There’s really no reason to get anxious if you’re invited to give one of the hundreds of best man wedding speeches this year. Don’t even think about the number of guests at the reception. Rather, visualize yourself in your man cave telling stories with all your friends. It’s more or less the same, just with a little more finesse.
Write down how you want to open your speech by telling everyone who you are and what your relationship to the Groom is. “Peter and I have known each other since we lived down the street in elementary school. We rode the same school bus together, ate lunch together, and generally spent detention together after school. But we were good kids.”
At this point, the best man would turn his attention away from personal matters and thank everyone, from the groom to the families of the bride and groom, for allowing him the privilege of being best man. He is expected to act as the master of ceremonies and his opening monologue sets the stage for all the guests who will follow him to toast the happy couple’s wedding.
Now go back to Peter and the trip down Memory Lane. “When Peter was in high school, his main job was to maintain the lawn, and he hated it, until a certain cute blonde moved in next door. Just so no one would miss him, like anyone could miss his giant frame 6ft tall, had the lawnmower ready in case Peggy opened the back door.I would go over to her house and ask her to shoot some hoops, and with a totally fake sad face she would tell me she had to mow the lawn. I didn’t. I didn’t have the heart to tell him his grass was already so short it would burn in the summer sun. And I didn’t let him know what game he was really playing.”
“Then came the sad day when Peter went to State College and Sally stayed. Then Sally traveled to the state of Florida to get her degree. They never would have gotten back together if Peter hadn’t become one of the salesmen at most successful condos in town. You see, I just didn’t have the heart to sell houses with yards to cut. So when Sally was in the market for a new condo, they met again and, as they say, the rest is history.”
You can go on to say that the Groom had always carried a torch for the girl next door who became the perfectly beautiful woman she is today. She understands Peter’s dislike for grass and promises never to put real or artificial grass in her Easter Basket. How many lucky men are there in the world today who can say they were lucky enough to marry the girl next door? She raises her glass to toast the newlywed couple, wishing them well today and always.
