Family

I spent the week planning my eldest daughter's 30th birthday party. The list of invitees kept growing and I realised how much my extended family has grown in the time since my daughter's birth. New relatives in the mix of boyfriends and girlfriends becoming husbands and wive, new in laws, additional nephew's and neices, new friends, and new friends of old friends and I still haven't got any grandchildren yet (one on the way though). After recently losing my mother it was comforting to know that the legacy that she and my father started in the form of family is still growing and they are remembered every day for the part they played in the creation of our family.

Family is important, especially now in the recession, as we worry about paying bills and keeping our jobs or finding new jobs to replace old ones it is to our foundations we must look to find solace and warmth. I want to thank my family from the bottom of my heart for just being there and for being part of my life.

Wedding Speeches - How to Make a Good One.

I attended the wedding of my neice on Saturday and it was lovely, beautiful bride, handsome groom, great food, wine flowing and fantastic speeches. My nephew gave away the bride, his sister and was given the task of making a speech. He had obviously prepared well and included a mixture sadness, memories and laughter. Upon reflection today I considered other weddings I have attended where speeches haven't been so good, I can recall bridgrooms, bestmen and father of brides crumbling under the weight of the task. Most people detest public speaking and in polls it has come out more stressful than the thought of dying. Pretty drastic eh!, so I thought I would put some suggestions in this blog for would be wedding speech makers.

• Do a mind map of all the key points, remember its a wedding speech not a seminar
• Choose a funny story for the beginning
• Thank the bridesmaids, mother of bride and groom etc.,
• Remember to thank the guests
• Don't stress most people will expect you to be nervous
• Have some prompt cards prepared with the key points
• Keep it brief, keep it simple, and keep it clean!
• Most of all enjoy!

It would be useful to rehearse the speech in front of a mirror a couple of times. If you are very nervous you could always visit a life coach or seek some similar support to help you cope with nerves. Neuro Linguistic Programming provides excellent tools to help with pre-speech nerves.