Speech by Chris O

Speech Type: Best man
Speech Creator: Chris O
Speech Date: 22/05/2016 22:28:49

So I guess it's my turn to say something now. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Chris, Rob's best man. Now I'm probably best man because I'm also his brother which means he might have had his arm twisted to ask me, but we'll just ignore that.

For those who do know me, you probably can't believe I'm up here actually speaking, so I'd like to lay down some ground rules. First, no heckling and second, if you have a phone please keep it on…keep yourself entertained. If we keep our spirits up and expectations low we'll all get through this.

When my brother asked me to be his best man I really wasn't sure what I would need to put into my speech. So I did what any guy would do and headed for the internet. I looked it up on Google and found that a key thing to do in a best man speech is to introduce the groom to Kara's family and say why he'll make such a good husband. So here is my attempt to do just that with some stories from his life.

Rob is very caring. Even from when my mum was giving birth to me he was doing a great job of caring for others. Whilst Dad was still at work Rob diagnosed the pain as ‘those special baby pains’ and got my mum a drink of orange squash. By the time Dad got home he was greeted with mum in labour saying ‘thank God you're back, he keeps getting me squash – I can't drink anymore!

Later when he saw me he proudly counted my fingers and toes to check they were all there. I'm not sure what he would have done if they weren't all there but apparently he did have his tool kit with him. He was a bit annoyed I didn't end up with the name he picked for me…luckily my parents didn't think I looked like an Emily.

Rob is a great problem solver. He will always do whatever he can to sort out a problem. When Rob was in primary school and I was just a toddler he found me with my head stuck in the front door. I'd pushed it through and the chain was at full stretch. With mum unsure, rob got stuck in with sorting out the problem. He thought the best idea was to shut the door to put some slack in the chain. what he was planning to do with my neck in the way I'm not sure and is neither here nor there.

Rob is protective. All the time that we were growing up he played the role of big brother perfectly. He always looked after me. I was clearing out some cupboards at home and I found a little black book that belonged to Rob when he was about 10. On page one was a ‘most wanted’ page of all the kids that had wronged me at school. Some highlights were: Philip H – called Chris a baby. Ruth L – strangled Chris. Thomas B – exterminated Chris. All equal crimes in the eyes of Rob's law. Sadly he didn't write down what the punishment was.

Rob is loyal. One thing that you can never question about Rob is his loyalty to his family and his friends. He will go out of his way to make sure he doesn't let anyone down and he never hides his loyalty. When Rob was about 14 he was selected to be a ball boy at the Charity shield between Liverpool and Arsenal. Some of you may already see where this is going. Rob had to go in early and get his kit, learn his role and prepare for his experience at the Millennium stadium. In a text Rob told us that they were told they shouldn't really be noticed by anyone and get the ball back quickly. The problem was Rob stood out like a sore thumb. When arsenal scored the only goal of the game there was only one ball boy who jumped up and went crazy.

Rob is a team player. Anyone who knows Rob knows he loves football. He also loves netball now but football was his first love. It may be the result of being an Arsenal fan for over a quarter of a century but he has always been more interested in a pass than a goal. After a game he'd always come home and I'd ask him: how did you get on Rob, did you score? No…but I got an assist he'd say. What he wouldn't say was that this would be a 5 yard pass in his own half to someone who took it past 4 players to smash it in the net. Still an assist is an assist.

Rob is a good communicator…well most of the time. When he was about 20 he went to Swindon with Luke and some other friends. It was a perfect storm of an early kick off and winning some bets but they'd had a couple of drinks. Feeling a bit worse for wear they managed to fall asleep on the train between Swindon and Stroud. A fair while later Rob wakes up…at Newport. In his panic he wakes up, tells Luke they need to get off the train quickly and gets off. The only thing is Rob didn't actually make sure Luke was really awake and by the time he realised Luke was off to the end of the line…off to Swansea.

Rob is responsible. He naturally takes on the role and the people around him will always rely on him to do it. On a trip away following England Luke, Kev, Matt and himself were in Estonia. Since England won the boys went out for a bit of a celebration the night before their flight home. The inevitable happened and they slept through their alarms. Rob being responsible did manage to wake up before the flight and wake the others up. The only issue was it was 2 minutes before their flight was taking off and his wake up call to the others was: boy's, we're fuu…in trouble.

Now although I have picked on stories where things haven't quite come off I could have told loads more stories where everything has worked perfectly. I could have said how he taught me to ride a bike, coached my football team when no one else would or generally how he has been the best big brother I could have ever hoped for. He has all the attributes that will make him a great husband to Kara. Ever since he met Kara it's been clear to me how important she is to Rob and I wish you a long and happy marriage, not only because I don't want to do another speech! So I'd like everybody to raise their glasses and toast to the new bride and groom… to Rob and Kara.