If youre not feeling creative, there are a lot of ways to come up with a great speech or toast, so dont feel like youre 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 dont have to write your speech in order to give one. You can search the Internet for other peoples speeches and selectively borrow from them. Although some English scholars and copyright authors would squabble over plagiarismyoure 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 authors name.

Whats good about looking through other speeches is that you may just end up personalizing them anyways and coming up with your own ideas. Thats 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-toastings friends and family to see if there are any stories that would make a good toast. Youd 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 dont feel that you have to be stuck in finding something thats 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 youre usually fine.

The key to a great wedding toast or speech is the honesty with which you deliver it. A lot of times, it isnt the words that are moving, but the emotion that drives the toast or the speech. Be yourself and be true to the couple, and youre sure to be appreciated.