Cut the years you do not have time to narrate
You do not get a last minute maid of honor speech by shrinking a five minute one. You get it by keeping the one scene only you have and deleting the childhood montage. Two minutes. Then sit down while you can still see the page.
Her mother, if she speaks, owns the early years. You own a later room: the flat, the job, the week that went wrong. Stay in that room.
Name him once, warmly. Then stop adding paragraphs. Every extra paragraph tonight is a paragraph you will not have practised.
How it works
0-10 min: one scene from your era of her life
Not her whole biography. The radiator, the night she called, the sentence she said when she met him.
10-20 min: generate at two minutes
Leave the length alone. If you cry, a short speech is the one you can still finish.
20-40 min: read it out loud
The sincere line is where you will catch. Practise that sentence until it comes out in one breath.
40-50 min: cards, then sleep if you can
You need a voice more than you need a fourth adjective.
What the output sounds like
"I am not going to start at the beginning. We do not have that kind of time, and you already know how we met."
"James, you are not an addendum. You are the reason this toast has a second person in it."
Questions people actually ask
- Can I write this the night before?
- Yes. Keep it to one scene and two minutes. The outline and opening are free.
- What if I cry?
- Expected. A shorter speech gives you fewer places to lose the sentence. Put the hardest line earlier than you think.
- Do I mention the groom?
- Once, by name, warmly. Then return to her, or the toast.
- Is it free?
- Outline and opening free, no card. Full speech $29 once.
Would rather write it yourself?
How to write a wedding speech: the process, in order