Giving the bride’s speech is no easy task. After a long and emotional day, you’ll be ready to drink some champagne, enjoy your dinner, and dance. But before you can do this, you must contribute to one of the most anticipated parts of the whole reception: you must deliver the bride’s speech. Now, you can choose to “wing it” if you want. You can spend a few minutes thinking about what you’re going to say, put nothing down on paper, and then let it all come out during the speech. But I don’t recommend this. The bride’s speech is simply too important and too big a part of the ceremony to wing. After your father and the best man speak, your friends and family members will have already heard charming anecdotes, funny stories, and tear-filled memories. If you want your speech to add anything at all to the reception, you’ll have to be thoughtful, careful, and you’ll have to spend time planning it.

Not only will you want to write your speech down, but you will want to spend some time reciting it before you deliver it. Remember: this is your big day. And the more you contribute to the positive atmosphere and the shared joy that your family members and friends will experience, the more you will take away from it; and the more you and your husband will be able to cherish for the rest of your married life. So what’s the best way to write a compelling and emotional bride’s speech? In short, there is no “best way.” However, there are many good ways. The remainder of this guide, I’ll give you exactly templates for 10 of those ways. All you’ll have to do is fill in the blanks and modify the template where needed.