Wedding thank you speech from the bride and groom

A couple's thank you speech works best in this order: thank the guests, then the parents, then the wedding party, then each other. Keep it to two or three minutes, name a few people warmly, and finish by raising a glass.

If you want one light line in your thanks, our guide to writing a wedding speech joke shows how. This page is about the thanks themselves.

The order to thank people

1. Guests (20 seconds). Thank everyone for coming, and name anyone who travelled a long way.
2. Parents (40 seconds). Our guide to thanking your parents has more lines. Thank both sets of parents together, including step-parents, and say one specific thing each did.
3. The wedding party (30 seconds). Thank the best man, maid of honour, bridesmaids and ushers, with one line each at most.
4. Anyone who helped (20 seconds). A friend or relative who made, drove, planned or fixed something. Not paid suppliers.
5. Each other (30 seconds). Finish with your partner.
6. The toast (10 seconds). Ask everyone to raise a glass.

If you want lines to adapt for that light moment, try our wedding speech one-liners. Check who else is thanking whom, so you do not repeat what the other speeches cover.

Example lines to adapt

These are original to this page. Replace the brackets with something true.

Guests:

• "Thank you all for being here. Some of you flew, some of you drove for hours, and some of you took a [train] that was, I am told, only mildly delayed."
• "Looking round this room, I can see every chapter of our lives. Thank you for being in them."

Parents:

• "To our parents: you gave us a home, a lot of advice and, to be fair, a few bills. We have taken all three on board. Thank you."
• "[Name's parents], thank you for [specific thing, such as the lifts, the spare room or the Sunday lunches]. We could not have done it without you."

The wedding party:

• "To our wedding party, thank you for the early starts, the late finishes and the group chat, which I am told has more than [a lot of] messages and no actual decisions."
• "[Name], you have been there since [specific moment]. Today you were there again."

Each other:

• "[Partner], thank you for saying yes. I would like to say I planned today perfectly, but the truth is you did, and I turned up."
• "[Partner], you make ordinary days feel like this one."

What to skip

• Paid suppliers and venue staff. A word to them in person on the day is better.
• A list of every person. A long list loses the room; two or three names said with feeling land better.
• Apologies, or jokes about the budget.
• Anything that repeats what the father of the bride or best man has already said.

Delivery

Thanks are easy to rush. Put each group on its own card, with the name you must not forget at the top. The free cue cards tool turns your speech into numbered cards to print or read on a phone, and the free wedding speech timer shows how long you really take. Pause when you say someone's name and look at them.

Splitting it between you

If you are both speaking, decide before the day who thanks whom. A simple split: one of you thanks the guests and the parents, the other thanks the wedding party and the helpers, and you finish together with each other. Say the final toast in unison or take a line each. Rehearse it once out loud so you know where the handover is.

Start your draft

Answer five questions on theweddingspeech.ai about the people you want to thank, and see your free speech preview.