There's no book we've ever read that says the wedding speeches have to be dull and mundane, in fact if you're the Best Man you're probably expected to deliver a side-splitting humorous wedding speech that will titilate the guests for the rest of the day. No pressure then!
This article takes a look at the tricky art of writing funny wedding speeches and provides you with some unique ideas and suggestions to help you on your way.
Funny Wedding Speech Jokes
Humorous wedding jokes are perhaps the most obvious way of injecting laughter into your wannabee funny wedding speech. From scene-setting five minute jokes to funny one-liners there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, out there. Avoid turning your speech into a thirty minute stand-up routince, but don't be afraid to scatter one or two wedding jokes throughout the course of your monologue. For those searching for some humorous lines to use, our wedding jokes article (coming soon) should help you out.
Funny Wedding Speech Poems
Slightly more upmarket than their wedding joke counterparts, funny wedding poems are a good option for any Groom or Father of the Bride who is looking to inject some subtle homour into their wedding speech. Pam Ayres has written some classics over the years but there are many others too. Google 'funny wedding poems' and you're bound to stumble across one or two that are suitable.
Funny Wedding Speech Photos
Photos are a great thing to include in any funny wedding speech. The simple approach is to het hold of a couple of embarrasing childhood snaps from the past and blow them up to A1 size or display them on a projector. If you're wanting to go a little further you could always prepare a slideshow of 20 or so images and give an amusing story or anecdote to accompany each image. If you keep the words simple and straightforward and approach it as though you were captioning a cartoon in a daily newspaper this can add a great touch of humour to the proceedings.
Funny Wedding Speech Videos
A five minute home movie (no, not that type!) which covers the main points of your speech but in a more entertaining way is a great option- for all you techies out there, you could even look to set it to music. Bits of home video footage or TV clips (you'll need to ensure you obey copyright laws) accompanied by voiceover jokes work well, and if you're particularly nervous about making your speech, you could even use the video to take the gaze of the guests away from you completely!
Funny Wedding Speech Props
Granted, props won't necessarily be suitable for upper class, formal weddings, but if you can suitably incorporate them into your funny wedding speech they're well worth it. The following are just a few examples of how they can be successfully applied:
Have a bag/box under the table filled with personal artefacts (first love-letter, high-school reports, newspaper cuttings, a ‘Right Said Fred Rock’ T-Shirt etc.) - reveal each one accompanied by an assuming story.
Use some joke shop kit if you’re struggling and after a really cheap laugh. Fake hands, whoopy cushions or pink love cuffs that you have tucked in your inside pocket which only become shown when you reach in for your speech for example
Put together a mock-up newspaper or magazine front cover with the Bride & Groom featured on the front and display to the guests via an overhead projector.
Prior to getting stuck in to the speech, pass items out to the guests (or offer to do so) such as packets of tissues for their 'iminent laughter/tears'.
Recommended Reading
For those of you wanting to find out more, we've a whole host of other wedding speech articles on the site packed full of expert information and inspirational ideas, not to mention our online wedding directory that's filled with toastmasters, speech writers and more.
For friendly tips and helpful advice take a look at our wedding speech forum, or why not check out the 'related articles' and 'pages & websites you may like' below.
