Best Man Wedding Speeches

It’s an honor and a privilege to be asked to be the best man for your friend, your brother and sometimes it’s even your father asking you to do this honor.  One of the obligations and duties of the best man is the best man wedding speech. Oops!  So you thought the only thing you needed to do was show up for the tuxedo fitting, pr0tect the ring at the ceremony,  and most importantly….get the bachelor party show on the road!   Sorry “Mr. Best Man”. You will also be expected to give a toast, more like a speech, to the bride and groom.

This is one duty that often times the best man dreads. The thought of giving this wedding speech is enough to keep you awake at night, especially if you abhor the thought of public speaking. All eyes and ears will be focused on you for several minutes. You don’t want to be remembered as the guy who gave the worst best man speech ever. That’s why the best man needs to have a well prepared best mans speech.

Spend the time writing a speech that not only honors the bride and groom, but also is emotional, entertaining and humorous.

Here’s our “short” list of the top Do’s and Don’ts for A Successful Best Man’s Speech. Of course this list won’t write the speech for you, but it will give you a good start towards writing a wedding speech that the bride and groom will appreciate and the guests will remember for all the right reasons!

DO’s FOR YOUR SPEECH:

• Prepare your speech! The last thing you want to do is be a “nervous nelly” or “incompetant jerk” when you get up in front of everyone. Remember…this is a tribute to the bride and groom.

• Take your time-you’ll get through it. A common nervous mistake of speech-giving is to speak rapidly and rush through the speech.

• Keep it light-hearted with some of your own injectin of emotion. This is where a lot of best men go wrong. They’ve got the jokes and the stories of days past, but they forget to let their friend (or brother…dad…etc) know how important they were in their lives and how you wish them all the best in their newly married lives.

• Compliment the groom on his choice of a bride and let him know how lucky he is to have found the perfect wife. Praise the bride.

• Remember who the guests are. Guests can range from young children to elder grandparents so keep the speech in line with theinvitation list (ask the groom…he can fill you in on who is and who isn’t invited and what to expect of the guest list).

• Draw upon your own memories and experiences with the groom (and his bride if you know her well). The more personal your speech is, the better it will be received by everyone and the easier it will be for you to give!

• Write notes on cue cards just so you can remember what you want to say. This is not an acceptance speech so there is no need for a long drawn out handwritten speech, however cue cards can help to keep you on track for what you want to say and are perfectly acceptable for any best man wedding speech.

DON’Ts FOR YOUR SPEECH:

• Don’t Use free rehashed best man wedding speeches that you find online. They’re stale! They been used and reused, and there’s a reason why these sites are sharing them with you for free…THEY AREN’T ANY GOOD! They don’t apply to your speech and it’s hard to get insync with a speech that was written for someone else. If your speech is about your owN personal relationship and experiences with the groom it will all go a lot easier and you’ll be able to inject your own feelings into the speech rather than trying to memorize a speech that you copied from someone else.

• Don’t be too stiff and stale or you’ll lose the crowd. On the other hand, your wit and humor should be tasteful and not offensive. Stay away from crude jokes that only you will appreciate.

• Don’t get cocky and try to be the “star” of the show. This is your best friend’s wedding day and it’s the bride and groom’s show..not yours. You’re not on stage at the Comedy Club…so keep the jokes to a minimum!

• Don’t overdue the alcohol before your speech. This is where a lot of best men really mess it up. They overdrink and indulge to boost their confidence. By the time they get up for their speech, they either can’t stand…can’t talk…or can’t remember. Save the drinking for after the speech and you’ll enjoy the buzz a lot more then.

• Don’t Mention the bride’s weight or anything at all that could be construed as derogatory about the bride, her family, or her friends. This seems so so obvious that it should go without mention, however you wouldn’t believe how many best men get this one wrong. Think…think…think!!

• Don’t bring up the groom’s past girlfriends or ronchie past evenings the two of you had out together. This will only embarass the groom…the bride…the bride’s family, and in the end YOURSELF!

• Don’t ramble on too long. A good wedding speech should be around 5 minutes. Anything too much longer than that and you’ll lose the interest of everyone at the wedding.

A Note From Jonelle:  We  asked Justin to create this article for our site.  Justin has much more expertise in the arena of best man speeches than we do,  and has a lot to contribute on this subject.  This may not be something on your list of things to do while planning your wedding, but maybe it’s something you can share with your best man so he has time to get ready for your big day too!  Obviously this is a very abbreviated version of things to remember when you’re getting ready for your best man’s speech. We highly recommend that you check out  Justin’s “The Best Man Wedding Speeches” site which is full of a lot more useful tips and information on how to prepare and write your own best man speech.

Make Your Own Wedding Flower Decorations

Hiring a florist or a wedding planner to make your wedding flower decorations and wedding reception centerpieces can get very expensive.  Maybe you’re one of those people who has seen beautiful centerpieces or bridal bouquets in bridal magazines or at a wedding  and thought to yourself  “I think I could do that”.  Or maybe you have a friend or family member who is creative and wants to help you with your wedding plans and your wedding budget.  If that’s the case, then one real budget saver is to do your own wedding flowers.

The key to homemade wedding floral arrangements and wedding floral centerpieces that look professional is lots of planning, preparation, and practice.  You’ll be trading your time for your money, but in the end the savings will amount to hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars.

Here’s a list of things to keep in mind for your wedding flower ideas.

• Gather And Organize Your Ideas: If you already have a wedding planner, then be sure to create a section specifically for your wedding flowers and wedding centerpiece ideas.  If you don’t have a planner then purchase a folder or a binder and start collecting your ideas.  Start off by purchasing wedding and bridal magazines and cut out the pictures of arrangements you like.  Visit your local florists and hotels to get ideas (take your cameras with you).  Your local newspaper probably announces upcoming weddings, so if you know of one being held in a local hotel (usually on Saturdays and Sundays) then just bob into the hotel with your camera and take pictures of the set-up.  No, we’re not asking you to become a professional “wedding crasher”.  You can visit the hotel prior to the actual reception and take pictures of the centerpieces that you like.   Once you’ve collected lots of ideas you can go through them and take pieces and parts of the ones you like and toss the rest.

• Chose Your Colors:  When you begin to create your own wedding flowers you’ll need to decide on your color scheme.  Most likely you’ve already chosen your bridesmaids dresses and that’s the color scheme you’ll be using.  When chosing your colors you will need to keep in mind also the types of flowers that are available during the season you are getting married.

• Chose Your Flowers: Once you’ve decided on your color scheme it’s time to start chosing your flowers for the bouquets and centerpieces you’ve chosen.  Keep in mind that there may be many different types of flowers that fit with the color scheme you’ve chosen, and each type of flower can vary greatly in price.  Also, again make sure to check with your local florists to make sure that they’ll be able to get the type of flowers you want during the season of your wedding.  Once you’ve confirmed with the florist what is available, then make your list and start placing your order.  Most florists will let you do this well in advance so that you’ll know for sure your flowers will be there when you need them.

• Gather And Purchase Additional Supplies:  Make a list of everything you will need for each centerpiece, each bouquet and other areas you may be added flowers (ends of church pews, wedding party table, etc.).  Plan, plan and plan.  For example: if you are going to have 15 reception tables with 15 centerpieces then you will need 15 centerpiece containers, floral foam for each container, ____ of ____ flowers, __ stems of baby’s breath, etc. etc.  When you are preparing homemade wedding flowers you will need to have a set of clippers, floral tapes, floral foams, ribbons, moss, candles,  rose strippers?, etc. for each person that will be assisting in the assembly of the wedding centerpieces and bouquets.  Also, keep in mind that once your flowers are delivered you will need a cool place to store them (ask your florist how cool and how long they can be safely stored).  You’ll also need some very deep/tall vases to keep your flowers in so that they are well supported (usually something 18″-20″ deep).  These can usually be purchased inexpensively at your local home improvement store.  Once you have planned your arrangements, etc. you can start looking for sales and purchase many of the items ahead of time to save some extra money on your wedding flowers.  Store them all in one place to reduce the stress of trying to locate things later when you need them, and remember where you stored them.

• Practice, Practice, Practice:  Once your flowers have been delivered and you’ve purchased all of your additional supplies, you (or whomever you have chosen to make your wedding flowers) should practice putting together one of each (i.e. one centerpiece, one bouquet, and one of any other floral arrangements you have chosen).  This is also a good time to determine how much time is required to make each floral arrangements and whether you have purchased enough supplies for each arrangement.

• Make The Plan:  Now that you’ve made all of your decisions, purchased all of your supplies, had the flowers delivered (or picked up) and practiced…all that’s left is to organize everyone that will be assisting with creating the wedding flowers and make sure everyone knows where to be and when to be there.  Also, make a plan for someone to deliver the centerpieces to the reception location and the other flowers to the wedding ceremony venue.  Most likely your family, friends, and bridal party will all be more than happy to pitch in and help you out with all of the organizing, decorating and delivering so that you can focus on other details and yourself.

For more tips and ideas for wedding flowers make sure to check out Create Your Own Wedding Flowers (without paying expensive Florist Fees).