Best Man Thank You

Blaze

Hi

Have a BM speech coming up in the next few weeks. The groom has said I don't need to thank the priest, or the parents, etc as he will be doing this in his speech (before me).

Is this OK? I presume it is as no one wants repetition during the speeches but I don't want to be the one who forgets to put in some thanks to people.

Aside from that, I'll be thanking the bride/groom on behalf of myself and the bridesmaid for letting me and bridesmaid play a part in their special day, and complementing bridesmaid/bride on looking great.

Anything else I should be thinking of on the thank you front?

gingerpele

Hi

I did best man speech at brother's wedding recently. Going after groom is perfect as he will have thanked everyone so you don't have to. Only must dos are the ones you note - thanks for asking me, bride and bridesmaid are pretty.

Golden rules I used are:

- your job is to give people a flavour of who the groom is - any funny stories about things that relate to his interests are perfect. A story about how you met him or how he asked to be best man can be good if you can make it funny
- say nice things about the Bride and only use stories/jokes about her if make her look good. Maybe mention her relationship with his family if this is good - can be easy to make jokes about how she fits in family etc.
- if you have relationship with his family before sure to talk about that - e.g. stories about his mammy when ye were kids etc.
- Absolutely no mention of exes or other women groom has hooked up with. No. 1 golden rule - it can be hard to resist easy laughs about past exploits but don;t go there!
- use the granny test - granny doesn't have to find it funny but has to be something don't mind a granny hearing
- talk about the bridesmaids properly - rather than a simple thank you, make a specific reference about their relationship with bride or help in preparing the wedding
- if can get a joke about something that happened on the day before your speech then go for it - people love that and looks great off the cuff. Usually something funnyish happens on the day.
- Save the sentimental stuff for late in speech - jokes and stories to start off then on to the nicey nicey stuff. Finish with a joke or two if ye can.
- have a few opening lines prepared that are very happy with so can use different one depending on circumstances.
- I tried to wrap up all the standard elements without making it look like a speech - don't make comments like "at this part of the speech i would like to". Makes it seem more of a chat.

If can get comfortable not having notes in your hand it always look more sincere. Only try this if 100% confident you wont need them though.

Practice, practice and practice again.

Also don't be pissed for the speech. Maybe one or two beers to loosen up but lay off the booze till after. Plenty of time to drink afterwards!!

skallywag

Some good tips there already. Making any form of joke re the bride can be very hard to pull off without someone getting their knickers in a twist, you may be as well off shying completely clear of that.

One thing I would add, keep it concise and snappy, and without too much filler. Have 3-4 distinct sections which look at a certain area, and try to roll them into each other as well as possible, with the more serious and sincere topics coming towards the end. 5 minutes should be more than enough, try not to go over it.

MadDog76

skallywag wrote: »

Some good tips there already. Making any form of joke re the bride can be very hard to pull off without someone getting their knickers in a twist, you may be as well off shying completely clear of that.

One thing I would add, keep it concise and snappy, and without too much filler. Have 3-4 distinct sections which look at a certain area, and try to roll them into each other as well as possible, with the more serious and sincere topics coming towards the end. 5 minutes should be more than enough, try not to go over it.

I second that, I was at a Wedding recently and the speeches were over 3 hours long!!! :eek:
The BestMan's speech alone was over an hour ......... people actually got up after a couple of hours to go to the "toilet" ....... I met most of them in the hotel bar and a few more outside having a smoke.

clint_silver

Formula for a great speech.
1. open with some abuse of the groom.
2. stay away from the bride except to say shes lovely.
3. abuse the groom some more.
4. wish them well (but abuse the groom during this)
5. 10 minutes max. (cant overstate this, youll have oul lads coming up to you at the bar shaking your hand who have heard every boring story on the planet.)

write it out a few weeks before. read it, reread it. practice it. practice again so it rattles off.

Blaze

Thansk guys.

I've rehearsed the speech a good few times and it's about 10 minutes max. I think that'll be okay. Maybe it will end up being 12 minutes if there is any sort of applause during the event, but hardly a crime! Cheers for the tips.