Maid of Honor Speeches

A Guide to Wedding Speeches

        A Maid of Honor is often a sister, sometimes a best friend, and usually asked to speak at the wedding.  The good news:  being a sister or best friend makes this kind of speech easy!  Really, all these speeches do is talk about the great qualities of the bride and her relationship with the groom.  Still, it can be a bit intimidating, so here are some pointers:

• Brainstorm - Start off by thinking about stories about the bride.  How do you know each other?  What memories bring a smile to your face?  What do you know about the groom, how they met, what their relationship is like?  If you could put together a "guide for marrying my friend/sister," how would it go?  Get all this stuff down on paper, then run it by some people, and see what they like.  One more thing; the Best Man certainly won't mention the bachelor party.  It's probably best not to mention its counterpart!  

• Balance - Now that you've got some good stories for entertainment value, make sure that you've balanced the speech out with some good mushy stuff.  Remember, the audience for this speech includes some older folks who'd just like to hear a pleasant speech that'll make them say "oh my, wasn't that nice?"  You need to make sure those people are taken care of!  It's best to start with the funny stuff, then transition to the mushy stuff.  

• Remember the Requirements - As with all speeches at a wedding, the Maid of Honor speech should end with a toast.  Toasts can be tough!  There's a lot of pressure to be not only eloquent, but to be deep and sufficiently concise.  Don't be afraid to go through drafts - speak from the heart!  This is the capper for your speech.  Be sweet, and genuine - don't try too hard to write something complicated and verbose.  Just feel it.

• Be Loose! - Nobody wants a rigid speech here;  it should be as heartfelt and genuine as possible.  Instead of actually writing this speech out word-for-word, just write general bullet points to guide you - that way the words will come naturally, and you won't just be reading it from a card.  Don't be afraid of getting "emotional" - tears can be very endearing, and are often contagious in the best ways.  Relax, and smile - these are all your friends!  They love you.  And they're probably already drunk anyway.

       Hopefully now you're ready to wow'em at the wedding.  I don't have any examples of Maid of Honor speeches (sorry!), but I do have a sample Best Man speech on this site.  Check it out, and think about overall tones - they're pretty much the same for any wedding speech.  Good luck!