The Best Man Speech and Toasts
Some of the tensest moments for the best man can come when it's time for them to give a traditional toast, or the best man's speech. First of all, remember, most of the people in the wedding party and at the reception only care about everyone being happy, so relax, be prepared, and enjoy yourself.
There are different types of wedding toast as well as speeches from the funny, to the serious, to those that make you tear up. It's all according to the wedding type, and also to your relationship with the best man and his bride. You might want to run your wedding toast or speech by the groom or someone in the wedding party. There's nothing wrong with keeping a secret, but perhaps a heads up if it's going to be funny, or a bit of a burn is something that you'll want them to be aware of.
You find a variety of different tips, speeches, and different toasts that you can do all available online. Remember that this is a personal experience for the bride and groom as well as those involved in the wedding party, so besides taking a canned speech of the Internet, tweak it a bit and make it personal. After all, there's a reason they asked you to be the best man, it's because you're close to the groom, possibly the bride and the whole wedding party as well.
Take a bit of time and let your subconscious work over someone else's speech in order to make it personal. Certain memories, certain adventures, can be referenced in a speech, but make sure that it's either a well-known memory or adventure, or you give a bit of the details. Private jokes are just not that much fun when it comes to the wedding party speech or toast, so keep them as open as possible, unless it's most people at the wedding reception know about it. Laughter is great, but not if you don't know why people are laughing.
Besides the speech you may also be asked to make a few toasts. The best man or the best woman make the first toast at the reception dinner or activity. Again, it doesn't have to be difficult, something short and sweet is just as nice as long and funny.
The big thing to remember when it comes to making a speech or toast, is don't wing it. If you try winging a speech or toast there is a good chance you're going to say and, and, and or umm, umm a million times and look like a fool. Prepare your speech well ahead of time, and then don't forget to practice. If you prepared accordingly, standing up for the best man's speech or toast, will be an enjoyable task instead of one that has a using more deodorant.