4 full speeches
Wedding speech examples when you barely know them
Sometimes you're asked to speak for a couple you've met three times, or about the partner of a friend you've known for years. These full speeches say so honestly and build from what the speaker actually knows.
Say it up front
"I've met Callum three times" earns more trust than pretending you go way back. The room usually knows anyway.
Use what you've seen
One small thing you watched the partner do is worth more than anything you were told. Pick the detail and build around it.
Borrow stories, with credit
Ask people who know them well for a story, and say where it came from. A Story Jar link collects them for you.
The speeches
- Friend or guest · Short · about a minute and a halfWedding Toast From a CoworkerA coworker who knows the bride only from the office is asked to say a few words at a small wedding“Hi, everyone. I'm Barnabas. I should say up front that I know Gilda from work, and only from work. We've sat about four feet apart in the claims office at Lakeview Mutual for five years. I've never seen her house. I have watched her eat the same turkey sandwich roughly twelve hundred times.”
- Friend or guest · Short · about a minute and a halfWedding Toast from a Last-Minute Plus-OneA plus-one at a twenty-two person wedding is asked to say a few words with no notice, having met the couple three times“Hi. I'm Honora. I am here as the date of Iolanthe's cousin, which means I have met the two of you a total of three times, one of which was an hour ago in the parking lot, and now I have a microphone. I want to be honest about that.”
- Best Man · Short · about 2 minutesBest Man Speech When You Barely Know the BrideChildhood friend of the groom who lives out of state and has only met the bride a handful of times“Hi, everyone. I'm Obinna. Calloway and I have been friends since we were eleven, when he lent me his bike and I brought it back with a flat. He still brings that up. I want to be honest with Astrid's side of the room. I have met Astrid four times.”
- Maid of Honor · Heartfelt · about 3.5 minutesMaid of Honor Speech When You Barely Know the GroomThe maid of honor lives across the country and has only met the groom three times, so she builds his part from what she's seen and what the bride has told her, and says so“Hi, everyone. I'm Imani. Dee and I lived across the hall from each other freshman year, which means I've known her through two majors, one haircut we don't discuss, and every apartment she has ever lived in. In 2019 I helped carry a couch up four flights of stairs for her.”
Have a draft already?
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