How to write a Best Man’s Speech

How to write a best Mans Speech Writing a best man’s speech is easier than you may think. In this short ‘manual’, if you like, I will take you through all you need to write a great best man’s speech.

[If you are really pressed for time click on our “fill-in-the-blanks Best Man Speech Example”]

When I write a best man’s speech, I always picture a close friend with his partner. Obviously you will have these people in mind. The first thing I do is make a list of things that I need to include, these are

Dates - how long have they been together, how long have they known each other?
Background of his wife to be. Although your speech is not about her, you must give her a paragraph. In this paragraph you say what she is like and how she makes your friend feel.
What they want from life and their relationship.

These few points are essential. As funny as you make your speech you must add real events that have happened (the points above).

The next few points you need are down to you as the best man. You need to write down these points along with the ones above.

A funny story. An essential in a best man’s speech. But there are a few rules you must obey. Firstly, ex-girlfriends are not out of bounds but no gory details, if you know what I mean. If you can, avoid them. Try to make the story between 150 and 300 words. Any less than this, and the story will be too vague, any more and it runs the risk of being too long and dragging to the extent of boredom. Finally the story has to be real, if you make it up, the groom and those who know him will find out, which could lead to a tricky situation.
What is your friend like as a friend, as a partner to his wife to be, and as a man? For example is he a hard worker, romantic etc?
The final two things you need to write are these. What has he achieved in his life, in love with his wife to be? And in his working life, school to work? And secondly how do you want to see him in a year’s time? Kids, a promotion at work, things like that. Also add after these points that you haven’t forgot about his new wife, but that you know they will be together for a lot longer than a year.

After you have got all this information there is a set way that you must write it and say it. If you follow the guide-lined layout, inserting your information, your speech will be close to completion. After you have finished writing in your information, give it to a friend to read. Watch them read it. It is harder to laugh while reading funny material so if they laugh, you have cracked it. If they like it, you are finished. The layout is below for you to follow.

Good luck with your writing. I am sure you will do great.

Firstly thank the groom for his speech, and the father of the bride for his. Also thank all for attending.
Give up a toast for the pair of parents. And say thank you to them on behalf of the bride and groom.
The bride and groom as a couple. What they are like together, etc.
Tell the story of your friend, the funny one. Put real emotion into this to get the best laughs.
What he is like, and what he has achieved. Love and life.
The bride. What she is like and what impact she has made on his life.
The final toast. Just a quick mention to wish them all the best.

Written by the Presentation Helper speech writer - Ryan Marshall

Was this useful. Leave us a comment below or bookmark it on a system like Delicious.

20 June 2007

Comments on: How to write a Best Man’s Speech

this has been so helpful. its not a cut and paste one, which takes all the work out of it and theres plenty of room for your own work and emotions in it. its a great template and i’m so glad i found it

Thank you for your tips and help. I’m nervous but with this help hope it makes it easier - all the way from Sydney Australia

cheers for the help im so nervos over the wedding an after reading your website its set me on me way so now i can get drunk before my speech NOT LOL, nah but thanx a lot for the help , from liverpool uk

From my own experience when I was asked to be a best man, I thought yes what an honour but then, oh no, the speech. Luckily I could write poetry, so I wrote a poem and also luckily I hit the jackpot, it went down a storm, it was perfect and I had accolades all night from lots of guests and photographers.

The beauty of a personalised poem is the fact it is personal, you can read it, and given time to practice, it can be delivered in a meaningful way and last but not least, you don’t have to let on it wasn’t you who wrote it!! But the real beauty is it is a comfort to the best man in case of emergencies; panic attack, too much to drink, etc.

thank you sooo much I’m not a big speakeer around a group of people but when I found out I was speaking in front of 300 people I bricked it! uve made it so much easier thou thanks =0)

thanks for your words of wisdom. as a young best man at my dads wedding its helped me to actually realise what to include in a speech! and is better than those websites which tell you what to write word for word as i can now easily make it personal, yet with a good structure. many thanks.

Yes very helpful never done this before gave me some useful tips and hints thanks….

Thanks , this looks great i am crapping myself but im sure with gr8 template like this and a bit of thought i wont go wrong!!

Thanx for the helpful insight. this is my first best man speech and i’m kinda nervous. great info and direction.

I found the layout provided an excellent tool to found the basis of my speech. I am very grateful for the tools and help provided.
James

A very honest and helpful approach - thank you very much for making this freely available.

thanks for all the help. I ahve to write a best man’s speech in Japanese and as I didn’t even know how to do it in English I panicked, but thanks to this site I have a clearer idea of what to include. Greetings for Tokyo!

This was helpful. I dont like to follow templates but it offered some good tips that lead to good stories for my speech

thanks a million guys you really helped me out as it was my first time with such a task i gain a great amount of knowledge from you THANKS(Jamaica)

Perfect description of what’s needed! I was told 9 months ago this was my job and I’m only getting to it with 3 days to go! I had no clue until I came here

isabel got married in the summer and if it wern’t for this guide i would not have been able to write the speech…yes…it was a lesbian wedding

And recently i am having Presentation in my company so please help me out to give a best presentation in first job career

thank you for the structure & good tips. you have gave me that added confidence with your honesty. hope it sticks. & good luck to all. stay away from the drink.

Great stuff. I’ve read a lot of stuff on the bast man’s speech and this has been the best, most to the point piece I’ve read. Thanks.

thanks very much for the help. succinct and just what you need. writing as a female (sister of the bride and not a lezzer) quite difficult to do best man speech, so simple instructions very welcome - good “bloke language”!

You are expected to be funny, and perhaps even a little rude.
But don’t get too carried away.
There is nothing worse than a best man who lurches from one story of debauchery to another.
And Grandma Margaret is unlikely to take great joy in the finer details of the stag-do in Amsterdam.
The key is to allude to the dirty and debauched past without embarrassing either the groom, the bride or yourself.
Remember that you are there to entertain the entire audience and not just your fellow stags.

Which means:
1. Try to reference each stage of his life
2. Illustrate what a great effect his bride has had on him
3. Thank him for being such a great friend and say some nice things about him too

Talk slowly. If it takes 12 minutes, not nine, it doesn’t matter at all.
Pause for effect. Your audience need time to digest the story before they get the punchline. So give them time to get it.
Emphasise key words. Imagine you’re telling a story to a friend.
Practise. However well written the speech, you don’t want to be ‘reading’ it. Know it well enough that your notes just become a safety net.
Gesticulate. Body language is vital. Use your arms to emphasise a point.
If you’re addressing someone, look at them. Try to make eye contact with your audience whenever you can.

Be put off by a heckle. You can pre-prepare a couple of responses to a noisy member of the crowd.
Give in to the shakes. Holding a shaky piece of paper will put you off before you get going. Paste your speech onto card. Or rest it somewhere you can see it. Find out if there’s a lectern.
Get drunk beforehand. It may feel like the easy way to get through it, but it won’t seem so sensible afterwards.
Just read it out. Great material is irrelevant if it’s delivered badly. You’ll be much more natural when you’re not reading straight from the page.

Thanks for the advice I dont know what people did before websites like this where around, I had no idea of how to present my speech or the order in which to do it very helpful cheers!

Thanks, this is just what I needed to get me started. I had thought about just “winging” it on the day but Im so glad I looked at your website because the worry of making a speech was starting to ruin the whole thing for me. Now that I have a speech written down in front of me I can start to relax a bit. Thank you again your a real God send.

im more nervous than me bro on the big day but this is very useful thanks… wish me luck

My son has panicked - so asked his dear old mum. This is just what he needed. So a great big thank you goes to you. It is perfect - just enough of a guide to build on. Wonderful. Thank you x

some very intersting stuff nice to see an outline and guidance for a quality speech rather than cheap jokes. Thanks very much, R

oh man you saved me from the rattle snakes! at first i was so scared to death thinking about this speach i will make.. so scarred i cant even think! LOL thank you so much!

this is real helpful, am pretty much use to talking in front of large audiences, as i play guitar and vocals in a band, but didn’t av a clue how to shape a speech- really useful advice here!
was very nervous about having to make a speech (the bride is my sister, and i’m going to be the grooms best man- so obviously i know more about the bride than the groom), thankfully this template has really helped!

Many thanks for the advice and ideas, as well as how to structure the speech, given me a great starting point, Thank you again

thanks for this site would like to say tht i was given the opertunity to be the best man for my sisters partner today(12/06/08) but will not be done until july but have looked on this site and found it rather helpful will get back to you when i have done it:-):-) thanks again.

Spot on–Just what I needed a template listing what I should include with gaps for comedy etc-cheers

I had plenty of ideas floating around in my head and i found the structure extremely helpful. Thanks a lot!!

I Done my best man speech at the weekend ther, it went down really well thanks to the advice from the site. Structure, content etc. I had planned to adlib on the day, but glad i found this page to plan it! Goodluck to any-one writing ther speech!

You kno iv’e trailed the internet for months with not much to show untill today by chance i came across your site,Thankyou,thankyou,thankyou iv’e found peace and surely i will sleep tonight as i havent even had a blink of sleep for weeks wracked with worry,public speaking ?who ever started it.

Cheers. This is a great guide and has been really useful. Fingers crossed that I don’t muck up on the day!

Definately a helping hand, im best man in November and really nervous.
This has certainly put my mind at rest.
Im sure i can create a good speech now.!

This is really great advice. I have posted my speech up at http://www.robotii.co.uk/best-mans-speech/ for people to look at. Hopefully this will give an example that people can look at and learn from (not copy I hope)

hiya i have been asked to do best man for my older brother , am only 20 am shy dnt have a clue what to talk about lol anyone can help send sum comments cheers

Truly an amazing page of information, I could not have complete my speeche without this bit of information. One Love!

It is so nice of the people who have thought to put the ideas for others’ help in improving their public speaking.

How to write a Best Man’s Speech

Comments on: How to write a Best Man’s Speech

Post a comment