A wedding toast can be a scary thing, especially if you aren’t used to standing up and talking in front of large groups of people.

To make matters worse, you will probably be delivering your wedding toast when you are tired and you might have had a little too much to drink.

Add this to the fact that the video camera is going to be zoomed in to catch every facial expression and every syllable you say and you’ve got one tough situation to deal with.

So how can you make sure your wedding toast will be one that will enhance the entire wedding experience and not make you look foolish? Three words are the answer:

Research, Preparation and Practice

Research – This means you need to check out many other toasts so you can pick something that matches your sentiments for the bride and groom.

Preparation – This is where you adapt a stock toast and personalize it for your bride and groom, parents, grandparents or whomever you want to honor.

Practice – This is the part where most people slack off. Your lips don’t always go where your mind tells them and you certainly don’t want to flub this up.

Plan in advance as far as you can and don’t skip any of the above steps.

You’ll rarely be the hit of a wedding because of your wedding toast and rightfully so. The bride and groom are the stars. But, poor preparation of your wedding toast certainly could make you the laughing stock.

Remember, you are going to perform your wedding speech live, but you’ll be on video forever. Take the time to prepare.

Tom Antion is a speech expert and author of “Wedding Toasts” . This immediately downloadable e-book gives complete wedding toast instructions and etiquette along with 200 pieces of wedding toast humor.