• Dates – how long have the bride & groom been together, how long have the wedding couple known each other?
• Get some background info on the groom. Although your speech is about the bride, you must acknowledge the groom.
• Be sure to talk about what they want from life and their relationship.

• A funny story. This is a must do with any speech. But there are a few rules you must obey. Firstly, ex-boyfriends are out of bounds. Try to make the story between 150 and 300 words. Any less than this, and the story will be too vague, anymore and it runs the risk of being too long and dragging to the extent of boredom. Finally, the story has to be real, if you make it up, the bride and those who know her will find out, which could lead to a tricky situation.
• What is your friend like as a friend, as a partner to her groom, and as a woman? For example, is she a hard worker, romantic etc.
• The final two things you need to write are these. What has she achieved in her life. And secondly how do you want to see her in a year’s time? Kids, a promotion at work, things like that.
  After you have got all this information follow the guide-lined layout, inserting your information, your speech will be close to completion. After you have finished writing in your information, give it to a friend to read. Watch them read it. It is harder to laugh while reading funny material so if they laugh, you have cracked it. If they like it, you are finished.

• Firstly, introduce yourself and thank all for attending.
• Give up a toast for the pair of parents. And say thank you to them on behalf of the bride and groom.
• The bride and groom as a couple. What they are like together, etc.
• Tell the story of your friend, the funny one. Put real emotion into this to get the best laughs.
• What she is like, and what she has achieved. Love and life.
• The groom. What he is like and what impact he has made on her life.
• The final toast. Just a quick mention to wish them all the best.

• Memorize as best you can. Few people are willing to trust everything to memory. An alternative is to thoroughly familiarize yourself with your speech and then reduce it to a set of brief notes on cue cards. The advantage of this is that your speech will not sound as if it is being read word for word. But if you do decide to read it, nobody will mind.
• Practice, whatever you decide – rehearse it. Then rehearse it again – until you are sick of it. That should be about right.
• Slow Down! What ruins more speeches than anything else is a nervous speaker going too fast. Your audience will be too busy trying to catch what you’re gabbling about that they don’t have time to laugh. Oh dear – no laughs.
• Body Language. Stand up straight and look confident. Even if you are reading, look up and at your audience from time to time. Eye contact makes them feel you are talking to them, and it will help you with your pauses.
• If you expect a laugh – wait for it. If it doesn’t come tell people, they were supposed to laugh and refuse to go on until they do. That will kick start them. Don’t begin again until the laughter has died down – enjoy it. Study professional comedians – you’ll learn a lot.
• Enjoy the interruptions, especially funny ones. They provide thinking time, and hey… people will remember it was your speech that got the laughs; they won’t remember that it wasn’t always your lines.

Lastly, don’t drink too much before speaking. You might think it helps, but your audience won’t.