Last updated 21:12, Wednesday, 03 December 2008

FOR the father of the bride, the bridegroom and the best man, they can cause feelings of dread, butterflies in the stomach and the biting of fingernails – the dreaded wedding speech.

If you are giving one, you want it to be witty, to be effective and, most of all, you want it to be over!

Help is at hand, as Mitch Murray’s One-Liners For Wedding Speeches is a complete DIY kit to help you through making a speech on the big day.

And it’s not what you say that counts but the way that you say it.

Mitch, who produced a handful of hits for groups such as Gerry and the Pacemakers and is now a speechwriter, includes the gags and shows you how to deliver them.

There’s also lots of advice on rhythm, style, one-liners, quotations and whether to memorise it, use a script or cue cards.

n One-Liners For Wedding Speeches by Mitch Murray (Foulsham, £8.99)