Congrats on being the Maid of Honor! Take the necessary time to plan your speech or even buy some articles on wedding speeches. This is your one chance to reveal your feelings and to be a star in front of a friendly crowd. This is your first chance on Broadway so take advantage of it. When writing your maid of honor speech be sure that you leave yourself plenty of time. The worst thing that you can do is decide to write your speech a couple of days before the wedding. With a bit of luck, an exceptionally good writer could possibly get away with doing this, but what is the point in tempting fate? Simply start writing your maid of honor speech well enough in advance that you do not have to worry about a tight deadline.

Have fun with the speech as you will have fun at the wedding. A good mix of comedy and heart felt feelings will get you a large applause. As the maid of honor you should take your speech giving duties seriously. You may want to put together a good outline that more or less walks you through the whole process. By having an outline to work from you should not have any problems moving from one section of the speech to the next. Before you know it, your outline will start to turn into a speech that you can be proud of. I would first off introduce yourself to the audience. You can write up several different introductions, thinking about how you know the bride, and what made her choose you as her maid of honor are often good starting points. From there, make sure that you send out thanks to everybody in the room, as well as the people that put the wedding together. You may then want to lead into a more personal speech that really highlights your relationship with the bride.
At the end of your maid of honor speech you will want to add an area where you toast the newlyweds.

So that writing was not so bad was it. Now that you know what you want to say, the next thing is actually doing it. For some people giving a maid of honor speech is an easy thing to do. But if you are not good at speaking in public, you may find that giving a speech is a bit more difficult. Regardless of which group you fall into, one thing that you will want to remember is to keep things simple. Do not try to get into too much depth, or outdo yourself. There is often nothing wrong with a short, simple maid of honor speech that gets the point across in a caring manner.

Practice your speech a few times before you actually take the stage. You can do this the night before so that you can get a good feel as to what you should say, and how you want it to come out. But remember, instead of trying to memorize the entire speech, just keep a few points in mind that will help the transition from one area to the next; this will make you sound much more natural, and much more heartfelt. Finally, you may feel nerves right when you stand up to give your speech; this is to be expected. But remember, don't rush yourself, take it slow, and a few deep breaths can help you out more than you think. As you move on with your speech the nerves should start to disappear. Overall, if you are the maid of honor you should take your speech responsibilities seriously. Be proud that you were asked, and try to do your best for the newlyweds. As long as you put your best effort forth you should do just fine and remember have fun with the speech.

Speaking in front of a wedding crowd can be lots of fun. The audience is in a great mood
so put on your actress smile and break a leg. What a sincere compliment to be asked to fill the role of Maid of Honor. In essence, it is an expression of a bride's gratitude for your friendship and loyalty over the years. What a joy to experience all the glory that comes along with such an esteemed place next to the bride's side. Oh yea, and one other reward; you get to give a speech.

Nerves can get you down prior to the speech but remember everyone there is on your side and you are the Princess of the night (the bride is the Queen).For those that are comfortable in front of crowds this is a cinch but, if you are perhaps the shy type and tend to have a little stage freight then this may pose a real challenge. Injecting quotes and sayings, always giving credit to the creator of course, is a great way to add class to a maid of honor speech and toast. Additionally, quotes can provide great inspiration for writing the rest of the speech. Remember the speech doesn't have to be lengthy so if your nerves tend to get the best of you keep it simple and concise and write it down. It's better to read from note cards with comfort and confidence then to stammer around. Besides, in writing it down you can give it to the bride afterward to put in her wedding scrapbook as a great memory of the wedding day.

Some quotes are listed below but you can find many more on the web.

- A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.
Author Unknown

- A Friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway.
Author Unknown

- Friends are God's way of taking care of us.
Author Unknown

- Friendship isn't a big thing - its a million little things.
Author Unknown

- A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they're not so bad.
Arnold H. Glasgow