Best Man's Speech

Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2002
Posts
12,671
Location
Snorbans, UK
Hi,

My best mate's finally popped the question to his other half, and I've been informed tonight that he'd like me to be the best man. Obviously I'm well chuffed, but I realise I've got absolutely no idea what to put in a speech!

What kind of things/themes should a best man's speech have? Just a general idea?

Thanks :)
 
Ask all the men there to return their keys to her flat now she's married, then get every bloke in the place, including the staff, to drop a key into a bowl.

Don't forget to take a picture of the grooms face :p
 
be sure to give yourself plenty of time to prepare your speech. I dont mean that you sit down 6 months before and write it out, just start thinking and planning about what you want to say. Be sure to start with a good joke. The one I used when best man was:

This is not the first time today I've stood up from a warm seat with a piece of paper in my hands...

Be sure also to practice saying your speech beforehand. You may have written the best speech in the world, but as they say - delivery is everything. Stand in front of a large mirror, look yourself in the eye and read out loud to yourself. You'll feel a total prat the first few times, but it helps big time. Better to be a prat in your front room rather than in front of all the wedding guests. ;)

Most of all - relax & enjoy yourself. All these people (at the wedding) are on your side, give them a few good one-liners, and they'll be eating out of the plam of your hand.

:):):)
 
I'm a wedding videographer so after hearing a lot of speeches I can probably tell you not what to do.

Think about it - why are you the best man? Probably because you're the Grooms closest friend and you know the couple well. So make jokes about personal things. Any old Joe Bloggs can Google "best man speeches" and copy a few 'funny' one-liners, but only YOU can make jokes specifically about the B&D and their history etc.

Looking at a couple of the links here, at least half the jokes I've heard before. This might be fine and what you want to do, but at the end of the day if it's personal it'll a) be unique and mean something to them and b) be funnier as a result.

Oh and if you can ad lib, do it. You'll probably be the last to speak so if you mention/take the michael out of anything that's been said previously or something that's happened during the day it'll be 10x funnier.
 
There are traditions for who you're supposed to thank - check those. Beyond that, your job is basically to embarrass the groom.

Last wedding i was at, there was a full on sweepstake on the length of the best man's speech - that was a good laugh.
 
There are traditions for who you're supposed to thank - check those. Beyond that, your job is basically to embarrass the groom.

That's the way I looked at it. I did a damn good job too.

Powerpoint presentations are the way to go. I did one with some heavily photoshopped images, and had everybody in stitches upto the final image.

The final image I showed was of the groom on his stag weekend, wearing nothing but tightly fitting boxers, reclining in a camping chair absolutely lashed in the middle of the afternoon, with everybody else in the campsite trying to ignore him.

The room fell almost totally silent, except a select few who absolutely roared with laughter- just the effect I was looking for.:D

It was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever had to do, but copious amounts of wine helped.
 
Use the old line...

The honeymoon destination has been a well kept secret but I think it is America. When I asked the groom about his honeymoon plans he said he was going to tamper with her for two weeks :)
 
I hacked into my mates server and nicked all his embarrasing photos then projected them during the speech on a 18 foot screen, classic.... it didnt matter how funny the speech was everyone laughed, especially at him in his wifes bra !
 
Should open with

"I been told the best mans speech should not last aslong as it takes the bride and groom to make love, thank you and good night"

/sit down/
 
Should open with

"I been told the best mans speech should not last aslong as it takes the bride and groom to make love, thank you and good night"

/sit down/

This and many other one liners have been done a million times, just look on youtube if you don't believe me.

I went through all these sites and watched endless youtube videos and then decided to write my speech from scratch. I tracked down old work colleagues of the groom and got them to e-mail me stories. I talked about past experiences we have had etc and most importantly spoke from the heart. The whole speech was 100% my words and it made it so much easier to deliver.

Just put any ideas down you get in a list and they try and look for ways to link one section to another, it's not that bad once you start.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom