Speech by Susie Barroso

Speech Type: Maid of honour/Best woman
Speech Creator: Susie Barroso
Speech Date: Oct 2001
Ladies and Gentlemen: you'll be pleased to know I am only going to speak for a couple of minutes because of my throat..… if I go on too long Maria has threatened to cut it! I just want to say a few things on this happy day.

For those of you that don't know me I'm Maria's sister, Susie.
I've decided not to tell any embarrassing stories because it would also be
embarrassing to me… and our parents probably don't know about most of
them.

Having known Maria for all her life I have a huge large library of stories to tell you that will leave her embarrassed and humiliated, but out of respect for her on her big day I have decided NOT to tell them.

(1) So I'm not going to tell you about the time that she was a senior in high school and two months before graduation she and her three friends were caught skipping school and when her parents punished her by making her take the school bus to school for the rest of the school year, she used her 12yr old sister at the time – that would be me- to be the lookout as she would sneak into her friends cars.

(2) And I'm not going to tell you about the time that Maria was three years old still living in a small village in Portugal. She was fascinated by these little ducks in a nearby pond and wanted to play with these ducklings so much that she would grab hold of them but the ducks got frightened and struggled to get out of these strange little girls’ hands, but Maria, still hoping the ducklings would play with her, would clutch them even tighter and ended up strangling them. To this day, people still wonder why there is an eerie shortage of ducks in our home village.

(3) And lastly I'm not going to tell you about the time my dad was outside barbecuing and asked Maria to run inside and tell her mom that he needed more charcoal. Now in the Portuguese language the word “charcoal” is incredibly similar to a profane word, which I will not repeat here today. So much to our mother's dismay, little Maria came running in declaring that her father needed more________!

Anyway, enough of the cheap shots. On a serious note..… It is an absolute honour for me to be your maid of honor today. You are a great sister, a great daughter and a great friend.
I've never seen you happier than you have been these last few years with Richard. I hope the best for you now and always. May you guys share everything in life together equally, including the housework!

We are all here today to celebrate everything that Maria and Rich have found in each other – a best friend, a lover, a teacher, a playmate, a true partner for life. As you sit side by side through this roller coaster of life remember to scream from the peaks, hold hands through the dips, laugh through the loop-the-loops and enjoy every twist and turn for the ride is better because you share it together. Separately, you are two special, remarkable people but together you are complete.

Lastly, I'd like to wish for you words from a song “I'll Stand By You” by the Pretenders:

“When you are at the crossroads,
and you don't know which path to choose
let me come along,
because even if you're wrong,
I'll stand by you”

Now Ladies and Gentlemen, would you all please stand and join me in a toast to Maria and Richard: May your love be like the wind, strong enough to move the clouds, soft enough to never hurt, but always never ending.

To love, laughter, and happily ever after. Cheers!