Many of us have heard the saying before that most people would rather be dead than do public speaking. It is one of our greatest fears! This can be especially true if you have to give a speech at a wedding. It can be a terrifying prospect. We have all known that friend that is a natural when it comes to speaking publicly. They are funny and witty. How do they do it.

I know at my own wedding I had to give a few speeches. Before hand I had laboured over what I would say. I even had picked out what I thought were some funny zingers. In my mind I could picture how my speeches would go and I was eloquent and funny. During the actual moments of standing up there in front of a few hundred people I had a sense that maybe my speeches weren't quite as funny as I had envisioned but I pressed on and it didn't seem that bad.

A few weeks later as I watched the DVD my wife and I had made of the wedding I couldn't believe how painful it was to watch myself stumble through my speeches. The parts I had thought would be funny were really not funny at all. Some of them were actually kind of offensive when I had the chance to watch them.

How did this happen? What is a person to do and how do those other people seem so good at delivering a speech at a wedding. Well, the cold hard truth is that they might be just naturally good at it and if you are like me you are terrible at it.

I like to think that if you aren't good at something and if you lack the skills then why not look at how to stack the deck in your favour! If you want to improve your wedding speech skills than you might want to think about the following. Believe me I wish someone had given me this advice!

First, don't write your speech by yourself. You know that whatever you come up with is going to be terrible so get someone you trust to help you write the wedding speech. This will allow you to use the other person as a filter to make sure that you aren't going to say anything stupid.

Second, practice! Go stand in front of the mirror and say your speech to yourself. Do that a number of times until you feel comfortable. Once you feel comfortable then go ahead and practice giving your speech to your spouse or a friend. Can't find anybody to practice on? Well then give your speech to your dog or cat. You just want to get used to having an audience. This will help you when it's showtime and you are doing the real thing!