How long should a wedding speech be?

Most UK wedding sources put a main speech at somewhere between 4 and 9 minutes, depending on who is speaking and how many speeches there are. They do not agree on exact figures, so treat every number below as a range, not a rule.

Length by role

Two UK wedding publishers give figures by role. They overlap but are not the same, and the father of the bride is where they differ most.

Speaker	Bridebook	Country House Weddings
Father of the bride	7 to 9 minutes, ideally no more than 12	5 to 6 minutes
Groom	6 to 8 minutes, no longer than 10	5 to 6 minutes
Best man	Around 5 minutes, a little longer or shorter if you prefer	6 to 7 minutes, definitely not more than 7
Maid of honour	4 to 6 minutes	4 to 5 minutes

A third source, Bredenbury Court, says a best man's speech should run five to eight minutes. So for a best man the published range runs from about 5 to 8 minutes.

Bridebook says the father of the bride's speech is traditionally the longest in the order. Its guidance for the groom is that it can be a little longer than the best man's.

Why the numbers differ

None of these figures is an official rule. Each is one publisher's advice. The practical point is the same in all of them: keep to the shorter end if you are speaking in a long line-up, and treat 10 minutes as the point where an audience starts to switch off. Country House Weddings calls ten minutes the absolute maximum, and Bredenbury Court says anything over ten minutes loses the room.

Work out your slot first

The speakers share a fixed block of time, so your length depends on the running order as much as on your role. Bridebook says the speeches as a whole should take no more than 40 minutes and usually last 20 to 30. Country House Weddings suggests keeping the total under 30 minutes, and says to aim for 3 to 5 minutes if you are part of a larger line-up.

Bridebook's suggestion for dividing the time is to split the total by the number of speakers. Its example is 30 minutes across five speeches, which gives a maximum of 5.5 minutes each with a 30-second break in between. Ask the couple how many speeches there will be before you decide how long yours should be. Our guide to the order of wedding speeches shows who usually speaks.

How to time your speech

Words are only a rough guide, because pauses, laughter and nerves change the pace. Bredenbury Court says five to eight minutes is around 700 to 1,000 words for a best man's speech, but gives no per-minute rate, so the only reliable check is your own voice.

1. Write it early. Country House Weddings advises writing your speech weeks in advance, not days.
2. Read it aloud, standing, and time it. Bredenbury Court recommends doing this three times before the day.
3. Allow for laughs. Bredenbury Court's advice is to pause after every joke, because the laugh is part of the timing.
4. Cut, then cut again. Country House Weddings says to cut the fluff, because guests do not need every detail.
5. Do not run over. Country House Weddings notes that overrunning speeches can delay the wedding breakfast or push back the evening buffet.

If your timed read-through is longer than your slot, cut whole stories rather than rushing. Country House Weddings also warns against speaking too fast. For where to put what inside the time you have, see the simple 3-part structure for a wedding speech. If you are the best man, our five things to remember in a best man's speech is a good next read.

Get a draft that fits your slot

If you would rather start from a draft than a blank page, answer five questions on theweddingspeech.ai and see your free speech preview. Then time it aloud against the ranges above.