person hiding behind the hedge with an umbrella? That was me. I was the backup plan.

Michael, you've never winged anything in your life. But the night you met Priya, you called me and said, "I don't have a plan for this one." I knew right then.

Please raise your glasses. To Michael and Priya.

Most of the jokes are about one harmless habit, and Michael still comes out of it well: she said yes. The last story turns that habit into the sincere line before the toast.

4. Short, for an open mic

Zola suggests letting grandparents say a few words if they're up to it. On an open mic, short works best. This one is under 60 words, less than a minute with pauses.

Good evening. I'm Asha, Priya's grandmother. I'll be quick, because there's still dessert.

Michael, the first time you came to my house for dinner, you had seconds. Then you asked for the recipe. You still send me a photo whenever you make it.

You're family now. To Priya and Michael.

5. A thank-you from the couple

Zola calls the rehearsal dinner probably the best time for the couple to thank everyone for the time, money and support they've given. It's also when couples usually hand out gifts to the wedding party. Here the couple goes last, so their thank-yous close the speeches. Split the lines between you and practice the handoffs out loud.

Michael: We'll keep this short, because everyone here has already given us so much of their time.

Priya: Carol and Jim, thank you for tonight, and for making me feel at home from the very first dinner. Mom and Dad, thank you for planning tomorrow with them, and for never once telling me what to wear.

Michael: To everyone who traveled, thank you. Uncle Dev landed at two and came straight to the rehearsal.

Priya: To our wedding party: you planned a shower, answered texts at midnight and learned a dance you never asked to learn. There's a small gift at each of your seats. We can't wait for you to open them.

Michael: Tomorrow's the big day. Tonight we just want to thank the people who got us here.

Priya: Please raise your glasses.

Michael: To our families and our friends.

Giving the reception toast together too? Example 5 in the groom speech examples splits a reception speech between the two of you.

Who gives a speech at the rehearsal dinner?

Zola gives the usual order:

The host gives the first speech and toast. For a bride and groom, that's traditionally the groom's father.
Next, anyone in the wedding party who isn't speaking at the reception.
Then other friends, family and members of the wedding party, if the couple opens the mic.

For two brides or two grooms, the same host-first order works.

The groom's mother can give the first speech too. Zola says it's fine for her to say a few words, and that she can step in when his father has died or is estranged (Zola on the mother of the groom at the rehearsal dinner). The same article explains the tradition: the groom's parents host the rehearsal dinner and the bride's parents host the wedding, so both sets of parents get a turn to speak. Couples who pay for the dinner themselves may decide who speaks.

The maid of honor and the best man usually save their speeches for the reception. Zola says they can still follow the groom's parents with a few stories that didn't make the cut for tomorrow. The couple can speak too, and the choice of an open mic is theirs.

Rehearsal dinner speech vs. wedding speech

Zola says a rehearsal dinner speech follows a template like a reception speech's. The room is different:

It's smaller. Zola's etiquette guide lists who's usually invited: both immediate families, the wedding party, close relatives like grandparents, and close friends and people with a role in the ceremony, such as godparents, readers or the officiant. Some couples invite every out-of-town guest, or everyone (Zola's rehearsal dinner etiquette).
It's less formal. Zola says a speech can be prepared ahead of time or given on the spot.
Inside jokes can work. Zola says the people there know the couple best, so they'll get the joke about who's always late. If the couple invited the whole guest list, cut any joke half the room would need explained.
It has room for a roast, as in example 3.
Different people speak. Friends and family who won't speak tomorrow get their turn.
There may be no microphone. "How to give it" below covers that.

Speaking at both? Save your main story for the reception, and bring one of the stories that didn't make the cut.

How long should a rehearsal dinner speech be?

Ask the hosts how long you have. Zola's writing guide says the host's speech is the longest and should still stay under 10 minutes. It gives the wedding party under seven and everyone else under five. Zola's article on the groom's mother uses a simpler rule: 10 minutes for the hosts and five or less for everyone else. The guide also quotes a speechwriter, Katelyn's Wedding Words: all the speeches together shouldn't go past 20 minutes. With four speakers, that's about five minutes each. You'll rarely need that long: each example above takes under two minutes.

Time yours by standing up and saying it out loud, so the count includes your pauses. If it runs long, cut a whole story rather than a few lines from each.

What to leave out

Exes. Zola says that besides them, not much is off-limits at a rehearsal dinner.
A story your person wouldn't want told. Zola says most people will forgive minor antics if the story shows them in a good light, but ask them before you tell it.
The story someone is saving for tomorrow. Ask the maid of honor and the best man what they're telling at the reception.
What anything cost, the dinner included.
Wedding night jokes. The grandparents are at the next table.
A long poem or quote to finish. Zola says to skip it and end with a simple toast.
Someone who has died, unless you've asked the couple first. Some couples want a moment for them, and some would rather keep the night light.

How to give it

If someone is introducing the speakers, let them introduce you. If nobody is, Zola suggests a short introduction of your own before you start.
Put your glass down while you talk. Zola says it's a distraction, and hard to juggle with notes or a mic. Pick it back up for the toast. Water is fine.
Keep your notes on a card or your phone, and look up every few lines, as Zola suggests. On a phone, turn on Do Not Disturb so a text doesn't light it up in the middle of your story.
There may be no microphone. Stand where the back tables can see you and wait for the room to go quiet. Keep your voice up to the end of each sentence, since that's where the names and the punchlines land.
After a joke, wait for the laugh to finish before your next line.
If your voice catches, stop and take a breath. Then start the next beat.
For the toast, lift your glass and end on whoever you're toasting. If you're hosting, introduce the next speaker once everyone has had a sip. Zola's simple version: "Everyone, please join me in raising a glass to the wonderful couple."

For a day-by-day rehearsal plan, see how to practice your wedding speech. Asked to say a few words with no warning? See how to answer on the spot.

Rehearse your speech with an AI coach in Charisma Lab

Charisma Lab is a speaking coach on your iPhone. In Speak, tap the center and tell the coach you're practicing a rehearsal dinner speech. Say it out loud one chunk at a time, like the welcome, the story or the toast. A pause of about two seconds ends a take, so end each chunk where you'd wait for a laugh. You hear the take played back, then the coach tells you what to fix and sends you back in.

If there won't be a microphone, open Voice Cam on the home screen and record your speech, with the camera or audio only. Each recording runs up to a minute, so record it in parts. As you talk, it shows your volume, pitch and pauses, plus an estimate of your pace in words per minute. Check that your volume holds up to the last word of each sentence. Setup is free and includes a short live session with the coach. After that, the app needs Pro, which is $14.99 a month in the US. See pricing.

Get the app

FAQ

Who gives a speech at the rehearsal dinner?

The host goes first, and that's traditionally the groom's parents. Then anyone in the wedding party who isn't speaking at the reception, then other family and friends if the couple opens the mic. The couple can speak too.

Who speaks first at the rehearsal dinner?

The host. For a bride and groom, Zola says that's traditionally the groom's father, and his mother can give it too. If the couple hosts, they open the night.

Does the groom give a speech at the rehearsal dinner?

He can, alone or with his partner. Zola calls the rehearsal dinner probably the best time for the couple to thank everyone who helped. Example 5 above shows a toast the two of them share.

What do you say in a rehearsal dinner speech?

Say who you are and how you know the couple, and thank the hosts. Tell one story about your person, turn to their partner and give the toast. The template above has a line for each.

How long should a rehearsal dinner speech be?

Zola gives the host up to 10 minutes and most other speakers five or less, and its writing guide allows the wedding party up to seven. Each example above takes under two. Ask the hosts which limit to follow, and time yours by saying it out loud.

Is a rehearsal dinner speech different from a wedding speech?

It has the same shape, for a smaller, closer room. It can be less formal, with inside jokes or a gentle roast, and people who won't speak at the reception get their turn.

Can the maid of honor or best man speak at the rehearsal dinner?

Yes. They usually save their main speech for the reception, but Zola says they can follow the groom's parents with stories that didn't make the cut for tomorrow.

Can a rehearsal dinner speech be a roast?

Zola calls the rehearsal dinner the time for roasts instead of toasts, if there's room for some fun. Keep it to harmless habits, check with your person first and end on something sincere, as in example 3.

Should I give a speech if nobody asked me to?

Only if the couple has opened the mic. Zola's advice for guests who speak: keep it short, sweet and appropriate. When in doubt, save it for a private word with the couple.

How do you end a rehearsal dinner toast?

Ask everyone to raise a glass and name whoever you're toasting. Zola suggests "Everyone, please join me in raising a glass to the wonderful couple," and no long quote. How to end a speech has more on toasts.

More practice guides

Updated November 2, 2026.