An advantage of preparing the speech in advance is that you can make sure to include all those people you want to be mentioned without improvising and wasting words. A line for everyone, and you can include 100 people in your speech! Easy isn’t it? It will also give you time to remember long lost friends and companions who you had forgotten had helped you at some point of your life. And what better occasion to remember them than in your wedding day!

Try to keep the speech as sincere and honest as you can. But again not too honest or your words would hurt other people’s emotions. Try and maintain eye contact with guests while you speak. If you are phobic about this issue, try and look above the crowd which will make it seem as if you are making eye contact with everyone. Eye contact is the way you can make your guests feel at home and a part of your big occasion.

Make sure your speech is loud enough to be heard. Don’t speak in a squeaky and barely inaudible voice so that guests have to train their ears hard to catch every single word! It would be a good idea to research a bit before preparing the speech. Check out good quotations, nice humorous jokes that can make the guests laugh. A speech prepared beforehand can definitely stand out in the crowd and make an excellent impression on your guests. So what are you waiting for? Start writing your speech the as early as you can and try to make your mark.

If you have waited all your life to take verbal revenge on someone you hate, your high school rival for instance, or that cousin of yours who had broken your prized Ferrari toy— a wedding speech would probably be a bad idea to achieve that objective! A wedding speech is a perfect opportunity to thank friends, family and all those loved ones who you didn’t get any opportunity to thanks during the normal course of life. You can tell funny anecdotes or maybe recount stories that will bring a smile to everyone’s faces. Wedding speeches should not remind a haughty cousin of his haughtiness, an ‘ugly-betty’ of her ugliness or even your bride of the times she forgot to wish you on your birthday. Avoid rousing memories that can hurt or create negative feelings. It is one day when all hurts and anger are forgotten. A day that marks the beginning of a wonderful life for you and the end of all misery in everyone else’s lives, ideally.

Since most speeches are made at the dinner table, there is plenty of alcohol to be drunk. And when there is plenty of alcohol, there are bound to be some nasty references to past issues, ex-girlfriends, bitter jibes at friends, and even embarrassing revelations about family members. If you are high, the best thing would be to keep shut and let the bride take the centre-stage for you. If you don’t feel upto it, politely let everyone know and step down. You may perhaps ask a friend to recount a funny incident. But try and avoid making a speech yourself when you are tipsy.

A wedding speech should be humorous. It doesn’t need to make the listeners roll on the floor with laughter, but it should bring a pleasant smile on their faces. Conversely, don’t make the speech overtly emotional that you have to mention in your wedding invitation that guests should bring with them tissues! The speech should be a mix of humor and delicate emotion. The right amount of both should be able to make guests dispel the rising lump in their throats with healthy infectious laughter. And don’t miss out on the romance bit. You may want to recount some wonderful moments you had spent with your bride while you were dating her in college, but steer clear of the intimate details of course. Just so that a casual sideways glance at her is enough to make her blush and smile and not fume with anger at having left nothing to the guests’ imaginations about a passionate night you spent in the car when it stopped suddenly on the highway!

Avoid teasing your bride too much too. A little casual leg-pulling can be fine. But don’t cross the limit of course. Or she’ll get back at you with her carefully prepared speeches… Be funny but still nice, as you really are. And always try to find the golden path with the wording of your speech, so that the bride and everyone else would be happy and cheer you. Just say it with the best of words on your special day.

It is always a good idea to prepare and rehearse your speech before your big day. You don’t want to stand up and start looking for words and punctuate your fumbling with those “er…”s and “umm…”s. On the other hand, over preparation may make the speech sound like a dialogue learned by heart rambling out of your head without emotion. The best way would be to note down some points on a piece of paper just before the wedding day. And on the wedding day itself, start off with a killer line! And then try and recall what you wrote down on the piece of paper. Elaborate on them and tick them off one by one in your head. Make sure the speech is not longer than 10 minutes though. The guests are waiting to go for the delicious dishes arranged so delectably in front of them. They’d probably be attentive only for the first 10 minutes so make sure that you wrap up your speech within that time.

While preparing the speech in advance it is always a good idea to consult your bride-to-be on what to include in it. You two may have common friends or a friend or cousin of hers may have helped you at some point. You would want to mention his or her name in your speech as well. Consulting your bride-to-be would also help you re-jig your memory. Was it John Smith or John Smithson, the professor who made you pass without attending a single class in the university? Ask your bride-to-be. She’d help you remember.