Best Man Speech Examples: 4 Full Speeches That Actually Work

“For those who don't know me, I'm Daniel, Sam's older brother by three years, which means I have been apologising for him since roughly 1998.

When Sam was seven he decided our dog needed a haircut. He gave her one. With kitchen scissors. In the living room. And when Mum walked in, he looked up and said, completely calm, 'She asked me to.' That is the thing about my brother. He commits. Once he has decided something is a good idea, there is no half version.

For a long time that was mostly a problem for me. He committed to learning the drums the year I had exams. He committed to a road trip in a car with no working second gear. But somewhere in our twenties I noticed the same thing pointed at people. When Dad was in hospital in 2019, Sam took the night shifts for eleven days straight and never once mentioned it to anyone. He just decided that was his job, and did it.

Then he met Priya, and for the first time I watched my brother commit to something that committed back. Priya, you have made him calmer without making him smaller, and I didn't know that was possible. You laugh at him exactly as much as he deserves, which is a lot.

So please stand and raise your glasses. To Sam and Priya: may you keep deciding on each other, every ordinary day, for the rest of your lives.”

“Good evening. I'm Marcus. Eli and I met on the first day of ninth grade when he sat down next to me and asked, with real urgency, whether I thought a person could survive on toast alone. He was fourteen. He was doing research.

That question is the most Eli thing I can tell you, because he has never once been embarrassed about being curious. He asks the question everyone else is thinking. He reads the manual. When our friend group got a group chat, he was the one who set the rules, and the rules were good.

But here is what I actually want to say about him. Two summers ago I lost my job on a Tuesday. I didn't tell anyone. On Wednesday evening Eli was on my doorstep with a lasagne he had clearly made himself, because it was in a tray he had definitely taken from his mother's kitchen, and he said, 'I don't need to know anything. I'm just going to sit here.' And he did. For three hours. We didn't talk about it once.

That's the man Jordan is marrying. Someone who shows up before he's asked and stays until you're okay.

Jordan, the first time I saw you two together, Eli spent twenty minutes explaining the history of the cheese plate, and you listened to every word and then asked a follow-up question. I knew then. He had found someone who would let him be all the way himself.

Everyone, please raise a glass. To Eli and Jordan: may you always have a follow-up question for each other.”

“Hi everyone, I'm Tom. Nate and I were assigned to the same room in first year by a university computer that had, as far as I can tell, no idea what it was doing. He was a chemistry student who woke up at six. I was studying philosophy and did not.

For the first month we communicated entirely through notes on the fridge. His said things like 'Please stop using my milk.' Mine said things like 'Define your.' It should not have worked. It worked because Nate did something I had never seen anyone do before: he assumed I was a decent person before I'd proved it. He kept leaving the milk there.

Four years later, that was still the thing about him. He assumed the best of people and then quietly made it easy for them to live up to it. Our whole floor ended up in that tiny room on Sunday nights because Nate made pancakes and never asked anyone to bring anything.

Claire, I want to tell you the exact moment I knew. It was the holiday party in your second year together. Nate had been trapped by a man explaining spreadsheets for a very long time. You walked over, put a hand on his back, and said, 'Sorry, I need him.' He looked at you like he'd been rescued from a burning building. I have watched you rescue each other, cheerfully, ever since.

Please raise your glasses. To Nate and Claire: may you always be the person who says 'I need him' and 'I need her,' and may you always mean it.”

“I'm Ben, and I'll keep this short because Ryan asked me to and, for the first time in our friendship, I'm going to do what he says.

Ryan is the only person I know who has been banned from a pub quiz for being too good, and the only person I know who then went back, apologised, and offered to write the questions. That's him. Annoyingly right, immediately sorry, and somehow more likeable for both.

Alex, I've seen you beat him at that quiz. Twice. He talks about it more than he talks about his degree. Watching him lose to you is the happiest I have ever seen him.

Everyone, glasses up. To Ryan and Alex: may you keep winning arguments you both enjoy losing.”