Originally Posted by roachboy

i've had to do a few of these speeches...they're a pain because you feel so much pressure. but i think what seaver says is right--be genuine. i wouldn't try to pretend that you know the groom particularly, but i also expect that you'll be able to figure out some graceful way to finesse that in real time. no point in trying to pretend it isn't the case, but there's also not a lot of point to emphasizing how little you know the guy.

and one thing i learned from doing lectures over the years that, strangely, is applicable to situations like this---no-one complains if the lecture is short. so no-one will complain if what you say is short-ish either. my general rule on such speeches is that they're just preambles to a toast, one of a series of such preambles. the other one is that it's probably better to have a little outline rather than an actual speech--notes that help you remember what you want to get to rather than a script--when you read a script, you (substitute one for you and this sentence works better) tend to look down--but this is about the people who are present, so it's better to look at them.

i don't know how big an affair this will be, so i don't know if you'll be stuck using a microphone. if you do, don't hold it too close. trust me on this.

break a leg, comrade.