A heart-warming tribute to your fella should be the focus of your speech but remember every groom is handsome, kind and generally amaaazing.

Cut the cliches and concentrate on what makes your man unique.

Avoid words like ‘soulmate’ or ‘beautiful’, anything that’s overused. Nail his individual and quirky characteristics.

Is he a library-lover, a technology fiend, a total foodie? Is he ‘Canal Street’s answer to Jay-Z’ or ‘the only man to still smell lovely after four days at Glastonbury’?

Yes, the expectation may be on the best man, but all wedding speeches should make people laugh.

Of course, being funny isn’t about finding good jokes on the internet (if only it were that easy) but instead making witty observations about your relationship.

So, conduct a courtship-autopsy; what have you done together, what do you argue about, what frustrates you about each other, what seems to be a regular theme in your relationship? See what you can have fun with.

Check out our tongue in cheek Boris Johnson groom speech spoof to get a sense of our humour. Remember the adage ‘it’s funny because it’s true’. More advice on our How To Be Funny Blog.

Right, this is the important bit. Your speech should tell a story.

Yes, it’s made up of lots of different elements, but it needs to hook people in from the beginning, establish a theme and carry that through to an almighty climax.

One basic example was a groom who considered himself lucky; he talked about the quirks of fate that got him to the altar and ended his speech by toasting a ‘lifetime of luck and love’ before encouraging his guests to look under their napkins where he’d left them all a scratch card.

Find out #whatsyourstory 

You’re aiming for about eight to ten minutes (ten allowing for laughter and ad-libs).

Remember no one ever listened to a wedding speech and said ‘if only it were longer’.

Even if you think you have a wealth of material, be strict with yourself and practise how long it takes you to deliver your speech.

Even Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was only 272 words, so there’s no excuse for an overly long speech.

Once you write your first draft, edit it down to half the length. It will make it better.

It’s blooming obvious, we all know it’s a gay wedding – there’s no poor woman dressed as a meringue!

Don’t feel you need to make jokes about two grooms, that would be catering to an old-school audience and the joke’s too obvious anyway.

Everyone just wants to know why you two love each other so keep your speech simple, sincere and sweet – rather than turning it into a same-sex sermon.

Weddingwire wrote a good article about the meaningful ways you can acknowledge your wedding is a same-sex one, like ensuring your venue is genuinely LGTBQ-friendly.