Maid of Honour Speeches

How to write a maid of honor speech

• Introduction – it might sound basic but always intro yourself and preferably in a funny way.
• Story – chances are that you’re going to précis the Bride’s life. My policy is to make up what you don’t know and as long as it’s drop dead funny, people will love that it’s an obvious fabrication.
• Length – with a Maid of Honour Speech on the schedule that means there at least 3 other speakers. So aim for around 5-6 minutes or about 800 words max.
• Love life – as with the Best Man, this is best avoided. There might be some great stories in there but now is not the time.
• Funny – it’s not just the Best Man who should be funny, any wedding speech without laughs is a tragic waste. Aim for one gag a paragraph. The comedy’s in there you just have to find it – not cut and paste it.
• Toast – it might seem logical that as you’re talking about the bride you should toast her. Wrong. Always toast the happy couple at the end, never individuals in isolation.
• Thanks – you don’t need to thank anyone. Keep it tight.
• The Groom – make this the penultimate thought before you go into the heartfelt friend bit. You only need about 3-4 sentences on him and it should neatly summarise just what a great guy he is and the amazing effect he’s and on your friend. If you’re struggling, just lie.

What to avoid

• Venue – Whatever you do don’t be tempted to thank the venue out of sheer separation for something to say, or God forbid – welcome people to the wedding. By the time you stand up guests will be dropping like flies from thanks/welcome fatigue. Don’t inflict any further casualties.
• The Groom – even if you think he’s the devil in disguise a few words about the groom are the order of the day.Thankfully most MOH’s have a great relationship and it’s a great topic for you to have fun with, but it is surprising how many forget to mention the groom in they speech.However, if he’s that toxic you should really be thinking twice about accepting the gig.
• Sustained Heavy Drinking – a glass or two throughout the day to steady the ship can make things seem more relaxed and indeed often improve performance. Over step the mark, however, and you’re only going to be living it down for the rest of your life.
• Length – the length of the speech is crucial to its success. Don’t make it so short that people will be wondering why you bothered and don’t make it so long that guests are seriously considering putting a contract out on you. You should be looking at a speaking time of around 7 minutes, but anything less than 5 is looking a little on the brief side.

• Rehearse – read through the speech as often as you can but never set out to memorise, or you will just send yourself crazy. If you keep reading it, the speech will naturally fall into blocks and then you can use prompt cards on the day.
• Eye Contact – remember to have as much eye contact with the guests as possible. If you end up reading it from a sheet, pause, look up and then carry on. Head buried is not a good way to engage people.
• Shaky hands – you’ll have so much adrenaline coarsing through your system that no matter how confident you’re feeling your hands will be shaky. Either find something you can rest your notes on or mount your speech on something like a board to keep it steady.
• Pauses – a great speech lives and dies on it pauses. Work out where they’re going to be and milk them.
• Pace – always slow and steady, never be tempted to rush anything because if you do all the jokes and sentiment will be completely lost.
• Alcohol – A little in the run up to the speech is a good idea; you’ll be relaxed and it will take the edge off. Getting hammered will be the worst idea you’re ever going to have.

Opening Lines in a Maid of Honour Speech

Closing Lines in a Maid of Honour speech

Using comedy in your speech

Structuring the Maid of Honour speech