Best man toast tomorrow, any last minute advice?

[sethypooh21]

I was the best man at my dad's (2nd, LDO) wedding last summer, and was told that my toast was good. For a relative I think you have a LOT of room for razzing as long as it's A) good natured and B) PG-13 or better.

After an opening quip (my dad gave a speach at my HS graduation many years ago, so I remarked about the chance for payback...) definitely start off with something about being sad that certain people couldn't be there to see this joyous, blah blah blah. Tell funny stories about the groom, and why the bide will help him avoid doing such stupid things in the future. End with a profession of love for every. Toast, drink.

???

Profit.

[Borodog]

This one went over well at my brother's wedding. I said that he was certainly in my top 3 favorite brothers (I have 3 brothers).

[inlemur]

I may (or may not, the wedding has already been postponed once for reasons not made known to me) be best man in my best friend since kindergarten's wedding this coming fall. The problem is I pretty much hate the bride-to-be. He's making a terrible mistake and I'm not the only one who thinks this. Still, he's my best friend and asked me to be best man. Assuming the wedding happens, how do I get through a toast in an appropriate way without lying through my teeth about how great I think the marriage is?

[idrinkcoors]

[ QUOTE ]
Assuming the wedding happens, how do I get through a toast in an appropriate way without lying through my teeth about how great I think the marriage is?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you a great friend to your buddy, (and I assume you are since he chose you to be best man), then it is your duty to look past your personal bias and commit wholeheartedly to supporting your friend's decision. You may think the bride is lying scum...but it doesn't matter. You aren't marrying her, he is, and you owe it to him to support the decision he has already made.

As far as the toast, I kind of have an idea I'll run by you:

Gather the names of the bridesmaids, and call them. They will have great quotes for you to use about the bride. After all, they like her. (Plus this will give you a chance to bond with potential wedding night hook-ups).

Anyway, during your toast, you can use words to the effect of:

"I obviously don't know Sally as well as I know Bob, but I was talking to her good friend and bridesmaid Ashley, and she told me that Sally has always been there for her. She said Sally is someone you can always count on..." etc.

Basically, since you don't like Sally, you are using her friends to help you.

Then you can give a meaningful wish for the couples' future. Make sure you mean it when you toast, because people will be able to tell if your are insincere. Again, you may hate her, but your buddy loves her. And you want him to be happy right?

Good luck.

[RERAISE5823]

[ QUOTE ]
I may (or may not, the wedding has already been postponed once for reasons not made known to me) be best man in my best friend since kindergarten's wedding this coming fall. The problem is I pretty much hate the bride-to-be. He's making a terrible mistake and I'm not the only one who thinks this. Still, he's my best friend and asked me to be best man. Assuming the wedding happens, how do I get through a toast in an appropriate way without lying through my teeth about how great I think the marriage is?

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow I'm in the same situation except I hate my friend and like his fiance, LOL. Also, I'm moving halfway across the country and he still expects me to fly back and do all the best man stuff, but has changed the date of the wedding 3 times. I'm guessing my speech is going to be one of those drunken horrible ones LOL.

[slickpoppa]

Alright I'm back and thankfully the speech went really, really well. I got a lot of compliments about it afterwards.

I was pretty nervous beforehand, but once I got into it and people laughed at my first joke, I was totally relaxed.

The gist of the speech was:

- Thanked everyone for coming.

- Thanked the parents of the bride and groom, not for helping with the wedding, but for raising such great children.

- Introduced myself

- Then I said something along the lines of: "I have to admit, when the groom told me that I was going to be his best man and I realized that I’d have to give a toast, I was a little nervous. But then when I thought about it some more, I also realized that this gives a unique opportunity. This might be the first time in my life where I get to talk and my btoher has to shutup and listen." (This worked pretty well because my brother is really loud and talkative and I'm pretty quiet.)

- Then: "But more importantly, this toast has given me a reason to reflect about this wonderful marriage. And I have to tell you, the more the reflecting I do, the more and more I wonder about how my brother was able to end up with such a beautiful, intelligent, and caring woman as the bride. I mean think about it: (Then I made three lighthearted insults that showed why he wasn't worthy of her)"

- "The only thing I can think of that explains how my brother ended up with the bride is that he must have had a really good pickup line. So with that I mind, I compiled a list of the Top 10 pickup lines that my brother might have used when he first met the bride."

- I asked the crowd for a drumroll and then read the top 10 list. I had come up with a really good list that poked fun at my brother, and people were laughing pretty hard.

- After that I transitioned into the more serious and sappy part of the speech. I started off with my brother and then talked about the bride and explained why they were so lucky to have each other.

- I then closed the toast with a verse from "Born to Run Bruce Springsteen song, which I explained was very appropriate because their first date was a Bruce concert and my brother is a HUGE Springsteen fan. The verse ended with the words: "But I gotta know how it feels; I want to know if love is wild, babe I want to know if love is real" So after reading that I said how they have discovered that love actually is real, and that we should all toast to that.



So all in all I thought it was a great experience, and I'm really glad that I didn't try to wing it. I was definitely helped out by the fact that everyone in the crowd was the type who likes to joke around, and my brother's personality gave me some good material to work with.

[idrinkcoors]

Slickpoppa,

Just reading this on the computer a couple thousands of miles away from you, I can tell you hit a grand slam. Great job.

You obviously were smart enough to know your audience and tailor the speech to them. Congrats.

Now, about those bridesmaids. B,B or V?

[JaredL]

Slickpoppa,

Well done.

Pick up lines please!

[PokerFox]

this is a fan [censored] tastic thread. I am going to be the best man in a few months and I'm almost thinking I should c/p this into a txt file in case 2p2 crashes, somehow.

Thanks to everyone that gave advice, and grats poppa. This thread rules!

A+

[Your Mom]

I think reading Pacino's speach in Scent of a Woman would be great. In the middle, you get to pick out 3 relatives and say, "Uncle Bob, Aunt Mary, Grandma, Fu&k you too.