Being Best Man and being given the opportunity to deliver a Best Man speech and Wedding Toast is an honor that doesn’t come along every day of the week. So while wedding humor and Best Man jokes are of course expected and welcomed during your Best Man speech, don’t allow them to saturate your speech to the point where the Groom is merely a figure of fun. It is essential that your Best Man speech has a balance of fun and sincerity.

 The structure of your Best Man speech will revolve around 3 key lines;

The Opening Lines       5 Great Opening Lines for your Best Man speech

The Closing Lines      5 Great Closing Lines  

The Wedding Toast       Top 10 Best Man Toasts

The success of your speech, and to an extent your role as Best Man, will depend on how these lines are delivered so practice them until you are comfortable delivering them without any prompts. Remember that a Best Man speech it is not just about the words, you can improve your delivery of the speech by practicing the pauses and tone of your voice. Now I advocate having a copy of your Best Man speech to read from should you need to, or to take cues from, but try to have these sections memorized as then you can have eye contact with the Wedding guests knowing you will see a crowd of smiling guests willing you on, and that alone is a great confidence-builder as you deliver your speech.

Once you have your 3 key lines selected then just build your speech around them. Things that you can consider mentioning include, childhood memories of the Groom, funny stories at the Groom’s expense and a story of how you first met. It is essential to include a few complimentary lines about the Bride in your speech, they are usually warmly received by the guests allowing another surge of confidence to rush through your system.

Your Best Man speech should build to a crescendo with your closing lines and Wedding Toast, by that stage you will be so confident that you will not want your speech to end, but you can relax and look forward to a thunderous round of applause for giving the best, Best Man speech.

Tomorrow we will look at examples and ideas for your all-important closing lines.

The beauty of using props in your Best Man speech is that it further engages your audience into the spirit of your speech. When the correct props are chosen it invariably enhances your Best Man speech, whilst the wrong choice of props could detract from it. You should be using your props during the section of your speech where you are embarrassing the Groom. As ever the golden rule applies that nothing should be used that might cause offense, here are 3 examples where a prop could be used.

1. The Groom is a Sports Fan

Here you could talk about his passion for his favorite team or how athletic he is and his sporting prowess. You could then say that while he fulfills one dream today in marrying Sarah, his other dream is yet unfilled. You could then say “Until now that is, John I now crown you the World Wrestling Champion” holding up a fake wrestling belt that you can get in most toy stores. This should have the Groom squirming with embarrassment and the guests howling with laughter.

2. The Groom is a Fan of Fashion

You may have a photograph of the Groom wearing funny clothes, more than likely it will be a picture from his youth when dress sense was not as important to him. If this is the case check with his Mom first, so as not to offend anyone.

The trick here is not to display the photo on a computer screen, for better effect, when discussing his fashion sense you might say ” We all know John is a fashion-conscious guy but he was not always that way, I’m a great believer in the saying that a picture tells a thousand words” and then produce a poster-style enlargement of the photograph and announce that it will be passed along the tables for everyone to see.

3. The Groom is a College Graduate

John as we all know is a learned man, a scholar and a business-leader of the future, however he was not always that way. When researching my role as Best Man I came across one of John’s old school-reports (now begin searching in your pockets until you unveil a brown envelope) and it did not make for pretty reading. It said “John is popular with peers, not with textbooks, he does not need to try harder, he just needs to try and finally John will go far, just the sooner he starts the better”.

The style of your speech will dictate the type of prop suitable to your speech. If in any doubt about whether your prop may cause offense then omit it. Props, however, can be the catalyst to an unforgettable Best Man speech so choose them wisely and enjoy the laughter and hilarity that they bring to your Best Man speech.

Funny jokes and hilarious stories may make your speech memorable but if you truly want your speech to be unforgettable then include a few lines of poetry in your Best Man speech.

We are not talking about poems that would make Shakespeare proud instead, 4 or 5 simple lines, will suffice. If these rhyming lines are delivered with confidence and poise then you can rightly expect a standing ovation.

There are three windows of opportunity to insert some lines of poetry into your Best Man speech:

1) When complimenting the Bride
2) When poking fun at the Groom’s expense
3) For the Wedding Toast

Here is an example to use for each of those sections of your speech (using John and Sarah as our Bride and Groom).

Few can bring a ray of sunshine the way that Sarah can
John is indeed a very lucky man
Sarah is beauty and elegance personified
Please join me in a round of applause for our stunning Bride.

John can make the finest clothes look tatty no matter what he wears
He gets upset if the team beaten happens to be his beloved Chicago Bears
He is very loyal, well he’s had the same hairstyle since 1981
He has however persuaded the lovely Sarah to marry him and for that I say well done.

We’ve had a wonderful day from the church to the food and the band
Now for the final toast will you all please stand
May John and Sarah share love and laughter
In a fairytale marriage of happily ever after.

Short poems leave a smile on everyone’s face, and if delivered correctly during your Best Man speech, the widest smile of all should be on your face.