The ceremony is over, pictures have been taken, and the reception is in full swing, making it time for wedding toasts! While wedding toasts are super common, there are some rules and wedding toast etiquette that can really make the difference between an uncomfortable speech a terrific wedding toast!

We’ve scoured the web (and heard our own fair share of toasts over the years!) and we’ve compiled the six most important rules of wedding toast etiquette to ensure your toasts go off without a hitch!

1. Be Brief & to the Point

No one wants to listen to someone ramble on and on and on during their wedding toast. We once listened to a father of the bride talk for 20 minutes without a single clear point to his story! It was awkward to say the least, and left the audience feeling uncomfortable and very much past the point of listening.

When you’re giving your toast, be brief and to the point. That doesn’t mean you can’t tell stories or fun anecdotes, but make sure you’re only including the important details and you keep the toast moving. We’ve found that anything over 5-7 minutes is going to cause the listeners to lose interest.

2. Get & Keep the Crowd’s Attention

Whether you simply stand up and start speaking or clink your glass, make sure you get the crowd’s attention and that you keep their attention with a funny anecdote, a heart-warming story, or an inspirational quote. And keep in mind rule #1 to keep their attention!

3. Rehearse

Completely winging your wedding toast may sound appealing to some but we promise you, it’s worth running through what you want to say a few times before your big moment. Whether you write it down or not is up to you, but you’ll feel a lot more comfortable and confident speaking in front of a crowd if you’ve rehearsed your toast a couple of times beforehand.

Rehearsal will help make sure it goes smoothly and give you a chance to think about any details that you want to remove to keep it brief and to the point (rule #1) and make sure you’re able to keep the audience’s attention (rule #2).

4. Always Raise a Glass (Even If You Don’t Drink)

Just because you’re making a toast doesn’t mean your glass has to be full of champagne! We’ve heard from people that don’t drink alcohol they can feel uncomfortable during toasts because they don’t know what the right etiquette is for them to have. Experts agree, as long as you’re raising a glass you are ay-okay! Whether it’s full of champagne, water, soda, or something else, just make sure you have a glass to raise and you’re participating. Not raising a glass at all may come across as rude.

5. Let the Host Toast First

Give the host a chance to make a toast and thank everyone for coming to the wedding before taking your opportunity to make a toast. It’s also wise to let family and the bridal party make their toasts before making one, if you’re not part of the wedding party or a family member.

It’s also advisable to let the couple or the wedding coordinator know ahead of time that you’d like to make a toast so they can plan for you to do so and transitions are smoother.

6. Don’t Drink Too Much

This rule maybe goes without saying, but when some people are nervous they overcompensate with a little too much inebriation. While it’s fine to calm your nerves with a glass of champagne or a drink before your toast, make sure you’re not knocking back too many cocktails or doing shots with your buddies before your toast.

Having a little too much to drink may make the toast-giver slur their words or be hard to understand, give too many details and get off track, or worst case scenario, embarrass themselves or the newlyweds. Nobody wants that! Save the celebrating til after you make your toast.