The best man wedding speech is a huge part of the wedding videography so make sure yours is memorable. There are many areas to think about while preparing your speech; who is in the audience, how big is the audience, how long should the speech be, should I be telling jokes and so on.
Below we’ve listed essential best man speech tips on dealing with these questions and guidelines you can use to write your own speech.
Being prepared is the key to any successful wedding speech. Write down bullet points of you key message, jokes, quotes etc. Spend time revising the content of your speech using different tips from our blog, adding in literary techniques, noting tactical pauses and best ways to end a speech.
Once the wedding speech is written, spend hours practising it, the more you practise the less nervous you will be and the more natural you will sound. Don’t learn your speech off by heart, learn some key points and improvise around them. This will make you sound less wooden and monotonic.
Thank the ones that made the day possible, the happy couple’s parents (single them out by name) and offer a toast to them for raising two fine people. Don’t forget to thank the audience as well. It’s a good idea to say something about how beautiful the bride looks and what a remarkable woman she is – this is guaranteed to go down well with everyone.
Many people at the wedding won’t know who you are. Briefly say who you are and why you’re such good friends with the groom.
You know the groom better than most, so take the chance to introduce the real him to everyone. Talk slowly and clearly, taking time to pause and take deep breaths. Have a glass of water you can sip on during the wedding speech, to help calm the nerves and break up the speech.
Getting a joke in early will help relax the mood. Spend time preparing the right joke – funny but not offensive, something that will appeal across all age groups, and make sure you learn it by heart.
Self-deprecation can go a long way, so it might be something told at your own expense. The audience will expect the speech to be somewhat funny so starting strongly will help engaging the audience.
Every great man speech includes a story, which could be how you met the bridegroom or a funny incident which you both went through. You can also tell a story about when you realised your friend had found his other half, or about when your friend would complain about being single for so long. Tread carefully when telling these and don’t cross the line with them!
Anything embarrassing or offensive should be avoided by all means. Although this is common sense, once you get up there with a mic in front of you and a crowd waiting to see what you have to say, the situation might be so tense that cracking a crude joke or sharing an embarrassing story may seem perfect to lighten the mood. You’ll be left with a frozen audience that doesn’t want to laugh at the expense of the bridegroom.
Try to avoid talking about the groom’s past relationships or reveal what you thought of the bride when you first laid eyes on her. Winking at the bride with comments such as “looking forward to the honeymoon” is absolutely out of the question when writing your best man speech!
Ideally, a best man’s wedding speech should be no more than 1,000 words. The guests have already listened to the bride’s father and maid of honour speeches and are minutes away from eating the cake, so shoot for five minutes tops.
After the bulk of your speech, make sure you list the essential qualities of the groom which you have discovered over the years. You want the audience to think you’re a nice guy and convince the bride she picked the right man to marry!
Wrap everything you have said up nicely by ending with a quote, such as: “Giving a best man speech is a choice. And, these two people have clearly chosen!”
It’s time to raise your glass and toast for a lifetime of happiness and love for the couple… or something to this effect.
Use these best man speech tips to deliver a powerful wedding speech people will remember for a very long time.
Like any form of public speaking, you need to have your audience on side right from the beginning. Be confident. After all, you know the groom better than most in the room and your best man speech is the perfect chance to introduce him to everybody else!
The important thing to remember is that the speech is not about you but the groom. Therefore, it’s okay if your best man speech paints a picture of your relationship with the groom but you need to concentrate on what a great guy he is, so everything you say has to revolve around that.
Be pleasant and nice and give your best man speech a flow. Every section and paragraph should run smoothly, jokes should be brief, and each story (you could also include other friends’ favourite memories, too) should reveal some more of the groom’s character and life.
So, by now you will have used all the funny stories and are ready to wow your audience with something emotional. You can say something about love and philosophise a little. It is also a good time to emphasise the love story of the bridegroom.
End your speech by saying how they complete eachother and how happy you know one will make the other. Your end to the best man speech should be as noteworthy as your opening comments so don’t fade away.
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