The Best Wedding Speeches for When You Need Tears, Hugs, or LOLs

A few weeks ago when we wrote fourteen tips for slaying at your wedding speech, I started to get curious about what wedding speeches actually exist on the Internet. As a wedding photographer, I’ve seen more than my fair share of best man speeches, maid of honor speeches, adorable parent speeches, even a handful of wedding speeches from kids (which will make me cry a hundred percent of the time). But I’ve never actually gone down the rabbit hole of Internet viral wedding toasts.

Here’s what I have learned: any wedding speech video that says “You have GOT to see this!!!!!” is lying. Also, a lot of wedding speeches are a “you had to be there” kind of thing—not that they aren’t funny, but the humor doesn’t always translate to strangers on the Internet.

Having said that, it’s important to note that most wedding speeches are really similar—and that is completely fine. Sure, some of the ones linked below are a-maz-ing, but guys: I don’t think most people expect you to sing. If you watch these and are inspired to mix up your speech a little, remember to play to your strengths (and maybe don’t get hammered). For example, in one of the videos below, family members gathered to slow jam the toast a la Jimmy Fallon… but it turns out one of those family members used to have her own popular YouTube channel.

TL;DR: when it comes to wedding speeches, keep it fun, light, and packed with all the feelings that you feel. The rest will (most likely) fall into place. Let’s get inspired.

1. The Pop culture mash-up 

This sister/maid of honor decided to use a pop culture mash-up to review the bride’s entire life. The story goes like this: their mom decided the best way to get her eight-days-late baby Earthside was to have a days-long dance party… and it worked. The best part of this? The reactions of the bride and groom. Yaaaassss.

2. There’s a Beyoncé song in this one

The groom’s brothers decided that singing their speech was really the best way to go, and chose a handful of songs (including “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias and “Single Ladies” by Bey) to express all their feels. It’s not a hundred percent funny and I could do without the wigs, but their hearts are in the right place (and it’s just over five minutes).

3. Slow Jam the toast

Are you guys familiar with Jimmy Fallon’s slow jamming of the news? (If not, one of my recent faves is this one with Barack Obama.) Well, the maid of honor, the bride’s cousin, and the bride’s brother all decided they wanted to slow jam the wedding toast… and I kind of love it.

4. The drunk friends who can’t remember why it’s great their friends got married

The guy who kicks off this one says he’s “not really good for emotions” but come on, y’all look at that bottle. He’s great, and the group “Awwwwws” are even better. The group then also redoes the wedding, and other drunk people continue to give toasts throughout the ten (!) minutes this plays. Fair warning: there’s a lot of language, drunkenness, and references to drugs.

5. the kid with the cute accent

Okay, this one was included because (a) the bride’s eleven-year-old is giving the speech, (b) he references her over-parenting and it made me laugh, and (c) OMG GUYS HIS ACCENT IS SO PRECIOUS DIE.

Do you know of a great (or terrible) wedding speech that isn’t here? Share it!