Maid of honour Speech

Maid of honour speeches are becoming more popular and, in fact, the last five years has seen a significant upsurge in the UK. If you are a maid of honour this year then be prepared. Let the best man know if you intend to make a speech so that he can introduce you. Take time out to prepare your speech and make it significant. The maid of honour has no traditional role as such in wedding speech-making; she does not carry the responsibility of thanking the bride, groom, parents or guests, but what she does have is a responsibility to the bride, bridesmaids, flower girls, page boys and ring bearers, if applicable. Although the duty of thanking the bridesmaids is indeed carried by the best man, it is a nice touch for this to be reiterated by the maid of honour.

The maid of honour speech may contain a potted history of how you met the bride, or perhaps you were responsible for introducing the happy couple to one another? Check with the bride beforehand whether she has anyone in particular she would like you to thank, or perhaps she has small gifts for the flower girls and page boys that she would like you to present.

The maid of honour speech is about as free flow as one can get in a formal setting, so be prepared. Choose the subjects you want to talk about carefully and do not speak for too long, nor be too brief. A good average to aim for is around ten minutes. When you have your speech pretty much the way you want it then rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Use a dictaphone so that you can get used to hearing the sound of your own voice, time your speech, and edit it if necessary.

It is always a nice touch to end your speech with an invitation to guests to be upstanding and raise their glasses in a toast to the happy couple.