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After Presenting a Pink Sapphire Heart Shaped Engagement Ring;
Adecule Prepares Himself for a Toast
3 Aug 2007

After Presenting a Pink Sapphire Heart Shaped Engagement Ring; Adecule Prepares Himself for a Toast

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Adecule was happy to go through with his engagement to Rosemond the love of his life. He practically emptied all his savings to get her this gorgeous pink sapphire heart shaped engagement ring. His mind was torn betwen this and some custom engagement rings he saw in San Diego on his last trip down there. Adecule knowing that Rosemond's favorite color is pink, settled on the pink sapphire ring. Ever since the engagement, Adecule could not take his thoughts of the wedding that is planned for Valentines Day, only a few weeks away.

Fear of Public Speaking

Though this was suppose to be a joyous celebration. One aspect of the wedding ceremony keeps Adecule from looking forward to this occation. Rosamond had requested that they have a formal wedding reception. As the Bridegroom Adecule will have to propose or respond to a toast, which makes him very nervous and uncomfortable just thinking about the whole idea. "Imagine me having to speak infront of all the expected 250 to 300 guests". Adecule's greatest fear is public speaking. Stanley his bestman, has invited Adecule numerous times to join him at their weekly toastmasters meeting. Adecule always does find a good reason not to show up at the last moment.

Confront your Fears

As weeks dwindled down to days, Adecule decides to do something about his fear of speaking in public. He finally went with Stanley to their weekly Toastmasters meeting. Luckily for Adecule one of the speaker did a presentation about "Mastering the Toast". This experience speaker gave Adecule a lot more than what he was expecting to get from the meeting.

What is a Toast?

Adecule got a history lesson about a Toast. He learned that the toast originated from the ancient Roman and Greeks who use to drink in honor of their Gods. It was customary for the Romans to brown their bread in fire. When the bread becomes a hard crust they would put these crusts at the bottom of their wine kegs. The Romans extended the "Toast" concept to even honor a person as they drink their wine with bread soaked at the bottom, and hence the term the "toast of the town" evolved. This custom did spread all over Europe. As it spread it took various forms, for instance the English give their toast on bended knee, the Scottsmen stand on chair and the French does it with a bow.

Present Day Toast

Today toast is done for varied occasions like engagement parties, weddings, birthdays celebration. annivesaries and retirement banquet. The toast is given by raising ones glass and touching the glasses of others gathered in the room. Nowadays the beverage does not need to be wine or other alcoholic drinks. Any drink of choice can be used such as tea, water, cofee or juice.

Typical Toast

A typical toast will bestow wishes as well as hopes for good health, happiness and good fortune.. It may be an offer of advice or just a positive thought.An examplemay be "Here's a toast to the family of the bride and bridegroom parents, may you two families develop strong bonds of love, may you live long to see your childrens children. May you all be strong to attend your children's children's weddings. May God bless you all.

A Toast is a Speech

Adecule learned from the toastmaster that a toast is a dignified speech. Every speech must have an opening, a body and a conclusion. The toast can be funny or humorous. A speaker should avoid cliches and should use every effort to be sincere. A good speech should come from the heart. Adecule was glued to the toastmaster's every word, as he pointed out that, "important also is that a good speaker makes hand gestures and uses vocal variety instead of a monotone delivery. A good speaker is courteous and should be sensitive to his or her audience. and should avoid making anyone in the audience feel embarass".

Toasting Etiquette

The toast is usually done after everyone has been served the selected beverage. The speaker can gently tap a glass with spoon to get the audience's attention. Once the speaker captures the attention of the audience, he may open with "ladies and gentlemen, I wish to propose a toast to.......(for example)... to my sweet heart on our special wedding and engagement day..... I ask that you all raise your glasses ...and join me as we drink to honor my lovely Rosemond. At this point everyone will stand except Rosemond who will remain seated. All the guest will follow the lead as the speaker touch glasses gently with people present in the room and make well wishes "May you find a thousand and one reasons to love me ..... ", Afterwards Rosemond can drink and thank everyone.

Success Comes with Practice

Adecule went home armed with knowledge and worked with Stanley his bestman and speech mentor a couple of hours a daily. He soon learned that the more he practiced the better his confidence grew and his speech delivery improved a great deal. By his wedding day Adecule was not scared anymore. He was reasdy and was looking forward to making that speech now. Adecule could not believe tha applauses and the comments his guest made to him after his dynamic and heart rivveted speech. He signed up with the local toastmasters group and never missed a meeting anymore.