speeches

[raspberrytipple]

Hello,
Just some advice please. We are having a registry office ceremony with a small number of people, in total there will be 40 of us at the afternoon reception. We are keeping things casual and having a buffet afternoon lunch at about 5.30 p.m. I'm just wondering how to do the speeches. It might be a bit difficult if everyone is stood around or sat in different places. We weren't going to do speeches but my dad and the best man have both said they would like to and DP would like to do the usual thank yous. any ideas on how to approach?

We went to a wedding recently where I thought this was very well handled. They did have a sit-down meal but did the speeches towards the milling-around-with-drinks bit before dinner; there was a sort of platform (really just a big step) in one corner of the room and the person making a speech just stood up on that to deliver the speech and then handed over to the next person who in turn stepped up onto the platform. It seemed a lot less formal than most wedding speeches.