The draft opened with a hackneyed comparison of marriage to a voyage. (hackneyed: trite, banal, stale) The writer crossed out the cliche. (cliche: platitude, banality, bromide) Next came a trite aphorism about two hearts. (trite: hackneyed, stale, banal; aphorism: maxim, adage, concise saying) Out went the aphorism. A sentence about the bride's patience was a platitude. (platitude: cliche, banality, commonplace) A rhetorical question taking up half a page was clearly intended for effect. (rhetorical question: question for effect, question requiring no answer) The speaker would never wait for a reply.
The groom grew less enthusiastic with every deletion. Soon his once tumid speech had only four words left. (tumid: overblown, bombastic, pompous) The editor deplored its earlier extravagance but had to admit the new version sounded like a telegram. (extravagance: lavishness, prodigality, profligacy) His own remarks on the craft of rhetoric were getting pompous. (pompous: pretentious, self-important, grandiose) A shrewd editor ought to be able to recognize the fault in himself.
The groom put the draft aside and told him how the bride reversed a van in pitch darkness to get a stray dog to a shelter. That was the story he told at the reception. He told it badly, missed a turn and got a burst of laughter when the bride supplied the right street. The editor left his pencil in his pocket.