Wedding Best Man Toasts
As a best man, one of your most public duties is the wedding toast. This is an opportunity to tell all of the wedding guests why the bride is the luckiest woman in the world. A great wedding toast isn't too long and may tell a fun story about the groom but is still sentimental. Keep it short, roughly two to three minutes. Be sure to end all toasts with cheers to the happy couple.
Other People Are Reading
-
Funny
-
Humor is always great in a best man toast. Just remember to keep your jokes or funny stories appropriate for your audience. A good rule of thumb is to stay away from any stories about illegal activities, drunken escapades, ex-girlfriends or sexual references.
Nostalgic
-
Tell a story about the groom from when you were younger. This can be a great way to give guests unfamiliar with the groom a little insight into who he is. If you can later use that story to point out how perfect the bride and groom are for each other, that's a great bonus.
-
Opening Line
-
How you open your speech can be a clue into how the rest of it will go. This is a great time for humor as it breaks the ice. Stay away from jokes about previous marriages or pretending not to know the bride's name. It will backfire on you. Try using a recognizable movie quote or song lyric, such as "Mawage (marriage). Mawage is what brings us together," from "The Princess Bride."
Closing
-
The end of a speech can be the trickiest part. Try using a classic quotes to end your speech. Best Man Speech suggests using "Today is the happiest day of your life, and it wll continue to be a date that you will both cherish and celebrate. The secret to ensuring that you always remember this date as your special anniversary ... is to forget it just once." Or to come from a sentimental perspective, try this quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, "Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction."
Tips
-
As a general rule, it is a good idea to stay away from any stories about the bachelor party. While stories about the groom are great, even slightly embarrassing ones, be sure your stories aren't going to embarrass the bride when she hears them. Be mindful of your audience, too. If most of the guests are younger, more humor or good-natured ribbing about the travails of married life is more accepted. But when a lot of the guests are family or are older, you'll be smart to keep your speech on a sentimental level. Finally, when in doubt, read from a card.
-
References
- Photo Credit Maria Teijeiro/Photodisc/Getty Images
