Best Man without the Best Plan

[Aquafina]

My college friend asked me a few months ago to be the best man at his wedding on July 16, 2011 and I have recently been searching for hints and tips on how to write a good best man speech for the reception. The problem I have is that I have never met anyone from either the Bride or Grooms family. I met them in college and never had any interaction with anyone from their families.

 

Simply put, all I know is that their families have no idea how the Bride and Groom are outside of their hometown. My friend and I spent our 4 years of college getting drunk nearly every other night, having ridiculously large fires in our backyard, stealing street signs, and generally being wildly inapproriate. Their families are very conservative, naive, and are even upset that there's going to be alcohol at the reception at all.

 

Basically all my stories and memories of my friend and his bride start with, "One time when were were all wasted..." or "I'm not sure how we didn't get arrested when..." and I can't be telling those stories, or even hinting towards them. I know the best man speech is supposed to be light hearted and humorous, but I have nothing to work with! Just wondering if anyone has any advice as to how to handle this or hints or tips for me? I have the serious part of the speech down (telling the Bride she's beautiful, how happy I am for them...all that), just not anything fun to add.

 

Also, I'm in the military and was shipped away from Ohio (where we all lived and went to school) and have had no part in the planning or execution of this wedding. I read I'm supposed to thank the parents and bridal party for their hard work, but wouldn't that be kinda weird since I'm basically coming in out of nowhere and nobody even knows who I am????

 

Thanks everyone...I appreciate any and all advice and help!

[mdog]

hmmm..I wonder why they chose you as a candidate? This could be quite interesting, but also bad at the same time. There is really nothing that you could talk about other than those moments?

 

To be honest, if i was in your situation, I would probably hint at those moments in time. I wouldnt go into detail about every little thing..but i would hint at something to where the audience could understand, but the bride and groom..definitely know what you are talking about. The toast is to the bride/groom..not the audience. I mean, if both families think that their son and daughter (groom and bride) were angels in college..then they do not know what college is like. There is a REASON that the couple picked you to speak. I guess you should look at is as..they picked you and they see you as a great friend. Who cares what the families think..it's about the bride and groom! Let alone, you might not ever see the families again..

[Aquafina]

Yeah I know it's about the Bride and Groom but I can't go up there and just say whatever I want with total disregard for the families. As much as this day is about the Bride and Groom, it's also about their families and the joining of the two families.

[mdog]

Well, i guess your next option is to ask the bride and groom and ask for their opinions on the matter since they know their families the best. Another option is you just give a toast to the couple and congratulate them on their day and no humorous remarks at all about any of your experiences. If the families are that conservative then you should just keep it simple and sincere because you could offend them by acting funny (since you don't really know them at all). Plus, you did say that they are appalled that there will be alcohol, so if you wanna play it safe just keep it simple.