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Best Man speech ideas anyone?

Bu$chlagerBu$chlager Posts: 498
edited June 2009 in All Encompassing Trip
Hello,

I have to give a toast as the best man for my good friends wedding and I'm kinda nervous. I feel a lot of pressure to make it funny or cool or heartfelt, etc.

Although I'm 25 I haven't been to many weddings in my life so I don't have a lot of reference pointers. Can anyone offer some suggestions, maybe some clever things you've seen/done.

Any help would be awesome, thanks!

- Dan
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • PJSerfPJSerf Posts: 637
    I had to give a best man speech back in May. My best advice is to check out some speeches on You Tube. Search for funny best man speeches, and you'll find tons of decent jokes. However, I would also make sure you add some personal stories to your speech. I found a few good ice breaker jokes on-line, and then told some personal jokes about the groom, and complimented the bride, and then told a heartfelt story, and then just wished them luck. I got a lot of good responses on my speech. They laughed, they cried... haha.
    "If you love someone, set them free... if someone loves you, don't fuck up" - EV
  • megatronmegatron Posts: 3,420
    don't get too drunk

    just say the regular i love this guy..shes lucky but hes luckier kinda thing. ham it up.

    then get drunk
  • pjhawkspjhawks Posts: 12,618
    1) have a few beers before the speech - not a lot, just enough to relax you.
    2) if you get nervous find friends you know in the crowd, look at them as much as you can so it is just like you are talking to your friends
    3) - don't drag it out too long. get some funny comments or story in the beginning then go for the heartfelt stuff.
    4) don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother (or their mothers) to know or hear.
    5) - practice - go over your speech in your head as much as you can. i used to go over it each night when i went to bed. 2 minutes each night and by the time i had to give it i could roll it out with no thoughts about it. if you are prepared you shouldn't have any problems - the ones who don't prepare are the ones that end up being awkward.
  • sweet adelinesweet adeline Posts: 2,191
    "i'd like to say, i'm really glad and proud to be here tonight. i'm glad to see (insert grooms name) dad made it out tonight, that's awesome i haven't seen him in like 8 years, thats great, congratulations. true love is hard to find. sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from san diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded, like a goddamn magic show ready to double team your girlfriend."

    at this point, have another groomsmen cut you off and say: "i think what my friend is trying to say here is, true love is blind."

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuWE5XAkV2o

    :D
  • JonnyPistachioJonnyPistachio Florida Posts: 10,219
    I have had to do four of these, and I hated it every time. I just cant speak in front of people. If I'm asked to do it again i'm just going to pay someone to streak naked as soon as i take the mic to take the focus off me.
    Pick up my debut novel here on amazon: Jonny Bails Floatin (in paperback) (also available on Kindle for $2.99)
  • jimed14jimed14 Posts: 9,488
    I'd go with this ...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBB6pmixR4Q
    "You're one of the few Red Sox fans I don't mind." - Newch91

    "I don't believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I'll drill him in the ass." --- Pedro Martinez
  • mfc2006mfc2006 HTOWN Posts: 37,484
    i've had to do it a couple of times. one thing i kept in mind is to watch what you say...because someday you'll be the one getting married and payback can suck! thankfully, i bit my tongue when my older brother got married. 8-)

    aside from that---keep it simple, short, honest & fun. good luck.
    I LOVE MUSIC.
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  • dcfaithfuldcfaithful Posts: 13,076
    pjhawks wrote:
    1) have a few beers before the speech - not a lot, just enough to relax you.
    2) if you get nervous find friends you know in the crowd, look at them as much as you can so it is just like you are talking to your friends
    3) - don't drag it out too long. get some funny comments or story in the beginning then go for the heartfelt stuff.
    4) don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother (or their mothers) to know or hear.
    5) - practice - go over your speech in your head as much as you can. i used to go over it each night when i went to bed. 2 minutes each night and by the time i had to give it i could roll it out with no thoughts about it. if you are prepared you shouldn't have any problems - the ones who don't prepare are the ones that end up being awkward.

    Great advice. This is basically the same thign I did at my brothers wedding when I was the best man and had to give a speech. I found my dad closest in the crowd and basically kept looking at him when I began to feel nervous throughout the speech.

    I had some beers before my speech, which helped out so much but definitely have ONLY A FEW beers before...don't get smashed and make a fool of yourself. The content, for sure consider who is in the crowd.

    Practice the speech. I wrote mine the night before and repeated it probably 100 times, and I even recited it over and over and over again in the car on the way to the wedding.

    Personally though, don't go off others speeches...make it your own...speak from your heart and share some good experiences you have, how much you love and care for your friend (and maybe his fiance if you guys are friends too). Maybe touch base on how great of people they are, and how right they are for one another or whatever. Include something that will give a good chuckle.
    mfc2006 wrote:
    aside from that---keep it simple, short, honest & fun. good luck.

    Great guidelines :) .

    Good luck, I'm sure you wil knock it out of the park.
    7/2/06 - Denver, CO
    6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
    8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
    9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
    9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
    9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
  • dcfaithfuldcfaithful Posts: 13,076
    sweet adeline wrote:
    "i'd like to say, i'm really glad and proud to be here tonight. i'm glad to see (insert grooms name) dad made it out tonight, that's awesome i haven't seen him in like 8 years, thats great, congratulations. true love is hard to find. sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from san diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded, like a goddamn magic show ready to double team your girlfriend."

    at this point, have another groomsmen cut you off and say: "i think what my friend is trying to say here is, true love is blind."

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuWE5XAkV2o

    :D

    Be sure to have the band play 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' with some well placed "fuck"'s included.
    7/2/06 - Denver, CO
    6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
    8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
    9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
    9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
    9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
  • Thoughts_ArriveThoughts_Arrive Melbourne, Australia Posts: 15,165
    Just watch ''The Wedding Singer".
    Can't go wrong!
    Adelaide 17/11/2009, Melbourne 20/11/2009, Sydney 22/11/2009, Melbourne (Big Day Out Festival) 24/01/2014
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    Thoughts_Arrive wrote:
    Just watch ''The Wedding Singer".
    Can't go wrong!

    The Wedding Singer, or the Wedding Crashers? :P
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    A friend of mine did the best job at another friends wedding and talked a lot about the groom's massive porn collection and what he was going to do with it now that he was married e.t.c. Apparently it didn't go down to well. :lol:
  • JOEJOEJOEJOEJOEJOE Posts: 10,649
    Thank the bride's dad for springing for such a swank wedding....then proceed to announce that his credit card has been rejected, so everyone should run to the bar for one last drink before they stop serving

    Mention how you can't believe that the bride fell for the groom, even though he lacks any sense of charm or fashion.

    if there is a large number of guests from out of town, mention how you can't believe people from (name of city) are so well-behaved

    In other words, take some well-natured jabs, but end the speech with kind words about the bride/groom.
  • CHANGEinWAVESCHANGEinWAVES Posts: 10,169
    you could do what my ex-brother in law did at ours and steal the one that the bestman at your wedding did!

    It was basically word for word..... :?
    "I'm not present, I'm a drug that makes you dream"
  • mca47mca47 Posts: 13,301
    I made this very post last September. My brother asked me to be his best man and at first I was psyched, but I then realized I'd have to do a speech in front of 200 people!! :shock:

    So I did quite a bit of research, read and watched a lot of best man speeches and then came up with my own. In doing so I saw a lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones.

    Do's:
    -Talk about the groom and bride and tell a story or two everyone can relate to (not some obscure thing nobody knows about)
    -Be yourself
    -Have a couple of drinks beforehand

    Don'ts:
    -Drink too much
    -Redo some lame-ass best man lines done before
    -Make fun of the bride
    -Go too long
    -Go too short (though shorter is better)

    I was so wrapped up doing "best man" stuff before the wedding I forgot to put back a few drinks beforehand. The planner chick comes up to me and hands me a mic telling me to wait until after the salad course or some shit! LOL At that point I was nervous as HELL! I was pretty much chugging my wine (as I had not had any beforehand)! :D

    Got up, and did it. I was nervous but actually doing it was less nervous than thinking about it.

    I had a number of people afterwards come up and tell me that it was one of the best bestman speeches they have heard.
    I dunno!


    It's not as bad as you think. Just don't be cheesy, don't be cliche, and really mean what you say.
  • Thorns2010Thorns2010 Posts: 2,201
    All I know is that I made my mother cry when I gave my speech at my brothers wedding.


    Oh, and cry in a good way!!!
  • nuffingmannuffingman Posts: 3,014
    A friend of mine gave a best man speech. He said the grooms and brides families were like chalk and cheese. The grooms were normal regular people but the brides were stuck up and thought they were special. He didn't like them at all and made the mistake of having a few too many before the speech.

    At the end he thanked everyone for coming and asked the bride's family to keep their hands off the cutlery.

    Didn't go down too well!
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