do's and don'ts of the best man's wedding speech
- Thread starter EvilBetty
- Start date
If you're worried about what you're going to say or stumbling over your words or whatever just hang your **** out of your fly right before you stand up. No one will be talking about your boring speech or your awful toast. Total power move.
Listened to a drunken best man last yr, least fave. Also didn't know when he was done. Some premature clapping occurred more than once. Maybe they were trying to play him off the stage
Start by saying you're sorry because you got all of your advice from a sports related website.
Went to a coworkers wedding about 10 years ago. His extended family flew in from Lebanon. They were very religious and very conservative.
Best mans speech was all stories from college about getting stoned, arrested, strip clubs, you name it. It was bad enough the groom finally asked the guy to stop. It was uncomfortable to watch.
I wish someone had given this advice to my wife's underage sister.
Just kidding it was hilarious. Still hold it over her head 11 years later.
Know your audience. Having a little fun at the groom's expense is fine but if it goes too far it's just awkward, and if it's such an inside joke that nobody gets it while you think you're being hilarious, that's just being self-indulgent. It's better when a joke is in service of the reason you're all there, to celebrate your friend and his wife.
Actually write out your speech, then practice it so it sounds natural in your own voice, then rework it if necessary. It's fine to have a few notes sitting on the table to glance at quickly, but you don't want to be reading it.
And be ready to adjust on the fly. You never know what might come up. My buddy's wife fell ill on the weekend of her wedding and to accommodate her, I had to condense my speech down to a fraction of the length I'd prepared.
Actually write out your speech, then practice it so it sounds natural in your own voice, then rework it if necessary. It's fine to have a few notes sitting on the table to glance at quickly, but you don't want to be reading it.
And be ready to adjust on the fly. You never know what might come up. My buddy's wife fell ill on the weekend of her wedding and to accommodate her, I had to condense my speech down to a fraction of the length I'd prepared.
a large portion of my inquiry was to get some horror stories to make sure I don't end up in that situation.
Those are terrible as well. Thankfully, my brother (best man at my wedding) got married 6 months after I did (I was his best man), so we kept it short and professional.
I kept my brothers speech pretty tame but had 1 harmless hidden joke that only certain people including the bride would find funny. Since I was married 1st I had a "survival kit" I used as a prop but also was a gift that contained things he would need. Can't remember everything I had in it but was stuff like a spatula for cooking meals, a picture frame for memories, a 6 pack of beer but the joke was what I put it all in. It was a laundry basket I had wrapped in gift paper and he had no clue what it was until I unwrapped it at the end of my speech and his wife just started laughing. My line was something about it was for helping out with the laundry or "you can use this for whatever else too i guess" The other use was he once passed out at my house and my wife and i found him laying on the floor in my office room and next to him was an empty laundry basket that he apparently urinated in at some point in the night. I would guess the groomsmen and a few others in the room knew the story but his wife thought it was hilarious and caught onto the joke before I had even said my line about what the laundry basket was for.
Once attended a wedding where the maid of honor was talking about how many men the bride had dated before meeting the groom, when the groom's father yelled out, "How MANY? We wanta KNOW."
Yeah, no, that marriage did not last long.
Hope your speech went/goes better for everyone's sake.
Yeah, no, that marriage did not last long.
Hope your speech went/goes better for everyone's sake.
Be sober-ish.
Be brief.
Work clean.
Have good words for bride.
Have good words for the families and friends.
Wish them luck.
Get off the goddam stage. It isn't about you.
Also, don't apologize or say you are nervous before or during your toast. Tee it high. Let it fly.
