Hey y'all! So I am MOH in a wedding on Friday. And uh, I still have not written my speech. :) To be honest, I've had a tough go the past few weeks, so it got pushed a bit.

Anyways, I'm getting ready to work on it - and realize I am a little lost. I don't have many friends, and I have not been to many weddings. I didn't even know that it was mandatory that I make a speech until recently, ha.

I'm just wondering, what would you expect to hear in a MOH speech? I hardly know the groom, but the bride has been one of my closest friends for over a decade. I assumed I should just talk about how awesome she is and how happy I am for her, but I'm really not sure what the expectation is? I know it needs to be short (good!), but ya just kind of lost. I'm more the sentimental/serious type, so I'm not riddling this with jokes regardless.

This will be in front of 250 people, of which I know about 10. So yay, RIP me.

Also feel free to share your MOH stories. :B It's been a wild, stressful and extremely expensive ride thus far.

good luck! start with how great she is and use how happy you are for her as a transition to talk about how happy she's been since meeting him, if that makes sense. you don't want to memorize too much here, especially with short prep time, unless you're good with speeches lol. you could start with your favorite (funny? embarrass her, it's all in good fun) anecdote that shows how great she is, then transition like i said, and speak from your heart about what you've noticed i guess. that's the most natural/genuine way i can think to approach this. have fun!

Thanks for the advice and luck! I totally used your layout idea and they really got me going. :) I actually wrote out a whole speech, read it out loud and decided I hated it. So now I've just been practicing a similar speech that I didn't actually write down. I fumble a lot but... Whatever. It's hard to think straight sometimes and I just go blank! I thought writing it down would help with that, but it didn't. u_u;

np! also - you're your own worst critic. remember that unless you call attention to it ("oops" or "excuse me" or long silences/making stink faces like i do lol), no one's going to notice if you make a mistake, so don't be too hard on yourself. speak naturally and go with the flow. if you let your happiness and enthusiasm speak, everyone's going to have a good time.

you can also slow down your talking speed to give yourself more time to think about what you say next. why don't you try practicing with a friend through voice call, or maybe someone in person, so they can help guide you? if it helps, you could have a card with cues so if you forget what you're going to say, you can remind yourself. maybe an outline would help too?

Oh man! I had to write one just a couple of weeks ago and I was soooo stressed out! Just remember; everyone is going to be focused on the happy couple anyway, and this is really for your friend/them and the speech will be just a couple minutes and then you won't ever have to think of it again! Hahaha, I also didn't entirely memorize mine; I don't think people mind if you bring a cheat sheet and glance down at it every so often. Have fun with it, and don't put too much pressure on yourself!