Toasting: Analyze Your Audience

Before you even start putting together your toast, you should consider who will be in the audience. Is this a wedding for all ages? An intimate family gathering? A raucous bachelor party? To find the right tone, keep the following in mind:

Age of the Guests:

Does the guest list vary widely in age, or did they all grow up in the same era? A joke about your friend's New Kids on the Block obsession can go over the heads of the elderly guests in attendance.

Sophistication of the Guests:

Are you speaking to a literary crowd, or your family from a small town? Tailor your toast to the experiences and tastes of the people in attendance to avoid alienating the crowd.