10 Wedding Speech Examples (And What Makes Them Work)
Real examples of wedding speech openings, structures, and toasts, with analysis of why they land.
Part of the Wedding Speech Examples collection: real speeches across every role.
Most advice about wedding speeches is abstract. "Be personal." "Keep it short." "Make them laugh and cry." That's true, but it doesn't help you when you're staring at a blank page at 11pm two weeks before the wedding.
What actually helps is examples. Not templates to copy, but real openings you can study: what they do, why they work, and what that teaches you about your own speech.
Below are ten fictional but realistic speech openings across six different roles. Each one is followed by a brief breakdown of why it lands.
Best Man, Example 1
"I've known Marcus for seventeen years. I've seen him at his best: the time he stayed in the hospital with me for eight hours after I broke my wrist, just so I wouldn't be alone. And I've seen him at his worst: which I have agreed, legally, not to discuss tonight."
Why it works: One sentence establishes the depth of the friendship. Then it earns a laugh without sacrificing the emotional setup. The contrast between serious and funny is immediate. The "legally" bit shows self-awareness. And it makes you want to know what he's not saying.
Best Man, Example 2
"Tom and I met in a situation I'd rather not explain, in a city we probably shouldn't have been in, doing something that seemed like a better idea at the time. What I can tell you is that by the end of that weekend, I knew I'd met someone I'd be standing next to at moments exactly like this one."
Why it works: Mystery creates forward momentum. You don't explain the story, you gesture at it, which is funnier and more interesting than telling it. The ending lands the emotional note cleanly without being heavy. The audience doesn't need the specifics to feel the weight of the friendship.
Maid of Honor, Example 1
"I've watched Sophie walk into a hundred rooms in the twenty years I've known her. She always does this thing, just before the door opens, where she takes one breath and squares her shoulders. Like she's reminding herself she's ready. I saw her do it just now, before she walked down the aisle. And I've never seen it mean more."
Why it works: This is a specific, observed detail that only someone paying close attention would notice. It's not a compliment. It's evidence. The closing line earns its emotion because the specificity came first.
Maid of Honor, Example 2
"Emma told me about James on a Tuesday afternoon in October. She called me from the parking lot outside her office because she couldn't wait until she got home. In six years of friendship, she has never called me from a parking lot. I knew then."
Why it works: The detail of the parking lot is so specific it becomes funny and tender at the same time. "I knew then" does a lot of work in two words. Before a single piece of advice or praise has been offered, the speaker has already established how well she knows the bride.
Father of the Bride, Example 1
"When Lily was four, she used to tell everyone she met that her dad was the tallest person in the world. I am five foot nine. I have spent the last twenty-four years trying to be worth that description."
Why it works: This is a three-act structure compressed into two sentences. Specific memory. Self-deprecating humor. Emotional resonance. It doesn't tell you what he feels. It shows you.
Father of the Bride, Example 2
"I've given a lot of presentations in my career. Reports to boards. Pitches to clients. I've never been nervous for any of them. I have rewritten this speech eleven times."
Why it works: The contrast between professional confidence and parental vulnerability is something any parent in the room will recognize immediately. It's honest without being maudlin. It signals that what follows will be real, not performed.
Groom, Example 1
"I'm not a person who is typically good at saying the right thing at the right moment. Ask anyone here. Ask her. But I've been practicing this part, because some moments deserve more than my usual instinct to deflect with a joke. This is one of those moments. So I'm going to try."
Why it works: Self-awareness is charming when it's genuine. This opening pre-empts the audience's expectations, which makes everything that follows feel more earned. It addresses the bride directly in a way that creates intimacy in a room full of people.
Groom, Example 2
"Three years ago, at a party I almost didn't go to, I ended up in a conversation about a film neither of us had actually seen. We both pretended we had. We were both wrong about the plot. We've been honest with each other ever since."
Why it works: Origin stories work because they're specific and they imply something about who the couple is. The humor comes from a shared flaw: they were both bluffing. The final sentence is warm and says something real about the relationship without getting sentimental about it.
Mother of the Bride
"I've been thinking about what to say for six months. I kept starting with advice, because that's what mothers do. Then I realized: she doesn't need my advice anymore. She knows exactly who she is and exactly who she's chosen. My job tonight is simply to say: I see it. And I couldn't be more proud."
Why it works: This is honest about a mother's instinct and then consciously overrides it, which is touching. The pivot from advice-giver to witness is genuinely moving. "My job tonight is simply to say: I see it" is the kind of sentence that makes people reach for their napkins.
Wedding Vows
"I spent a long time trying to write the perfect vows. Then I realized that what I want to say to you isn't perfect. It's just true. I love the way you take things seriously that other people shrug off. I love that you remember the names of every person you've ever met. I love that you make ordinary Tuesdays feel like something. And I want to spend every Tuesday I have left figuring out how you do that."
Why it works: Personal vows succeed or fail on specificity. "I love the way you take things seriously" is generic. "I love that you remember the names of every person you've ever met" is specific enough to only apply to one person. The closing image of "ordinary Tuesdays" is concrete, romantic without being performative, and lands with real tenderness.
What all great openings share
Read back through these and you'll notice the same few things.
They start with a specific detail, not a general statement. "I've known him for seventeen years" is generic. "She called me from the parking lot" is specific. Specific is always more powerful.
They earn the emotion. None of these openings declare feelings. They present evidence and let the audience feel it. The difference between "he's the most loyal friend I have" and "he drove four hours on a Tuesday because I sounded sad on the phone" is the difference between telling and showing.
They acknowledge the moment without drowning in it. The best openings notice the strangeness of standing up in front of a room, the weight of the occasion, the speaker's own nerves. This creates connection. It says: I know this matters.
They don't explain the joke. If something is funny, it lands and moves on. If something is tender, the silence does the work.
Keep reading:
- Best Man Speech Examples
- Maid of Honor Speech Guide
- 50 Wedding Speech Opening Lines That Actually Work
Finding your opening is the hardest part. Everything after it gets easier.
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