Are you having speeches before or after meal??

After - they should be funnier when everyone is suitably sloshed!

Before. Get them out of the way and make sure the speakers can stomach their dinner!

We had ours after... we were starving!

they weren't very long though

Haha already one answer of each! guess it does come down to preference.... now i'm not sure!

We haven't decided yet, but I quite like it when the speeches are split between the courses. e.g. FOB before the starter, Groom between starter and main and BM during dessert? Means that the guests don't go hungry so can have their starter, at least, but the speakers don't have to wait throughout the whole meal.

Check this with the venue though, as ours won't let us split up the starter and main, just in case the speeches run on and the food is ruined.

AFTER!

We've rearranged our day so the wedding breakfast is little more than a meal, then our evening guests arrive at 5.30pm for 6pm and then we will have the speeches and cake cutting for everyone to enjoy before the first dance at 7.30pm.

We feel the speeches are very important, so it made sense to us to give everyone every opportunity to enjoy them. Some think they're too long but people only get bored during speeches when speeches are boring, which of course ours won't be.

Before. Our guests will be there at the reception, but not the actual wedding ceremony. Therefore we needed some way of ensuring people turn up on time, and set the scene for a relatively traditional reception, but also of getting the formalities out of the way.

We're asking people to arrive 5pm onwards and welcome them with drinks. Then kick off the evening with speeches (which double as a welcome), toasts, and cake cutting. After that we'll have the hog roast buffet, then the ceilidh. I didn't want to interrupt a fun evening with speeches later, plus once the formalities (requested by J since it will be his first marriage) are over, people can party!

Good point Mrs C about being starving! I think we'll keep them after for this point alone actually....

We're having ours before the meal. OH is TERRIFIED of doing one so he wants to get it out of the way and enjoy his meal! x

After for us... were at a wedding recently where speeches were before and EVERYONE was starving... no bread rolls left on any tables by the time they started serving the starters and I was ready to start knawing on my arm!

After.

We are having ours after due to the hunger reason! We have a fair few guests that will more than likely get grouchy if not fed! ?

OH has insisted on after so he can have a few beers and relax first...

For those of you who have said after, did you have canapes?

We got married at 3.15 and had the meal at 5.30 so no need for canapes.

I was wondering since we're getting married at 1 and having canapes, whether this would prevent too much hunger before the meal? Therefore could squidge in speeches?

We are having ours after the meal, we don't want people getting too hungry!

We are having ours before x

we want to make the food a little later as we are having the casino coming early so we would prefer to be eating whilst casino setting up not having speeches whilst people were wondering what was happening x

We're having ours after x

My OH and Dad want to get them out of the way so they can enjoy the meal without it worrying them.

I'm absolutely fine with this its their choice and they won't go on too long, I'll be honoured if they had a few lines each haha X

We get married at 2.30pm and have the meal at 5pm and are still having canapes...and are STILL having the speeches after the meal in case I the guests get hungry.

Neither!

As we are getting married at 12.30, by the time we get to the reception venue, have an hour drinks reception it will be 2/2.30. We are having fish and chips delivered for the meal, so these will be placed in the guests places while we are drinking, then we will eat. We will then have the speeches, before everyone can go and help themselves to the cake table.

So inbetween the main meal and the pud!

Bx

Before for us. H2B wants to get it over and done with so he can enjoy his meal

Not sure I get the 'guests going hungry' objection. We decided meal times and are eating then. We will seat guests earlier than these planned times to have the speeches. So guests that are hungry would be hungry anyway

I guess the difference is between sit / eat, and sit / listen to 40 minutes of speeches / eat.

People are going to be hungry regardless, as you say, I guess it's just whether waiting a bit longer is a problem - but then again, when you're a guest you go along with the host's plans and be polite about it anyway.

Really? But then your timings will be thrown out for the evening guests' arrival won't they? We are planning to be sat in the wedding breakfast room with just the day guests between 5pm and 7.30pm for food and speeches. If we decided to do speeches before the meal we would just eat from 6pm(ish) until 7.30pm, whereas if we have the speeches afterwards we will eat from 5pm-6.30pm and then the speeches will begin. Otherwise if we simply started the speeches at 4pm, we would be all done and dusted by 6.30pm with an hour to go until the evening guests arrived.

Before. OH isn't bothered about giving a speech, but my dad is quite shy and is really worrying about it. OH suggested we did the speeches first so Dad could relax and enjoy his meal after he'd given his speech.

We're giving our guests canapés so they shouldn't be so hungry that they want to eat the table.

We're having my dad and OH before the meal and the two best men after the meal. Like others we are having canapes and our food will be about 3pm so not too late.

Right, this is doing my head in now so apologies if this reply is uber-defensive.

Given that you have zero idea what our timings are or how our day is planned, I find your comments bizarre, to say the least. Timings thrown out? Or do you simply intend to highlight that our timings are DIFFERENT to yours? And therefore BAD? Also, I'm not sure an hour between dinner end and evening guest arrival is inappropriate ?

We have made plenty of provision to ensure our guests do not go hungry and we are providing, compared to many descriptions, a lot more opportunities to snack/eat than others. I am completely unworried about the obligatory whinger who moans about being hungry. S/he will moan about being hungry, regardless of how often you feed her/him.

After planning the timing of the three main chunks of the day - ceremony/dinner/evening dooooo - we identified two gaps where we could do speeches 1. in between ceremony and dinner, 2. in between dinner and evening do. Our first choice was that we do speeches outside during the drinks reception between ceremony/dinner, very informal and laid-back. The venue queried the acoustics, we agreed, and therefore decided to ship people inside for speeches at this time. If they are inside, they may as well be sitting down, therefore speeches before dinner.

My Dad and OH are before and the best man is after.

WSS

We're having an hour between the end of the wedding breakfast and the evening do. It's actually traditional to do this, although that's not why we're doing it. I wanted a chance to relax a bit ready to greet my evening guests, rather than have them arriving while we're still eating.