by Kimberley Heit

Created on: December 07, 2008

The Best Man's speech is expected to be lighthearted and funny, but in a varying group of young and old how do you strike the right note of humor to appeal to everyone? The answer is that you need to do some research, carefully plan your speech and follow a few rules of etiquette.

RESEARCH

Being asked to be the Best Man is a great honor, but come speech time you might find it to be a very nerve-wracking experience. The pressure is on, it's a special moment for the bride and groom and the audience will be looking at you in anticipation. To ensure you feel cool, calm and collected when the time comes make sure you have done your homework.

Long before the wedding date you should ascertain a few things, the first being the formality of the wedding. The tone that the bride and groom are trying to set will give you an idea on what sort of humor to inject into your speech. You will have more freedom if the wedding is quite laidback, but may need to reign it in if a traditional formal affair is on the cards.

The second major thing you need to do is come up with some material to base your jokes on. You should try to include at least one funny story in your speech. Ask the friends and family of the bride and groom for their funny stories. You may come across a horror date they shared that would make everyone laugh or perhaps the groom's mother has some great photos or an item of clothing from the groom's past that you could turn into a great laugh.

You will also want to research some one liner jokes that you could include in your speech to keep it fast paced to hold everyone's attention. Some common examples include:

The easiest way to make sure you remember your wedding anniversary forget it once.

Share everything with your bride including the housework.

You are very lucky to have married Miss right, you just haven't discovered yet that her first name is always.

New research has come to light showing that there is a food that dwindles passion by at least 80%... wedding cake.

RULES OF ETIQUETTE

You need to make sure your jokes will appeal to the entire audience which could include children and elderly people. To make sure people laugh with you rather then cringe at your words consider the following tips on wedding speech etiquette:

-Do not swear-a wedding is generally an elegant occasion and swearing is considered offensive by most in this scenario.

-Do not make any jokes that include ex girlfriends, the bride really doesn't want to hear about a past woman on her wedding day.

-Do

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>