Updated on: Feb 24, 2024
Are you here because you are struggling to write a speech for possibly your best friend? Sister? Or maybe even your mom? This time isn’t just stressful for the bride but the maid of honor too. Everything seems like it has to be perfect. Why? It’s because we care so much about the day going smoothly and sometimes we forget about an important part of the maid of honor’s day and that is the Maid of Honor Speech. In this article, there are some tips and ideas to help you write the most creative, funny, and heartfelt speech that will for sure leave your bride very content with their choice of their maid of honor. After you wrap this up, you can move on to the fun part, planning the bridal shower!
Writing The Maid of Honor Speech
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1. How Start the Maid of Honor Speech
I am sure most of you already know this but make sure to introduce yourself at the beginning. You’d be surprised how many Maid of Honor’s and Best Men forget to introduce themselves. Not everyone is going to know who you are, in fact, most everyone will not know who you are. So a short introduction is important.
Introduce yourself and your relationship with the bride. An extra thought to maybe add to this is to thank some people during this time like parents, wedding planners and anyone who you feel should be thanked. This is also the time you most likely have everyone’s attention so adding a joke to get the ball rolling is not a bad idea but be sure the joke will land.
2. Don't Wait Until The Last Minute
Procrastination takes over the majority of people and can be difficult to overcome. Remembering to give yourself an ample amount of time to compose your speech is a basic task that needs to be covered when distinguishing how to write a maid of honor speech. Leaving this honor to be done at the last minute will prove to show through your speech and can be quite embarrassing. Distinguishing how to write a maid of honor speech can be time-consuming and frustrating but follow these tips and you'll for sure learn how to write a maid of honor speech!
3. Talk About The Bride and Groom
When explaining your relation to the Bride and Groom, go into a little detail on each of them. Talk about their personalities, how you know them, and anything you think worth mentioning. Also talk about how they met, what they do for fun, and how they work together. This is something the audience is interested in and you, as the maid of honor, most likely have the first-hand experience with these things. A couple of embarrassing comments (within reason) are welcomed here. Don’t forget how these things you have talked about making them perfect for each other.
4. Tell a Story
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This is where you can tell a story either on just the bride or both the bride and groom. Depending on your story, try to make it a funny or heartfelt story, it’s up to you. You just want to make sure you are telling a story of substance so the crowd does not get lost easily. Also, make sure it somehow ties to the rest of what you are going to say. This may be the most fun part for you because you have a personal connection to the story.
5. Make Fun but Not Too Much
Making some subtle jokes about the Bride and Groom is okay to do when you are going over how to write a maid of honor speech. There is a fine line where you should not cross. Reaching close to that line is quite alright as long as it is light-hearted and not malicious. There is nothing wrong with trying to remember to get a good laugh when figuring out how to write a maid of honor speech.
6. Offer Guidance
This can be a tricky idea when you're trying to figure out how to write a maid of honor speech, offering guidance could be smart to add to your speech depending on your relationship with the bride and groom. If you feel you are in the position to offer guidance to them then do just that. It doesn’t have to be a huge opinion on their relationship or love in general, something as simple as “Love each other” or “Be there for one another” can go a long way.
7. The Shorter the Better
This can be a hard thing to do, especially if you are someone who likes to talk. When writing your speech, the smart thing to do is to keep it short and concise. If you know you are one to ramble on, something you may want to consider is maybe having a notecard or slip of paper that has your talking points to keep you on track. Everyone has been to a wedding where the Maid of Honor or Best Man speech goes too long and people get bored. Stick to what you have written down and trust it to work.
8.Make a cheat sheet
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Who says your HAVE to memorize your speech word for word? It is perfectly alright to read you how to write a maid of honor speech cheat sheet! Nobody is going to judge you for wanting to come prepared to show your bride how much you love and support her. Another great idea is to use nicely colored paper. This can increase the chances of you delivering a very classy made of honor speech!
9. Toast to Finish
Remember when you're going over how to write a maid of honor speech, that a good way to wrap up the speech and get things moving again is by raising a toast to the bride and groom. This is where you can wrap everything up while tying it back to your speech. Maybe your story had a connection to where you can wrap it up in a creative yet heartfelt way. It may seem like a little part that does not have much importance but this can really bring everything together and leave people saying “She did a really good job!”.
10.Practice your speech over and over
Many steps go into learning how to write a maid of honor speech, however, practicing your speech over and over is the best way to drill the speech in place. There's nothing worse than forgetting or mistaking some words in place of others. Practicing and reciting in front of a mirror can be a great practicing technique in learning how to write a maid of honor speech!
11. Get an Opinion
Unless you have predetermined you will not share the speech with anyone, we suggest you share your written speech. Ask a close friend or family member to just look it over and suggest some things for you. It also may help you with possible run-off sentences or grammatical errors. You never know, they could give you an idea for a joke or story that could help your speech. It's always good to get a second opinion.
12. Be you
Remember, this is your speech. You do not need to go above and beyond for the speech. If you are more introverted and laid back you don’t need to be a funny comedian. If you are an outgoing, funny person there is no need to make sure you write a heartfelt message. Let everyone see who you are and embrace it. Trust us, the bride will be more than happy if you write something that is you and not something you are trying to be so make sure to make a note of that when going about how to write a maid of honor speech.
How to Write a Maid of Honor Speech: The Do Nots!
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There are a few things you probably shouldn’t do when you construct how to write a maid of honor speech. Some may not be that big of a deal if done but others may be detrimental to your speech. Take note and make sure to keep these away!
13. Watch How Much You Drink
Most weddings are long days of picture taking and sitting around and once that wedding ends and you walk out the wedding party usually goes on a party bus or does some sort of activity that involves drinking. Everyone is going to be excited and ready to party, you have to remember that you have a speech to take care of so just make sure you don’t drink too many vodka sodas or white claws. Slurring your words or swaying back and forth is not a good sign of sobriety so control yourself before the speech. Don’t worry, there is plenty of time to party once your speech is over.
14. No Past Relationships
In your speech, it is probably not a good idea to mention any past relationships or exes the bride or groom had. You probably already knew this but just to make sure, it’s not a good idea. So remember this when you're identifying how to write a maid of honor speech. It brings awkwardness to the room and it is just not worth mentioning no matter how funny the joke may be. So don’t mention a hookup she had in college with the football player or the boy who dumped her over text, keep the focus on the couple at hand and you should be okay.
15. Don't Ramble
A good thought to remember when identifying how to write a maid of honor speech includes refraining from rambling. This idea goes back to the point of keeping the speech nice and short. Mentioning it again is worth it. Write your speech and stick to it. This will keep you from going off script and it will also keep the audience engaged. Introduce yourself, talk about the bride and groom, tell a story, offer guidance, raise a toast and that is it.
16. Everyone Should Know What You Are Saying
By this we mean, no inside jokes or random topics that don’t mean much to anyone besides you. Having an inside joke with your bride is nice but maybe not something worth mentioning in the speech because everyone else listening will be left confused and probably less interested in the rest of your speech. Refraining from inside jokes is another good tip on how to write a maid of honor speech.
17. Leave Time For Reaction
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One big tip on how to write a maid of honor speech is allowing your audience to react to your speech. Rushing through your speech and not leaving space in between your segments could confuse your audience. The more you give your audience the more engaged they will be in your speech.
18. End With a Positive Outlook
Remembering to show support and overall love for the bride and the groom is a great tip to use when identifying how to write a maid of honor speech. Showing the audience and everyone involved how enthusiastic and supportive you are is imperative.
Maid of Honor Speech: Conclusion
The last thing we will leave you with is that this isn’t the most important thing in the world. It may seem like it at the time but once it is over you will wonder why you got so nervous. It will be a few minutes of talking in front of people you don’t necessarily know and then it’s over. If you take a few things from this and use them correctly, you should be able to know how to write a maid of honor speech that will be a crowd favorite. We have also got you covered if you're still trying to look for wedding ideas. Just take a look at our blog!
Written by Jack Wassel