Few events in life will be as nerve-wracking as your wedding day — except perhaps the day you're someone's best man.
Often it's the best man's speech that the guests are waiting for, because traditionally it's the one that's the most fun. You're likely to hear uncensored, embarrassing stories of the groom's youth, and even the bride might learn something new about their new husband.
But all of this means there's a lot of pressure on the best man. The royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle takes place on Saturday, and if best man Prince William isn't prepared, his speech may fall flat — or he may be outshone by his sister-in-law-to-be, who is a professional actress.
Based on tips from experts, here are 11 rules you should follow to prepare for and deliver a winning best man's speech. After all, once your moment is over, you can finally enjoy the day.
1. Preparation is key
Starting with the obvious, it's really important you rehearse and re-rehearse your speech. Unless you're the most charismatic person alive, being unprepared will probably leave you floundering, and there's nothing worse than forgetting your lines when you have hundreds of eyes on you.
You should also give yourself plenty of time to write the speech. According to experts at Blinkist, an app that condenses nonfiction books into 15 minute chunks, there are some books to help you nail a speech too. They recommend "Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time" by Bill McGowan and Alisa Bowman, and "The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence and Persuasion through the Art of Storytelling" by Annette Simmons, which will help you tell your anecdotes in an exciting and memorable way.
2. Remember your audience
Some best men may be so focused on trying to make their speech funny, they can forget their real audience — the bride and groom.
"While [it] can seem hilariously funny to make jokes about old girlfriends or questionable past behaviour, it's important to keep it clean," Australian etiquette expert Anna Musson told the Daily Mail.
Ultimately, you want to make sure your speech is well received by the couple, because it is their big day after all.
"Remember there are now two families to consider when bringing up old jokes and stories of laddish behaviour," Musson added.
Remember, the father of the bride may have spent a lot of money on the day, and it's not going to be much fun avoiding him all night.
3. Watch your language
There's a good chance you may attend an international wedding at some point. If you're picked to be best man, then you'll probably be delivering your speech where one half of the room is from one country and the other half is from another. This complicates things, not least because the risk of your jokes crashing and burning or being misunderstood dramatically increases.
Experts at Babbel, the language learning app, say in this case you should practice your speech with someone who speaks the first language of the bride or groom. That way, they can let you know if anything is lost in translation, or you've used the wrong word. For example, "embarazada/o" in Spanish doesn’t mean "embarrassed," but translates to "pregnant," while "excité" in French means "aroused" — a couple of mistakes you don't really want to make.
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