Writing the Perfect wedding speech or Wedding toast
If you're not feeling creative, there are a lot of ways to come
up with a great speech or toast, so don't feel like you're under
too much pressure.
Yet.
When stealing is good
Before we go into advice on speeches, the best thing that you
can do is to get started on it early. Although these techniques
and tips will work in the last few weeks leading up to the
wedding, you really need to practice to make it look good.
Back to the advice, you don't have to write your speech in order
to give one. You can search the Internet for other people's
speeches and selectively borrow from them. Although some English
scholars and copyright authors would squabble over
plagiarism--you're not using this to make money, so you should
be fine. If you fear that someone is going to arrest you, then
quote the whole speech, giving the true author's name.
What's good about looking through other speeches is that you may
just end up personalizing them anyways and coming up with your
own ideas. That's how you write a good speech.
Getting ideas
A lot of writing speeches and toasts is from listening to other
ones. Talk to the person-who-you-are-toasting's friends and
family to see if there are any stories that would make a good
toast. You'd be surprised at some of the things that you can
find out. Of course, the really embarrassing ones should be
saved for bachelor or bachelorette parties.
You may also want to find a poem that relates to them and read
that aloud. Poems are always good emotional material. Try to
find ones that speak of married love, rather than the newness of
love. This will demonstrate your faith in their new marriage,
rather than concentrating on the courtship.
And don't feel that you have to be stuck in finding something
that's overly emotional. You can find something funny and have
the whole reception hall laughing. Humor is tricky though
because it can go south in a blink of an eye. Keep it clean, and
you're usually fine.
The key to a great wedding toast or speech is the honesty with
which you deliver it. A lot of times, it isn't the words that
are moving, but the emotion that drives the toast or the speech.
Be yourself and be true to the couple, and you're sure to be
appreciated.