Best Man speeches can be the cause of sleepless nights for those who have to deliver them on the big day, but if you have prepared properly and ensured your speech contains great material (you are on the right site for that) then you will be looking forward to giving the Best Man speech rather than dreading it. To help you out in this regard here are sample lines that you can use at various sections throughout your speech.

Opening Line
Thank you very much John I sincerely hope you enjoyed your 3 minute speech because as a married man, that is the last time you will ever get to speak for 3 minutes without being interrupted. Before I begin in earnest can I ask John to place his hand over Sarah’s, does that feel nice? Well you better make the most of it because it’s the last time you will ever have the upper hand now that you are a married man.

Best Man Joke
Married life can be confusing, in the first year, the Bride speaks and the Groom listens, in the second year the Groom speaks and the Bride listens, and in the third year they both speak and the neighbors listen.

One-Liner
Sarah said to me it was always her ambition to marry an intelligent, handsome, funny guy, but thankfully she married John instead.

Wedding Quote
“Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?” Groucho Marx

Closing Line
Ladies and Gentlemen before we raise a toast to the happy couple I would just like to add what an honor it has been for me to be your Best Man today. I look forward later on to getting to meet those of you I already don’t know and getting reacquainted with old friends. Being Best Man is not an easy task but you made it easy for me so I thank you for that and finally I hope my speech was as enjoyable for you, as it was uncomfortable for me.

Best Man Toast
May their hands be forever joined in friendship and their hearts forever in love.

If you have the bones of your speech right, with a strong opener, closer, joke and toast then you can build other material around it such as personal stories, maybe a Best Man poem or even some Best Man props for added effect. You want your Best Man speech to be memorable for all the right reasons, these lines will go a long way to helping your speech live long in the memory.

Best Man speeches come in all shapes and sizes varying from the mediocre to the great, the key to making your speech a great one is to know what to say and to deliver with confidence. Knowing what to say is very important as we have all been at weddings where a Best Man has gone off on a tangent of his own thus alienating the audience.

Here is an outline complete of what you need to say in your speech, each section has an example along with it.

A warm introduction and opening line

“Ladies & gentlemen I am very proud to stand before you as Best Man today. John & Sarah are the perfect couple and Sarah I speak for all of John’s friends when I say he is the happiest he has ever been since you have come into his life.”

Compliment the Bride

“Sarah, you have so many qualities that it would be impossible to fit them all in to this speech but to name a few, you are kind, generous, beautiful, warm, funny and today you are as radiant as the sun itself.”

Praise for the Bridesmaids

“The bridesmaids look beautiful outdone only by our stunning bride, they have been a wonderful source of love and friendship to both Sarah and John.”

A funny story or one-liner at the Groom’s expense (without being vulgar)

“John never lets his love of food interfere with his sports, no he waits until half-time to order his pizzas.”

A classic Best Man joke

“John is known to keep a sharp eye on his bank balance, so I must warn him, my own wife’s credit cards were recently stolen, but I decided against reporting it to the police as the thieves were spending less than she was.”

Mention how delighted you are to be Best Man

“To stand as John’s Best Man makes me very proud, we have been friends for 10 years, John gives without thought of reward and is the best friend anyone could have.”

End on a charming closing line

“Ladies and Gentlemen, in a few minutes we will be raising a toast for the Bride and Groom, and as a man who is willing to raise his glass for anything, I look forward to it. A special mention must go to my Groomsmen who helped with my speech, I wrote the entertaining, sincere, funny parts, they wrote the rest.”

Provide the Best Man toast

“May your love be modern enough to survive the times and old-fashioned enough to last forever.”

Once you have your material complete then you can practice the delivery. Practice in front of a mirror, in the shower, anywhere you get a minute of privacy recite the words aloud until you are confident with the delivery.

Don’t worry too much about remembering it 100% as you should have cue cards for the wedding day with buzz words highlighted for each paragraph allowing you to look down to collect your thoughts for each section of the speech.

In preparing the content of your speech it is worth reading this post  5 topics to avoid during Best Man speeches 

Being Best Man is an honor and one to be enjoyed so when it is your turn to speak stand with a big smile on your face and enjoy the experience

Brevity is key in providing a memorable best man speech. Wedding speeches can be notorious for dragging on too long, so the best gift you can give yourself, the guests and the bride & groom is to ensure your best man speech is short. Shorter speeches stay in the mind longer, the jokes within them are remembered more fondly and the constant trickle of laughter and applause builds up to a rousing reception by the time it comes to provide the toast.

When I say “short” best man speeches, I don’t mean a 30 second speech, moreover I mean giving a 3 minute speech instead of a 6 minute one. Those 3 minutes will allow you to;

Introduce yourself with an engaging opening line

Example; Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen, today marks a sad day for single men around the world as another beauty steps beyond our reach, however girls I’m sure the fact that John now enters married life has barely registered with you. I once heard John described as dark and handsome, oops I meant when it is dark, he is handsome.

Compliment the bride and bridesmaids

Example for the bride; Sarah, you look sensational today and are such a beautiful, caring, loving person. Your delightful personality, glorious smile, and caring nature are just some of the many reasons why John should consider himself the luckiest man in the world”

Example for the bridesmaids; Our bridesmaids today look fantastic, they are outshone solely by our stunning bride and have been a terrific source of love and support to both the bride and groom and I ask you all to raise your glass as we toast the bridesmaids

Tell a few short best man jokes

Example; A woman proudly boasted to her friend, “It is I who made my husband a millionaire”, the friend was impressed and asked what he was before he married her, to which she replied, “a multi-millionaire”.

Add a witty Best Man one-liner

Example; It’s not true that married men live longer than single men it just seems that way.

Finish with a great closing line

Example; Ladies and Gentlemen, in a few minutes we will be raising a toast for the Bride and Groom, and as a man who is willing to raise his glass for anything, I look forward to it. John and Sarah are the ideal couple, and you have been the perfect audience and I am very much honored to stand as Best Man today.

Deliver the best man toast

Example; To John and Sarah, may they live long, laugh often and love always.

The shorter your best man speech, the less likely that you will be fraught with nerves so focus on a short concise witty speech and rest assured that it will have a far better impact than a mediocre long speech. Once you make the decision to go with a short speech you will find your confidence surge, allowing you the opportunity to give the speech of a lifetime.