Speech by Marc Timmins

Speech Type: Best man
Speech Creator: Marc Timmins
Speech Date: Sep2004
Order
Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen, This is the part of the evening that I am sure that you have been looking forward to for several ….minutes. Please sit quietly, laugh when prompted and we'll all be at the bar much quicker!

First up , may I present the Father of the Bride. (Alan)

Thankyou, And now the time has come for the Groom and Bride to say a few words.…

Thank you Gary…

Intro
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to start this speech by thanking Gary and Becca for their presents and kind words on behalf of the Bridesmaids. Jenney, Louise and Abi who all look wonderful and have done a fine job I am you'll all agree.
Gary I would have gone a lot further in saying how nice the bridesmaids look, but I understand that you seem to already know your place, well done mate, you're a quicker learner than I.

I was very honoured when Gary chose me to be his best man and it was only recently that I found out how much work it would be and how difficult writing this speech would be, you see most Grooms have a mini mountain of skeleton's in their cupboard but it seems that this one has been preparing for this moment all his life.

Older Brother

However, as the older brother I have known Gary from the day that he was born and since then we have grown to be close friends and have shared many experiences together, many good and some bad, as such I am uniquely placed to tell the rest of you what Gary was like before Becca worked her wonderful magic upon him.

As you can see today Gary is now a handsome, mature, intelligent, caring and funny guy, somebody you can talk to, have a laugh with and enjoy a good drink with, but many years ago he was not like that at all.

I remember one of the bad times we had, it happened when we were both young. We were out riding our BMX bikes together trying jumps and tricks and I was wearing my favourite blue jumper with white Reindeers on it. I loved this jumper, I had begged mum for a whole Saturday afternoon shopping.
After a few hours riding Gary fell off his bike and banged his face on the floor.

There was blood pouring from his nose, and like the hero that I am I took Gary in my arms and carried him home to see him mummy. Mum was very proud of me as I didn't try to make Gary buy me a new jumper afterwards and I even went back and got our bikes. But

Paying me Back, Go for it and Cliff Jumping

Sometime later our Groom had the opportunity to pay me back. I was half way up a rope to a tree and Gary was holding the end nearest to the ground and was swinging me around in a circle, I was shouting faster, as the G-Forces rose I asked him to slow it down, Gary just let go and I went flying. I hit the ground hard and momentarily knocked my self out.

Gary the hero that he was, looked at me on the floor and thought “I am goanna get a kicking when he comes round” and promptly scampered. Leaving me to wake up rather confused as to what had happened.

Gary has also always had a great give it a go attitude that has always made me proud of him. There have been several incidents of note which have occurred on family holidays. The first was on a canoeing trip down the Ardeche when we were all given the opportunity to climb up a cliff and jump off. Out of around 50 people only 5-10 dared do it, and the youngest by at least 10 years was Gary.

Vassilliki

I also, fondly remember a family holiday on a Greek island where there was some fantastic windsurfing to do. Gary had never really been that keen on Windsurfing but this holiday he finally cracked it. Unfortunately, it wasn't just windsurfing that he cracked. Gary on the way back to the beach gets hit by a gust of wind he gets into the Foot straps and Harness and wound the windsurfer up to full tilt, he was flying .… Then a beginner dropped their sail, well Gary was now going faster than he had ever gone before and wasn't stopping for anybody. He sailed straight through the persons sail, and then straight through their mast and wrote the whole lot off.
This was really funny until Dad found out that we were not covered on the insurance and would have to try to make a claim back in the UK later and so evaporated a load of holiday money.

Not the end, Scrambler and Mopey

This was not the end of his sporting attempts though, Gary being a little lazy if it has to be said, decided to have a go on a mutual friends scramble bike. Not really understanding clutches and gears Gary apparently stalled quite a few times. He was then told to go for it with a load of gas. Gary, being very good at doing what he is told then took off like a flea near a dog and pulled a massive wheelie down the garden. Unable to steer and frozen with fear Gary soon ran out of Garden. He parked the bike in the hedge so hard it had to be cut out with a saw.

After that you would have thought that Gary would be thinking about leaving 2 wheeled transport well alone. In our late teens and fed up of driving us about Dad bought us a lovely 1970’s Orange Honda Moped for about £25, another 25 quid later and it had an MOT, I still think it was a bribe.
It had many but two of the problems were a battery that could not hold charge and a weak alternator. One night Gary was on the way home from the pub (I mean a friends house) and going down a hill toward a T junction Gary comes off the throttle, well you can guess what happens next, the front headlight light goes out, at the heady speed of 35 mph on a scooter designed for 28mph a second or two later and he finds himself in somebody's front Garden with a front wheel that points in a completely different direction to the handlebars. True to form he gets home without any further incident and hides the mopey at the back of the garage.

Lift, no trouble, Worked hard, knew about Uni…

Next time you are offered a lift, think about Gary's recent performance on the Go-Karting at the stag do, what I have just told you and ask him how many driving test he took and politely refuse!!

Now, I'd like to tell you about all the times Gary got into trouble at school, but he was such a goody goody that other than the things that you should get in trouble for there was not a lot to tell.

You see, Gary worked hard so that he could go to the University of his choice and do the course that he wanted and eventually meet the lady of his dreams.

This was because Gary knew all about University from his older brother. We had kept in touch by letter and Gary had come up to visit me.
Some of you may remember that last year Gary was my best man and read out a part of a letter that I had written to him describing my wife to be, well it only seems fair that I read out an extract from the letter that he replied with.

Letter reply, goes to Soton passes out

Some of the words have been changed to protect the more sensitive ears hear, but you will get the jist.
“Dear Marc….… University sounds great, as does this Ellen bird .… You're a bloody Sex machine you lucky boy…(thanks mate).… I am still having problems with the stupid girls at school here… I am still (a) inexperienced and am really looking forward to getting to uni and meeting some proper women…….cool”
Well this turned out to be not just a dream for Gary but a prophecy, but we'll get to that in a minute.
A little while after this Gary comes down to Southampton to see how cool Uni really is and I will never forget him sitting on the edge of a bed leaning against the bedroom wall it was about 9:30 in the evening and looking at me and Ellen with bloodshot eyes and beer number 4/5 in his hand, he turns to me and says “Bro, do you always get this hammered at Uni?” before I could even answer he just passed out!!

Prophecy, half the Girls, Toast, Bar
Well, here is where the prophecy comes true….Around a year and a half later I hear that Gary has been through half the Girls on his course. One of which was Becca.
I then discover that it being an engineering course there were actually only two girls there. But it's not quantity that matters it's quality and I know that Becca and Gary make the perfect couple.

Well, before I make a very important announcement I would like you all to be upstanding and join me in a toast to our Bride and Groom today..

To Rebecca and Gary.

And now the moment you have been waiting for …..… You will now be pleased to hear that the bar is open!!