How to Write a Maid of Honor Speech

Weddings come with monumental significance —and it’s not only the bride that may have butterflies in her stomach. For everyone involved, there is an important role to play, very few as important as rendering the maid of honor speech. 

As a maid of honor, you have a list of essential tasks, including the maid of honor best friend speech you deliver during the wedding ceremony. Even though this speech is given before loved ones and friends, writing and delivering the perfect maid of honor best friend speech may be nerve-wracking! 

Wanting to fit all your nostalgic and memorable moments into a few paragraphs may be more daunting than you initially thought. Suddenly, the idea of facing such an audience may no longer sound pleasurable. 

Therefore, we shall thoroughly discuss writing a maid of honor speech in this discourse, and further maid of honor speech tips will come in handy. 

Before you put ink to paper, you can watch this epic maid of honor speech that can get your creative juices flowing:

How do you write a maid of honor speech?

If you’re struggling to write a maid of honor speech, you’re not alone. In the section below, we’ll provide you with helpful tips to create a memorable speech for the bride and guests together.

1. Brainstorm

How to write a maid of honor speech? Kick up a storm of emotions, fun memories, and pleasurable nostalgia to spur your creative process. It is important to note that perfection is not key on the first try. 

Therefore, allow yourself to engage in free writing for at least twenty minutes. Doing this will enable you to weave intricate memories into words, which you may refine later in the speech. Brainstorming will allow you to create a blueprint that guides the birth of a perfect maid of honor speech. 

2. Avoid generic praise 

You aim to come off as a true friend with meaningful connections with the bride. Therefore, ensure that while writing the maid of honor speech, you craft meaningful stories that speak to the depth of your friendship with the bride. 

Essentially, this maid of honor speech tip advises against vague praises that bounce off as lacking depth in memories or pleasurable events.

3. Don’t make your speech about you 

Almost all short maid of honor speech examples fixate on the bride and her relationship with the person reciting the speech. Your anecdotes should paint a picture of beautiful moments with you and your friend. Therefore, avoid languages that paint you as the focal point of the ceremony. 

Briefly introducing yourself to the audience should be the only reference to yourself since some of the bride’s family members may not know you. Remember that you are not the reason why the newlyweds are fantastic –you are the vehicle for explaining why the newlyweds are great people. 

4. Refrain from mentioning past romantic relationships 

Not mentioning past relationships is a no-brainer while writing a maid of honor speech. On such joyous occasions, past relationships should remain where they are —in the past. 

Therefore, the tone of the maid of honor best friend speech must be positive and not a vain attempt to 

roast the newlyweds.  

5. Keep it Short

The best maid of honor speeches are short. The longer the speech, the shorter the audience’s attention span. Therefore, experts have always recommended that maid of honor speeches be kept under five minutes.

6. Practice

‘Practice makes perfect’, people say, and this philosophy applies even to writing a perfect speech. 

The more you write and refine the maid of honor speech, the more your creativity flows into the speech. This also helps with your rendition of the speech at the wedding ceremony.

What do you say in a maid of honor speech?

The maid of honor speech is too important to just wing it. Unless you are J.K Rowling, you should use the following as a roadmap of things you can say in the speech. 

1. Introduction

The formalities are necessary to ensure everyone is acquainted with themselves. However, as the maid of honor, your introduction should be minimal, as you don’t want to steal the show at someone else’s wedding.

2. Always start with the bride 

How to start maid of honor speech? As we mentioned, you should not lather your maid of honor best friend’s speech with vague compliments about the bride. Instead, always ensure that you employ storytelling in your reminisces, detailing how the bride is a good person. 

3. Share the love story of the newlyweds 

Share your version of how the two newlyweds met. You can briefly highlight how the bride knew she had met “the one.”

4. Compliment the groom 

Always politely compliment the groom. Talk about how the groom is the best partner for the bride. However, be generous in your compliments. Keep it light and respectful. 

Related Reading: 30 Compliments for Men That They Love to Hear More Often

5. Celebrate the couple

When writing your maid of honor speech, always talk about how the couple looks good together. Also, speak to the impact the newlyweds have had on each other. 

6. A word of advice for the newlyweds

Before rounding up your maid of honor speech, you can wish the newlyweds fantastic things ahead and offer some pearls of wisdom that will serve as premarital counseling to the newlyweds.

7. Toast to the newlyweds

Finally, toast the latest couple in town. You can browse cool wedding quotes to round the speech up like a pro. 

When does the maid of honor give her speech?

Firstly, you need to note that there are two places where a maid of honor may deliver her speech: the dress rehearsals and the wedding reception. 

In a typical wedding setting, the maid of honor gives her speech after the newlyweds’ parents have rendered their speeches. 

However, the order of the speech can be altered by several factors, including the wedding’s party size and the reception timeline. 

Nevertheless, it is essential always to confirm the line-up with the newlyweds.

What NOT to say in a maid of honor speech?

Just as important as knowing what to say is knowing what not to say. The following are no-go areas: 

1. Do not mention past romantic relationships 

As earlier mentioned, romantic relationships should not be the meat of your maid of honor best friend speech. You need to ensure that your speech elevates the moods of the newlyweds and not otherwise.

2. Do not employ inside jokes

It’s ok to poke the newlyweds with a joke or two. However, using inside jokes that the context may not be appropriately understood should be avoided. 

Also, do not make jokes that will cause the newlyweds to go red in the cheeks from embarrassment. Always keep the maid of honor speech light-hearted and fun.

3. Not-so-legal activities of the newlyweds

The audience doesn’t need to know how the bride was the ‘Bonnie Parker’ of her youth before she met her partner or the groom’s college shenanigans. Even though such stories may sound comical in light of the occasion, they do not fit the occasion’s context.

4. Bachelorette party shenanigans

As they say, whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Likewise, whatever may have occurred during the bachelorette party should not be disclosed to the wedding guests. The audience does not need to know the details of the occasion. 

5. How bad the wedding planning phase was

Understandably, the entire planning phase of the wedding may be stressful. However, the awful and hectic planning phase details should not feature in your maid of honor speech. 

Instead, you should focus more on the pleasures of the entire phase and blot out grievances you may nurse towards the newlyweds and their wedding. 

6. Embarrassing tales of the bride’s past

Being the bride’s maid of honor implies that you have seen her in her best and worst times, having known her for a long time. 

However, these embarrassing stories should not only be the subject matter of the maid of honor speech. You must reciprocate the honor the newlyweds have bestowed on you by keeping off the embarrassing stories. 

7. Anti-marriage beliefs

Finally, your antagonistic views about marriage should not feature in your maid of honor speech. Giving your maid of honor speech is not an avenue for your opposition to the essence of marriage.

When writing the maid of honor speech, the focal points should remain the newlyweds, how they fit perfectly, and how awesome the wedding ceremony has been.

Some more questions

Still have questions about writing a maid of honor speech? Our additional questions on the topic have got you covered with more helpful tips and answers to come in handy when the need arises.

• How long is a good maid of honor speech

One recurring theme throughout this discourse is the length of a maid of honor speech. We have advocated for your maid of honor speeches to be short and sweet. A maid of honor speech should be between three and five minutes tops. 

The audience will love to hear about the fun times you and the bride may have had before the wedding. However, you should do it in moderation to ensure you retain the audience’s interest until the end.

• What do I do if there are multiple maids of honor?

Where there are multiple maids of honor, each maid of honor should ensure that the maid of honor speeches are kept between three to five minutes. 

However, before you and the other maids of honor give your speeches, it may be profitable to discuss with the maids of honor to ensure that the speeches are not vastly similar. 

Therefore, engaging in a joint maid of honor speech gives you space for creativity. For instance, all the maids of honor may perform a song for the newlyweds. 

• What should a maid of honor do first?

Before a maid of honor faces the audience to give her maid of honor, there are certain duties or tasks that she has to carry out. As mentioned, a maid of honor has many functions to perform. They include: 

• Assuming a leadership position concerning the wedding preparation

As a maid of honor, you supervise and organize the other housemaids. 

You also control and monitor all the plans for the wedding —from the bachelorette party to the wedding itself. In addition, you must ensure that you lend a listening ear to the other bridesmaids. 

• Support the bride during the wedding shopping 

When the bride decides to go shopping for wedding dresses, the maid of honor must ensure she is on hand to accompany the bride and offer her honest thoughts and opinions. 

Support can be in the form of accompanying the bride to her salon bookings and other appointments. 

• Assist in planning the bridal shower 

Although the conventional routine is for the bride’s mother or mother-in-law to accompany the bride to her bridal shower, the maid of honor may be needed to assist the bride in whatever function is required in that specific context.

• Planning the bachelorette party 

Being the maid of honor means that you take charge of the events that will eventually comprise the bachelorette party. 

However, a word of caution should be stated –the maid of honor should never forget that it is the bride’s wedding, not hers. Therefore, choosing a location and events that befits the bride’s personality is a must-do for the maid of honor. 

The maid of honor needs to envisage the budget of the other bridesmaids in planning the pre-wedding functions, as the other bridesmaids should not stretch themselves too thin to keep up with the functions. Crucial considering the bridesmaids are responsible for some of the bride’s costs.

• Be there for all her pre-wedding needs

A maid of honor picks up the bits and pieces the bride may have overlooked. The maid of honor ensures that no stone is left unturned.

These may range from ensuring that the precious bouquet is well-preserved to ensuring that personal requests from the bride are attended to. 

• Supervising the bridesmaids at the wedding 

Finally, the maid of honor needs to ensure that the activities, such as getting the bridesmaids ready for the honor sessions, helping the bride hold her wedding dress when she needs to use the restroom, etc. 

Essentially, the maid of honor needs to ensure she is an invaluable asset in the hands of the bride. 

It’s about pouring your heart out in an amicable way

In the end, the maid of honor is a vital role that the bride’s friend or sister must take with utmost seriousness. Writing and delivering the maid of honor’s speech is the icing of a long-lasting friendship. 

Therefore, writing the maid of honor’s speech should encompass all the “sugar and spice” of such friendship.