The Best Groomsman Speeches of All Time
Being asked to give a groomsman speech is a weird honor. You are not the best man, so you do not get the long runway. You are not a random guest, so you cannot just clink a glass and sit down. You are somewhere in between, with four minutes of real estate and a microphone you did not ask for.
For more, see our guides on The Best Best Man Speeches of All Time and The Best Bridesmaid Speeches of All Time.
Good news: that in-between position is exactly where the best groomsman speeches of all time live. Shorter, sharper, funnier, less weighed down by "and also a brother to me" clichés. If you keep it specific and land one real emotional beat, you will outshine half the best man speeches I have ever heard.
Below are ten of the best groomsman speeches ever given, broken down line by line, plus the move that made each one work. Steal freely.
10 of the Best Groomsman Speeches Ever Given
1. The "Three Things You Should Know About Danny" Opener
The groomsman walked up and said, "Before I start, there are three things you should know about Danny. One: he cannot parallel park. Two: he has cried at every Pixar movie since 2009. Three: he once named a goldfish Brian, after his boss, because he thought it was funny. It was not."
Big laugh. Then he slid into a story about how Danny proposed to Kate on the worst hiking trail in Vermont, in the rain, with a ring he had bought two years earlier.
Here is why this opener works: it sets a rhythm, promises specifics, and gives the audience permission to laugh before you ask them to feel something. The groomsman never had to say "Danny is a great guy." The goldfish told us.
Steal this move: open with three tiny specifics about the groom. Not traits. Actual facts. Parallel-parks badly, owns too many hats, thinks pickles are a personality.
2. The Single-Memory Speech
Another one of the best groomsman speeches I have heard was also the shortest: two minutes and forty seconds. The groomsman, Marcus, told one story. He and the groom had gotten lost in Lisbon in 2017 because the groom refused to use a map. They ended up in a tile shop, in a language neither of them spoke, being fed pastries by the owner's mother.
"That is who Sam is," Marcus said at the end. "He will get you hopelessly lost, and somehow you will still end up somewhere better than where you were going. Jenna, you are in for the best kind of trouble."
No three-act structure. No roast. Just one specific story, one clear point, one warm landing. The best groomsman speeches of all time often do exactly this, and the room always leans in harder for a single vivid memory than for a greatest-hits montage.
3. The "I Was the Backup Best Man" Bit
Here is the thing: self-deprecation works beautifully for groomsmen because it acknowledges the weird hierarchy without getting bitter about it.
One groomsman opened with: "For those wondering why I am up here and not the best man, the answer is that Ryan has two brothers and they fought to the death. This is what is left."
He then spent thirty seconds mock-explaining the "casting process," named the actual best man as having won via "clear nepotism," and pivoted into a genuinely moving story about meeting Ryan in a college dorm laundry room.
The meta-joke bought him the audience's attention. The story earned it. That is the formula.
4. The Childhood Friend Time-Travel Speech
Quick note: if you have known the groom since you were kids, lean in. Hard.
At one wedding I worked on, a groomsman named Tariq described meeting the groom, Omar, in second grade, when Omar traded him a full Lunchables for a single Oreo. He said, "I have been getting the worse end of deals with Omar for twenty-three years. And every single one has been worth it."
He then listed three specific trades over the years: a half-broken skateboard for his Pokemon binder, shotgun-seat rights for a week of homework, the window seat on a flight to Tokyo for a warm can of ginger ale.
By the time he got to "and now he is trading Priya a wedding ring for a lifetime of patience," the room was in pieces. The best groomsman speeches of all time almost always earn the emotional payoff by stacking tiny, concrete moments first.
5. The "Before I Met Her" Turn
The turn is a classic groomsman move: spend the first half describing the groom pre-partner, then flip into how obviously he has changed for the better. The key is making the "before" funny and specific, not mean.
Example: "Before Jess, Chris owned exactly one pan, one fork, and four different kinds of hot sauce. His apartment smelled like an Axe body spray commercial from 2006. He considered cereal a dinner food. He still does. But now the cereal is the nice kind, and there is a plant on the counter that is still alive."
See how the turn is tiny? The plant on the counter does more work than any "she completes him" line ever has.
6. The Structured Toast Template
Some of the best groomsman speeches lean on a simple, repeatable frame. This one is near-foolproof, and I have coached dozens of groomsmen through it:
- Introduce yourself and your connection to the groom (one sentence)
- One specific story or image
- One line about the groom's character that the story proves
- One line welcoming the partner into the group
- Toast
Total: four minutes if you take your time, three if you are nervous.
The truth is, fancy structures collapse under stage fright. This one does not. A groomsman named Ben used this exact template at his cousin's wedding last June, white-knuckled the whole time, and still got the second-biggest laugh of the night.
7. The "Permission to Embarrass, Denied" Opener
"I was told I had free rein tonight. Then the groom's mother found me at cocktail hour and said, and I quote, 'Be nice.' So, in deference to Mrs. Alvarez, I will be telling you the sanitized version."
This opener is a gem because it sets up every story that follows as "the clean one." The audience fills in the blanks and laughs harder at anything that follows. It also signals that you are not going to tank the wedding with a bad roast, which puts the groom's parents at ease in the first ten seconds.
Use it as a pressure-release valve before you tell a story that is actually pretty tame. The framing does all the work.
8. The Two-Voices Speech (With a Co-Groomsman)
If two of you are speaking together, do not alternate paragraphs. That reads like a school play. Instead, play two distinct roles: one of you tells the story, one of you interrupts with corrections and side commentary.
A pair at a wedding I attended in 2024 did a version where one groomsman said, "In 2019, we took a road trip to Nashville —" and the other cut in with, "It was Memphis. He cannot tell cities apart." They went back and forth like this for three minutes, and the whole thing felt like overhearing a really good argument between two friends who love each other.
Rehearse it once. Only once. Too much rehearsal kills the spontaneity that makes a duo speech funny. You are going for "your group chat, live."
9. The Quiet, Sincere One
Not every groomsman is a comedian. Some of the best groomsman speeches of all time are just short and true.
Here is one, almost verbatim, from a groomsman named Elliot: "I met David the week my dad died. I did not know him well yet, but he drove four hours to sit in a hospital waiting room with me and did not try to say anything smart. He just sat there. I have watched him do that for a lot of people since. Emily, you married someone who will sit with you in every waiting room. I am so glad he found you. To David and Emily."
Ninety-eight seconds. No jokes. Room silent, then standing ovation. If that is your read of the groom, do not force humor. Go quiet. Go specific. Sit down.
10. The "Advice to the Couple" Closer
The last of the best groomsman speeches of all time uses a clever structure: three pieces of deliberately absurd advice that boomerang into real ones.
"Here is my advice to the happy couple. One: never argue on an empty stomach. Two: never argue in IKEA. Three: never, ever argue about whether the cat is fat — she is, and that is between you and your vet."
Then the turn: "But here is the real one. The best thing I have ever seen you two do is laugh about the stupid stuff five minutes after arguing about it. Keep doing that. Nothing else matters."
The pattern of three jokes plus one true statement is older than comedy itself and still works every time. It gives you a clean exit ramp and a landing that feels earned rather than preachy.
How to Actually Use These
Pick one move. Just one. The biggest mistake groomsmen make is trying to cram three of these into a single speech and ending up with a four-and-a-half-minute Frankenstein that has a roast opener, a childhood story middle, and a sincere ending with no connective tissue.
Copy the structure of one of the best groomsman speeches above, swap in your actual specifics, and time yourself. If you are over four minutes, cut the second-weakest story. If you are under two, add one sensory detail to the story you kept — what was the weather, what was he wearing, what did someone say.
Nail that, and you will be the speech people quote in the car on the way home. Which, honestly, is the only award that matters.
FAQ
Q: How long should a groomsman speech be?
Three to five minutes is the sweet spot. Most groomsman speeches clock in shorter than the best man's, and that is a feature, not a bug. If your toast runs past six minutes, start cutting.
Q: Is a groomsman expected to give a speech?
Usually no. Traditionally only the best man toasts on behalf of the groom's side, so a groomsman speech is a bonus, not a requirement. If the couple asked you specifically, say yes. If not, check with them before grabbing the mic.
Q: What should a groomsman say in a speech?
Introduce yourself, share one specific story about the groom, tie that story to who he is now, include a short line about the couple, and end on a toast. Keep it tight and personal rather than broad and sentimental.
Q: How do you start a funny groomsman speech?
Start with a specific image rather than a joke. Something like, "The first time I met Danny he was wearing socks with sandals and arguing with a vending machine." Specificity is funnier than a setup-punchline opener ninety percent of the time.
Q: Should a groomsman roast the groom?
Light roasting is fine. Heavy roasting is a minefield. The rule I give every groomsman I coach: if the joke would embarrass his mom, cut it. If his mom would laugh, it stays.
Need help writing your speech? ToastWiz uses AI to write a personalized wedding speech based on your real stories and relationship. Answer a few questions and get 4 unique speech drafts in minutes.