Sample wedding speech for a laowai?

[vellocet]

I'm getting married in 2 weeks and was just yesterday informed I will have to do a short speech in English and Chinese.  Does anyone have a suggested speech in Mandarin for me to use as a template?  I'll write my own English speech and it's not necessary to be the same as the Chinese speech.  I am primarily interested in looking good in front of the wedding guests, as they are not wife's friends & family but instead all the managers and big boss of her company.  I have to be sober and serious, and give them something they expect to get. It's all about looking good in their eyes.  I've looked on previous discussions on this site but the linked speeches are all trying to be funny, or so obtuse in Chinese culture as to be unsuitable for a laowai to speak.  If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!  I have a million things to do, and the wedding is approaching fast!  

[abcdefg]

Congratulations!

[Xiao Kui]

You got 2 whole weeks notice about giving a speech in China?! That is probably a record for advanced notice in Chinese culture!! ? I think the earliest I've ever been informed about giving an upcoming speech was the night before...

 

Congratulations! I have no advice except to speak from the heart.  ?

[somethingfunny]

Have you been to a Chinese wedding before?  As long as you name-drop the important people from her company who are present and shout the entire thing very loudly then it should go down well.

 

Also, if you have a "host" for your wedding (likely from the outside company who is doing all the decorating, lights, etc.) then you should check with them about when the speech will be, and how long it will last.  I once attended a wedding where the best man gave a speech and despite having arranged a translator for him, they hadn't really discussed anything else.  I remember standing at the side of the stage and the host turning round and commenting disapprovingly to the other organisers about how long the speech was taking - and this was after about only five minutes.  

 

It seems odd that you have to speak in both English and Chinese.  I'd have thought English with a translator, or just straight Chinese would be more appropriate.

 

Anyway, congratulations! (Let us know how it goes).

[Jim]

I'd have thought effusive thanks for the 大力支持 of the people she needs to keep sweet and some general sucking up should cover it (regardless of whether there's actually been any, of course). I've tried cracking jokes before but it's a bit of a minefield. Short, sweet and obsequious.

[vellocet]

Hmm...any templates or suggested speeches I can crib from?  

[Jim]

Just did a search using the terms 喜酒 新郎 致辞 and it turned up several pages, should expect they've all been used a fair few times though! Example links below:

https://brides.pclady.com.cn/94/942326.html

 

http://www.wed114.cn/wiki/bentry_95.html

 

https://wenku.baidu.com/view/227e3abe01f69e314232944c.html

 

Must confess been too lazy to do anything but skim them but suspect they'll be aimed at a native groom so I'd grab a few sentences and cobble something simpler together.

[imron]

2 hours ago, vellocet said:

Hmm...any templates or suggested speeches I can crib from?  

What's the Chinese for "ladles and jelly-spoons"?

[Lu]

11 hours ago, vellocet said:

I am primarily interested in looking good in front of the wedding guests, as they are not wife's friends & family but instead all the managers and big boss of her company.

In that case I suggest asking your soon-to-be wife for advice. Assuming she is Chinese, she will likely have more Chinese wedding experience than you, and she will have a better idea than anyone else what her managers and big boss would expect to hear. Also she probably has the most at stake here.

 

Good luck and congratulations!

[Flickserve]

Congratulations. 

 

A bit off topic but are you doing the flying veil thing? 

[vellocet]

13 hours ago, Lu said:

In that case I suggest asking your soon-to-be wife for advice. Assuming she is Chinese, she will likely have more Chinese wedding experience than you, and she will have a better idea than anyone else what her managers and big boss would expect to hear. Also she probably has the most at stake here.

I did.  She told me she doesn't know what to say so I should write it myself.  Even though I wrote every word of the English speech she's going to say.

 

15 hours ago, imron said:

What's the Chinese for "ladles and jelly-spoons"?

I'm lost here.  

[Lu]

1 minute ago, vellocet said:

I did.  She told me she doesn't know what to say so I should write it myself.

God I'm so tempted to advise you to also be real passive-agressive about this. 'I don't know either! What do you think? I don't know! I just... What do you think?' until she actually finds (or contributes to) some kind of solution. Perhaps she has a colleague who has more of a clue. Perhaps her dad knows. Whatever. This is much easier for her to solve than for you. And you just know that people (possibly including her) will criticise you if you do get it wrong.

[somethingfunny]

I wouldn't overthink it, or get too stressed about it.  You're not trying to make people cry.

 

1. Thank her parents.

2. Thank her boss/bosses (by name).

3. Thank everyone else for coming.

4. Something about how great your life is after having met your wife and how you look forward to the rest of your life together (with children).

5. Something self-deprecating about your Chinese.

 

Then on to the eating and drinking, a.k.a. the important part.

[somethingfunny]

And once you've written it, I'd show it to your wife.  She might not be able to help you write it, but she should be able to tell you if what you're planning on saying is not appropriate.

[Luxi]

Congratulations！  

Weddings being such a big thing, there must be loads of online templates on the web. Search Baidu:

新郎婚礼发言
新郎婚礼讲话
新郎婚礼演讲
新郎婚礼讲话模板
 

This one seems quite good for inspiration, though you may want to search further on as this one is on page 1 of the search and may have been used several thousands of times:

http://www.99wed.com/gonglue/view_64757_1.html

 

[imron]

5 hours ago, vellocet said:

I'm lost here. 

I was just making a joke.  You asked for speeches to crib from - that's the start of a nonsense speech for kids..

 

Ladles and Jellyspoons,

I come before you, to stand behind you,
To tell you something I know nothing about.
Next Thursday, which is Good Friday,
There will be a mothers' meeting for fathers only.
Admission is free, pay at the door,
Pull up a seat and sit on the floor.
We will be discussing the four corners of the round table.

 

 

 

 

[imron]

7 hours ago, Lu said:

God I'm so tempted to advise you to also be real passive-agressive about this.

Doesn't sound like a great way to start a marriage...

[Zbigniew]

On 7/30/2018 at 9:33 AM, vellocet said:

I am primarily interested in looking good in front of the wedding guests... It's all about looking good in their eyes. 

Why? It's difficult to understand why anyone would have this as their priority on a day of solemn commitment to someone they're madly in love with.

 

Can't you use your speech to explain why you've chosen to marry who you have, what wonderful qualities she has as a person, and how privileged you feel to be marrying her? Anecdotes from your relationship so far illustrating her qualities and your attempts at grappling with a foreign language and culture is one way of introducing pathos and humour and of discreetly thanking the people who deserve thanks for helping you get where you've got in life.

 

 

[somethingfunny]

9 minutes ago, Zbigniew said:

It's difficult to understand why anyone would have this as their priority on a day of solemn commitment to someone they're madly in love with.

Have you been to a Chinese wedding?

 

9 minutes ago, Zbigniew said:

discreetly thanking the people who deserve thanks

Have you been to China?

 

Seriously though, I agree with your advice @Zbigniew, but only if this was a Western wedding.  My favourite thing about weddings in the UK is always the speeches, and the best ones are just as you describe.  But unless the OP is having some massively unconventional Chinese wedding, most people are there to show their face, repay a 红包 and eat until they feel like sleeping.

 

If I was the OP, I'd save the more meaningful conversations for when toasting with individual tables, or having a private close-family dinner later on in the day (or maybe the night before).

[imron]

1 hour ago, somethingfunny said:

show their face, repay a 红包 and eat until they feel like sleeping.

This is very accurate, except the part where you left out all the drinking.