Expert Tips & Examples for Short Best Man Speeches

Being asked to be a best man is a total honour, but since one of the main best man duties is to give a best man’s speech, you might still be feeling a little nervous about the whole thing. For many, long speeches just don't land with an audience, which is why we recommend short best man speeches so often. 

The best man speech is one of the most highly anticipated of the day, and not only does it need to be funny, it needs to be engaging and that little bit sentimental.

If there are several people making speeches, or you want to ensure you keep the room on its toes and keep everyone engaged, a short best man speech is the way to go.

A Complete Guide to Short Best Man Speeches 

With our top tips, structure ideas and real life short best man speech examples, you're guaranteed to nail the content, delivery and length of your speech. 

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to get reading, writing and practising.

• How to Structure Short Best Man Speeches
• How to Deliver Short Best Man Speeches
• Short Best Man Speech Examples

How to Structure Short Best Man Speeches

Hoping to deliver a blinding short best man speech, but not sure what structure to follow? Below, we explain how you can break your speech into three simple sections, covering everything your speech needs to, injecting a bit of humour and still maintaining a short best man speech structure.

1. Introduce Yourself

Whether you're delivering short best man speeches or longer monologues, you always need to start with a brief introduction.

Not everyone in the room will have the pleasure of knowing who you are, so it’s best to start off with a quick introduction, including a mention of how you know the groom. Are you best friends? Did you meet at school or university? Are you brothers? Get that part out of the way.

You could even make a joke about how you don’t like public speaking and you’re going to keep things short in this section of the speech. It’ll stop the other guests from expecting something lengthy.

• “Good evening, everyone. I’m the best man, and I think I got this role by default as Jack doesn’t really have any other friends. I didn’t really want to do it, but I also knew this would be the only chance I’d get to have a meal and some drinks paid for by Jack. There's no way I was going to turn that down.”
• “Hi, I’m Tom, and it’s time for me to deliver this short best man speech I scribbled down an hour before the ceremony started.”
• “Hi, I’m the best man, and I’d like to start by saying what an emotional day today has been. Even the cake is in tiers!”

2. Inject Some Humour

If you’re delivering a short best man speech, you can pretty much go straight into cracking some jokes after the introduction.

Being the best man is a green card to make the other guests laugh at the couple's expense… and let’s be honest, they know what’s coming. Don't miss this opportunity to have a bit of fun with this short and sweet speech.

Take a look at a few of our favourite jokes below, or check out our extensive list of (genuinely) funny best man jokes around. We promise, they’re not all cringey.

If you can link your joke to the fact that your speech is so short, then even better… just remember not to make jokes at your best friend’s partner's expense. That is strictly off limits!

• “Going by tradition, the best man is supposed to carry out a character assassination, but because I have such immense respect for this man, I’m afraid I just can’t do that. I mean, for me to mention the time he streaked across the high school stage in the school play would be mortifying for him.”
• “If you can’t hear me at the back, the silence from the people at the front should reassure you that you’re not missing out on anything. I’m not very good at this whole public speaking thing, so I’ll be keeping it brief anyway. The one thing I would like to say is, Joe, how lucky you are. You’ll leave today with a partner who is warm, loving and caring. And Charlie, you’re lucky too. You’ll leave here today having gained a...lot of gifts from friends and family.”
• “Mike, my best advice to you would be to remember that marriage is not just an eight letter word. It is an entire sentence… although you’d probably get less for murder!”

3. Congratulate the Happy Couple

By the time you’ve told a few jokes, you’ll probably be pretty keen to wrap your short best man speech up and sit back down (anyone else suffering from a serious case of dry mouth?).

With that in mind, now is the perfect point to congratulate the happy couple, tell the groom’s new partner how wonderful they look and send them your well wishes for their life together.

• “I can speak for everyone in this room when I say we all wish you all the happiness you deserve. We are so glad that you have found one another, and this day is a reminder that the best is yet to come. To the happy couple!”
• “I’ve known Jo and Katherine for eight years now and I can honestly say they are perfect for one another. They were both fantastic when they met, and now as a team, they will be even better together as they embark on a new adventure as man and wife. Jo and Katherine, I toast you and wish you both peace, health and happiness.”
• “Frankie – I know that Derek loves you very much… because he spent a long time writing this speech for me. Congratulations to the both of you!”

How to Deliver Short Best Man Speeches

When it comes to short best man speeches, you want to ensure every word packs a punch, and you deliver it with confidence. Make it short, sweet, snappy and follow these tips to nail the delivery.

• Play on your relationship as much as possible! Are you brothers? Are you best friends? However you know the best man, weave anecdotes about your relationship into the speech wherever possible.
• Speak slowly and pause for laughter. Always.
• Use cue cards if you’re feeling a bit nervous and practice repeatedly.
• If anyone has sent messages but cannot be there on the day, read them.
• Avoid too many in-jokes that the guests won’t understand… it’ll only leave them confused.
• Keep it clean – being best man might be a green card to give the groom a bit of stick, but don’t take it too far. His grandparents may be listening.

Short Best Man Speech Examples

We wouldn't encourage using someone else's speech as your own, but reading other short best man speeches and examples will provide you with inspiration that you can use as a starting point for your own. Take the structure and style of these speech examples and enjoy crafting your very own. 

Funny Short Best Man Speech Example

Good evening, everyone! Let’s raise our glasses and toast to the newlyweds. Don’t worry, your arms won’t get tired clapping and cheering - my speech is very short and quite frankly, I'm not that funny. 

Whilst researching how to deliver a great, short best man speech, I learned that I am expected to sing the praises of the groom and tell you what a wonderful guy he is. Unfortunately, I am neither a good singer nor a good liar, so that’s why I've decided to keep my speech brief.

Joe, thank you for being such a stable force in my life, a great friend and a great drinking buddy. Lou, I think we can all agree that you’re stunning this evening, and you deserve a great husband. Joe, thank goodness you snapped her up before she found one. All joking aside, I’m honoured to be here today. I love you both and wish you many happy years of marriage. Cheers!

Sentimental Short Best Man Speech

Evening, everyone! I am Brad. You may not know me, but Sam and I go way back – to University, in fact. We’ve been mischief makers together since the beginning.

Despite our best efforts, today has gone off without a hitch. A special thanks to everyone who made today possible!

Sam is one hell of a guy; I knew that on the first day we met. There he was, already in our halls, doing his best to find himself a guy on campus. And he had only been there a few hours! Really, his pursuits in this avenue were largely less than successful.

That was, until he met Matty. And thank goodness for that. The most amazing man definitely won. He looks so dashing today, as do his bridesmaids.

Sam and Matty, I’d like to offer you a bit of advice today as you start this new journey together. Sam, always treat Matty like the King that he is. Matty, always remember that Sam loves you and could not do without you. Seriously, I have seen him without you and it was a mess.

I wish you all the best. You are both near and dear to me, and your life together is sure to be a fantastic new chapter. Now, if you’d all like to join me as we raise a toast to the happy couple. To Sam and Matty.

Extra Short Best Man Speech

Graham and James. Every great relationship starts with rings. In the beginning, the phone would ring and just the thought of speaking to one another was exciting. Your love grew and so did your commitment to each other.

The engagement ring soon came after. There were no doubts… your love was true.

The engagement ring has now turned into a wedding ring and we are all here today to celebrate your marriage.

Now of course… the suffer-ring begins. (Smile and raise your glass) Peace and happiness to the happy couple!

Now you know what you’re going to say, make sure you read our guide on how to overcome wedding speech nerves to ensure you pull it off perfectly! We wish you the best of luck.