Describe a wedding you attended.
A strong long turn names the subject in the first sentence, spends most of the two minutes on the last bullet — the why — and arrives at a prepared final line rather than trailing off.
The question, as the examiner gives it
Describe a wedding you attended.
You should say
- whose wedding it was
- where and when it took place
- what happened
- and explain what you remember most
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 186 words at a natural pace — roughly what 120 seconds holds.
Answer it yourself first
Record your own answer first. A model you have read three times comes out with a flattened rhythm, and examiners are trained to hear exactly that. Read it afterwards for the vocabulary and the shape, not to memorise the sentences.About three years ago I went to the wedding of a cousin I had grown up with, held over two days in a small town about four hours from where we live, in the middle of a heatwave. The ceremony itself was at an hour of the morning that I would describe as unreasonable, and it ran considerably longer than anybody had predicted. What happened, in outline, was a great deal of waiting, then twenty minutes of something genuinely moving, then an enormous lunch for about four hundred people in a marquee that was about ten degrees hotter than outside. There was a power cut during the speeches. What I remember most is not the ceremony but my grandmother, who is eighty-four, refusing to sit down for most of the afternoon because she wanted to see everybody, and who outlasted people forty years younger. Somebody eventually brought her a chair and she used it to sit next to a different person every twenty minutes. The couple are still married and still complain about the power cut, which has become the thing everybody remembers about the day.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- heatwave
compound noun, concrete and specific
- ceremony
four syllables with the stress on the first
- unreasonable
five syllables with the stress on the second
- outline
used in the phrase in outline, which is idiomatic
- marquee
an unusual noun stressed on the second syllable
- refusing
gerund carrying the character detail
- outlasted
a compact verb that does a lot of work
How a strong answer is built
- 1Say whose, where and when in one sentence.
- 2Give the conditions, which colour everything.
- 3Summarise the day in outline, not minute by minute.
- 4Answer the last bullet with a person, not an event.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a wedding you attended.” be?
You get 60 seconds to make notes and then speak for up to two minutes without interruption. Aim to still be talking at ninety seconds: finishing at forty is the commonest way to lose marks on this part.
Should I memorise the model answer?
No. Record your own version first, then read the model for the shape and the vocabulary. A memorised answer changes rhythm and pace noticeably, and examiners are trained to hear it — it usually costs more than the better wording gains.
Does sayit score this answer?
It scores what a microphone can observe: an estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.
What the band on your result means
An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.One question a day until your test
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