How much does a wedding speech writer cost?
The honest answer: anywhere from $16 to $1,200 or more. Here is what changes across that range, and how to figure out what is actually right for your situation.
If you have been searching for a wedding speech writer, you have probably already noticed that prices are all over the map. A quick look at Fiverr puts you in the $89-$275 range. A few minutes on a specialist's website and you are looking at $600 before you even book a call. AI tools promise the same result for under $20.
That range exists for real reasons -- and not all of them are about quality. This page breaks down what you actually get at each tier so you can make a decision you feel good about.
If you want to explore your options further, our guide to hiring a wedding speech writer covers the vetting process in more depth, and our comparison of AI wedding speech generators goes deep on the tools.
Human wedding speech writers
Hiring a real person to write your speech. Here is how the market breaks down by tier.
Marketplace writers
$60 -- $275Fiverr ($89 -- $275 avg), Upwork ($60 -- $180 for ~3 min)
A writer completes your speech based on a brief you provide. Quality varies widely. Some writers are excellent; others are running high volume with templated output. No way to tell from the listing.
Budget-conscious buyers willing to vet profiles, read reviews carefully, and provide a thorough brief.
Professional freelancers
$180 -- $360Ghostwriters Central ($180 standard, $360 rush)
More experienced writers with a defined process. Usually includes a questionnaire, one draft, and one round of revisions. Rush fees add up quickly if your wedding is soon.
People who want a real writer, have a few weeks lead time, and can clearly articulate what they want.
Premium specialists
$300 -- $600+Den Pope, WeddingWords.us, and similar dedicated speech writers
A consultation call, a bespoke draft process, and a writer who does this exclusively. The ceiling for personalization in the human tier. Some include unlimited revisions; most have a defined scope.
Weddings where this speech really matters and cost is not the primary constraint.
Agency tier
$500 -- $1,200+Full-service writing agencies, PR-adjacent firms
Project management, senior writer assignment, multiple review rounds. Often used by public figures or for speeches that will be published or recorded for wide audiences.
High-stakes occasions with significant budgets and time.
A note on vetting: The biggest risk with marketplace writers is inconsistency. The same platform hosts writers charging $89 who will deliver a templated result and writers charging $275 who will do genuinely good work. Reviews help, but they do not guarantee anything about your specific situation. If you go this route, read samples, check for specificity in their process description, and ask what happens if the first draft is not right.
AI wedding speech tools
The $16-$65 category. More options than most people realize, and they are not all the same.
AI speech tools span a wider quality range than the price difference suggests. The cheapest option and the most expensive share the same underlying technology; what differs is the intake process, the number of drafts generated, and how much editing you can do afterward.
A tool that asks five form fields will produce something more generic than one that asks sixteen questions and follows up on the interesting answers. The AI model itself is rarely the bottleneck -- the information it has to work with is.
WeddingSpeechBuilder
Template-based, no AI. Fill-in-the-blank structure. Very fast, very limited.
Wordwell
AI-assisted with a free entry point. Useful for a first draft to react to.
AI Wedding Toast
Short intake form, generates a single speech. Minimal customization.
WeddingSpeech.ai
Form-based with a few style options. One output.
Verble
Clean interface, straightforward form, single draft.
Bridesmaid for Hire AI
Built by an actual professional bridesmaid. Better context than most form-based tools.
ToastWiz
Multiple tone options. More structured intake than entry-level tools.
SpokenVow
This is usInterview-first: 16 questions that actually go somewhere. Three drafts across different tones. Optional human writer escalation if you want expert polish.
SpeechyAI
More detailed intake, iterative editing tools included.
For a deeper look at how these tools compare on output quality, see our guide to AI wedding speech writers. And if you are wondering how AI compares to hiring a person directly, the SpokenVow vs. human speechwriter comparison covers the trade-offs honestly.
What actually determines quality
Price correlates with quality less than you would expect. These four things matter more.
How much you are actually asked
A form that asks your name, the couple's names, and your relationship will produce a generic speech regardless of the AI behind it. The question set is the real product. What follow-ups does it ask? Does it surface stories you hadn't thought to include? That is what separates a $19 tool from one built by people who know what a good speech requires.
How many iterations you can make
Most tools give you one draft. If the tone is off, you are either stuck with it or paying again. Human writers at the higher tiers include revision rounds explicitly because they know the first draft is rarely the final one. When evaluating any tool, ask: what happens if the first result is not right?
How much of yourself you put in
No writer, human or AI, can make a speech personal if you give them nothing personal to work with. The best-written speech in the world will fall flat if it contains no specific memories, no real moments, no language that sounds like you. The tool is the scaffold -- your material is the speech. This is true at every price point.
Delivery
A speech written by a $1,200 agency ghostwriter, read robotically from a phone with no eye contact, will land worse than a medium draft delivered by someone who practiced it three times. Writing quality matters -- but so does what you do with it. A well-written speech gives you something worth delivering. Practice turns that into something people remember.
Is it worth paying more?
Sometimes. But the logic of "more expensive means better" does not hold cleanly in this category.
When paying more genuinely helps
A premium specialist brings craft, instinct, and experience calibrating speeches for real rooms. If you are the father of the bride at a large formal wedding, the best man at a high-profile event, or someone who genuinely cannot find words and has weeks to spare, that expertise is probably worth it.
When the price premium is mostly overhead
A lot of the cost at the higher tiers is operational: scheduling calls, managing revisions, writer assignments, account management. Those things have real value for some buyers and real cost for all buyers. If you are organized, know your material, and can write a detailed brief, the output from a $200 writer and a $600 writer is often closer than the price implies.
The thing price cannot buy
The best speech is the one that sounds most like you, contains your most specific memories, and gets delivered by someone who has practiced it enough to feel comfortable. A writer cannot manufacture those things from nothing. The right tool -- at any price -- is the one that gives your best material the best chance of becoming a speech worth giving.
Human writers vs. AI tools: side by side
| Human writer | AI tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical price | $180 -- $1,200+ | $16 -- $65 |
| Turnaround | 3 -- 14 days (rush fees apply) | Minutes to hours |
| Number of drafts | 1 (revisions often limited) | Varies (1 -- 3) |
| Personalization ceiling | High -- if you brief them well | Depends on intake depth |
| Revision process | Back-and-forth with the writer | Self-serve (most tools) |
| Human escalation option | You are already there | Rarely -- SpokenVow is an exception |
| Sounds like you | Only if they know your voice | Only if the intake captures it |
The case for the middle path
SpokenVow sits between entry-level AI tools and human ghostwriters, and it is built to take the best of both. The process starts with a 16-question interview that functions more like a conversation than a form -- it follows up on the answers that matter and surfaces material you might not have thought to include.
From that interview, three distinct drafts are generated across different tones: heartfelt, humorous, and classic. Each goes through an internal review layer before you see it. You are not choosing between "generate again" and "give up" -- you have real options to compare and edit.
If you want a human writer to review and polish the final result, that option is available too. It is not required, but it is there for the people who want it.
The price is a fraction of what human ghostwriters charge. See exactly what it costs on the pricing page.
Interview-depth intake. AI speed. Human option.
SpokenVow asks the questions a good speechwriter would ask, then writes three drafts you can actually compare. At a fraction of what hiring a human costs.