Hiring a UK Wedding Speech Writer: Compare Writing, Editing and Coaching

Commission writing if you need a script, editing if your draft needs shaping, or coaching if delivery is the concern. Mark Kitto’s writing-and-practice package starts at £435; Wedding Speech Guru’s packages start at £495, but provider-written drafting costs an extra £350 on its two lower tiers.[1][3]

Compare costs—and who writes the first draft

Check who creates the first draft before comparing prices: help developing your own text is different from having it written for you.

Mark Kitto

• First draft: Content creation and speechwriting are included in the standard wedding-speech package.[1]
• Published cost: Starts at £435, with no VAT charged—not a fixed quote for every speech.[1]
• Editing and rehearsal support: Delivery practice is included; ask Kitto to confirm the revision allowance and how much practice the package covers.[1]

Wedding Speech Guru — The basics

• First draft: Provider-written drafting is an optional £350 add-on to The Basics and All the Bases packages.[3]
• Published cost: The Basics costs £495; with first-draft writing, £495 + £350 = £845.[3]
• Editing and rehearsal support: The Basics includes a personalised material-gathering tool, an in-depth structural meeting, a remote draft-evaluation session and one delivery session.[3]

Wedding Speech Guru — All the bases

• Published cost for All the bases: £675; with first-draft writing, £675 + £350 = £1,025.[3]
• Editing and rehearsal support: Includes material gathering, speech structure, draft evaluation and detailed editing, followed by up to three personalised delivery-coaching sessions once you approve the text.[3]

Wedding Speech Guru — Belt and braces

• Published cost: £995.[3]
• First draft: Provider-written drafting is included in Belt and braces, alongside material gathering and an in-depth structural meeting.[3]
• Editing and rehearsal support for Belt and braces: Includes collaborative editing until you are completely happy, a dress rehearsal, up to five delivery-coaching sessions, ongoing guidance and last-minute preparation tips.[3]

All the bases with drafting costs £1,025 − £995 = £30 more than Belt and braces, whose published scope includes additional rehearsal and coaching support.[3] That price difference is not evidence of better quality.

Kitto charges £95 per hour for speechwriting, editing and research, and £145 per hour for delivery coaching; Wedding Speech Guru lists its à la carte service at £165 per hour.[1][3] Request an estimate of hours and confirm Guru’s package-session lengths: session counts alone do not establish equal coaching time.

Compare revisions, final files and rewrite charges

Agree how feedback becomes a final script, including what happens when the brief changes.

Mathew Owen

• Revision commitment: One round of revisions is included.[4]
• Final handover: An editable Word document.[4]
• Changes after approval: Minor tweaks after final delivery are included; major rewrites cost extra depending on timing.[4]

Wedding Speech Guru

• Revision commitment: The basics includes draft evaluation; All the bases includes detailed editing; Belt and braces promises collaborative editing until you are completely happy. That top-tier commitment does not describe the lower tiers.[3]
• Final handover: Ask Wedding Speech Guru to confirm the final file format and terms for post-approval rewrites.[3]
• Changes after approval: Ask for a written agreement rather than assuming the editing commitment covers later rewrites.

Owen lists Best Person at £200 and Celebrant at £150: role-labelled prices, not a universal wedding-speech rate. His process requires full upfront payment.[4]

Before paying, ask what counts as a revision rather than a new brief, whether feedback must arrive in one consolidated set, and what a major rewrite would cost. Request a quote for Owen’s timing-dependent rewrite charge rather than assuming a surcharge.[4]

Choose writing, editing or coaching

• Stories, but no workable script: consider bespoke drafting. Owen uses a consultation and questionnaire to gather material before producing a structured draft ready to practise.[4]
• A draft needing structure or polish: consider editing. Kitto offers editing and polishing separately; Guru’s All the bases includes draft evaluation and detailed editing.[1][3]
• Approved text, but delivery concerns: consider coaching. Kitto offers standalone delivery coaching; Guru’s All the bases moves to delivery work once you approve the text.[1][3]

O’Sullivan Speeches is another consultation-led option: Fergus O’Sullivan gathers material through a conversation aimed at capturing your voice and offers separate one-to-one delivery coaching.[2] Request a quote before treating it as a price-equivalent alternative.

Prepare your brief and agree deadlines

O’Sullivan uses a consultation to understand your voice; Owen explores relationships, stories and family dynamics.[2][4] Prepare:

• Personal material: your relationship to the couple, desired tone, usable stories and intended message.
• Names and boundaries: names and pronunciations, family sensitivities and explicit topics not to mention.
• Schedule: the wedding date, speaking-time or word-count target, first-draft delivery, feedback deadline, final approval and a contingency date for late changes.

Ask the writer to acknowledge excluded topics in writing. This is a recommended safeguard, not an established practice across these services.

Owen recommends enquiring ideally four to six weeks before the wedding; that is booking advice, not a guaranteed turnaround. Rush work may be possible, subject to availability and an extra charge.[4]

Distinguish bespoke help from generated products

Separate commissioned human writing, editing of your own or an AI-created draft, templates and automated generation. Owen describes his commissioned speeches as bespoke rather than templated and separately advertises an “AI Speech Fix”.[4]

• Speechy: Hitched lists a starting price of £39.99, but the cited listing does not establish whether it buys bespoke writing, a template or an AI product.[5]
• Cicero: Hitched identifies Wedding Speech Generator LITE as an online generator, listed from £9.99—not a human writing-and-rehearsal package.[5]

Ask who writes, reviews and revises the text. Directory starting prices are not equivalent package quotes, and product categories are not quality rankings.

Rehearse the approved draft

Settle the text before delivery work. Guru begins coaching after text approval in its All the bases package and includes a dress rehearsal in its top tier.[3] Kitto offers online or in-person coaching and recommends in-person practice.[1]

Agree whether the final rehearsal uses the approved script, how late changes will be handled and who to contact during the wedding week. Distinguish small adjustments from a new brief.

What to confirm with each provider

The cited pages leave these booking details unresolved:

• Quote and scope: O’Sullivan’s prices and revision allowance; Kitto’s package revision allowance and practice time; Guru’s session lengths; Owen’s AI Speech Fix price and scope.[1][2][3][4]
• Dates and handover: confirm exact speech length, draft and approval deadlines, wedding-week response arrangements, and editable-file delivery.[1][2][3][4]
• Booking terms: cancellation and refund terms. Ask for the total quote, applicable travel expenses and payment schedule in writing.[1][2][3][4]
• Personal material and text rights: storage, retention, ownership or permitted use. Owen describes his speeches as confidential, but confidentiality alone does not settle these questions.[4]

References

1. Wedding Speech Services Pricing | Mark Kitto (markkitto.com)
2. Wedding Speech Writer and Delivery Coach | O’Sullivan Speeches (osullivanspeeches.com)
3. Wedding Speech Guru | How It Works (weddingspeechguru.co.uk)
4. Mathew Owen | Speech Writer | Manchester (mathew-owen.co.uk)
5. The 10 Best Wedding Speechwriting | hitched.co.uk (hitched.co.uk)