Based on weak fluctuation theory and the beam-wander model, the bit-error rate of a ground-to-satellite laser uplink communication system is analyzed, in comparison with the condition in which beam wander is not taken into account. Considering the combined effect of scintillation and beam wander, optimum divergence angle and transmitter beam radius for a communication system are researched. Numerical results show that both of them increase with the increment of total link margin and transmitted wavelength. This work can benefit the ground-to-satellite laser uplink communication system design.