Words tool · Free to use
Wedding speech and toast timer
Pick who is speaking, paste your words, and see how long they take to say at a pace you can change. Compare two drafts, practice with a stopwatch, and print cue cards or a reading copy.
How long does a wedding speech take to say?
Divide the number of words by your speaking pace. At 130 words a minute, an assumed pace for reading aloud a little nervously, 260 words take about two minutes and 650 take about five. Your own pace decides it, so the timer lets you change the figure or measure it by reading your draft aloud.
How long it takes to say
Type or paste your words, and the time to say them shows here.
Practice with the stopwatch
0:00
The calculation, in plain sight
- Words = the words in your draft. A / you type to mark a pause is not a word.
- Speaking time = words ÷ your pace × 60 seconds.
- Pauses = the number of / marks × the seconds you set for each.
- Total = speaking time + pauses, to the nearest second.
- Against your aim = total − aim. At your pace, that difference is about (difference ÷ 60) × pace words.
How this is calculated, beside the other free tools
Illustrative example — not a customer result
For the labeled example, take a hypothetical 520-word toast. At 130 words a minute it takes 4 min 00 sec. At a measured 150 words a minute it takes 3 min 28 sec. With 12 pauses of one second each marked with /, it takes 3 min 40 sec at 150 words a minute.
Where this stops
The timer counts words and divides by a pace. It does not hear you, so a laugh that runs long, a story you add on the night or a microphone that needs adjusting is not in the figure. Leave room inside your aim for those.
It writes nothing for you. The structure is an order to say things in, and the questions are for you to answer in your own words. Read aloud only words you have the right to use: your own, a text in the public domain, or one the author has given you permission to read.
Common questions
How long should a wedding toast or speech be?
As long as the couple or the person running the evening asked for. If nobody has said, ask them, and put that length in the timer as your aim. The timer shows how far over or under your draft runs at your pace, and roughly how many words that is.
How many words is a five-minute speech?
At 130 words a minute, five minutes is about 650 words. That pace is an assumption for someone reading aloud a little nervously. Your own pace may be faster or slower, so time yourself reading the draft aloud with the stopwatch and put your own number in.
How do I find my speaking pace?
Paste your draft, start the stopwatch, read the whole draft aloud as you will on the day, and stop the watch at the end. The timer divides the words by the minutes and offers that number as your pace. Read it standing up, at the volume you will use in the room.
What do the / marks do?
Type / where you want to pause for breath or for a laugh. The timer does not count a / as a word, and adds the pause length you set for each one. The reading copy prints them large, so you can see where to stop.
Will it write my speech for me?
No. It gives you an order to say things in and questions to answer for yourself, and the words are yours. If you read someone else’s words, such as a poem, use a text you have the right to read aloud.
Is my draft sent anywhere?
Your draft is kept in this browser so it is there when you come back, and Clear the draft removes it. It is sent only if you choose Add this to my free planner.