Maid of Honor Speech Examples

Hi everyone. I'm Jess. I met Emily on the first day of kindergarten, when she was the girl with the messy pigtails who offered to share her animal crackers with me. I was crying. She didn't ask why. She just held out the box. Twenty-three years later she's still the most generous person I know, though these days she shares wine instead of cookies.

If you've known Emily for more than an hour, you already know she remembers everything. Your birthday. The date of your mother's surgery. When I moved across the country for a job that turned out to be a mistake, she called every Sunday for a year, at the same time, so I'd have one thing in the week I could count on. By the time I moved back she'd found me an apartment and met the landlord. He'd been given cookies.

She was, for a long time, better at taking care of everyone else than at letting anyone take care of her.

Then Marcus.

The first time she mentioned him, she was describing a hike and forgot to finish the sentence. She just stopped and smiled at something I couldn't see. I'd never seen her do that. Emily finishes sentences. Emily finishes other people's sentences. A few months later I watched Marcus notice she was cold at an outdoor concert and hand over his jacket without breaking stride in the conversation. She let him. That was the moment I stopped worrying.

Marcus, you're marrying someone who will remember your grandmother's birthday before you do and who will drive four hours because you sounded tired on the phone. What she needs in return is simple and rare. Let her be looked after sometimes. You already do. Keep doing it.

Em, you've spent your life handing people the box. Today the room is handing it back. Look around. Every person here is someone you showed up for.

Please raise your glasses to Emily and Marcus. May you always share what you have, and may somebody always be holding out the box.

Good evening. I'm Hannah, Rachel's little sister, which means I've had the best role model imaginable and also someone to blame when things went wrong. Sorry about the vase, Mom. It really was Rachel.

Being Rachel's sister is a full-time position. There is a dress code. There is also, to this day, a group chat called "Hannah's Life Decisions" that I was not invited to. I'm told it's very active.

Here's what nobody tells you about having an older sister who's good at everything. You never once have to be brave first. Rachel went to the big school first and quit the safe job first. Every time I got to something scary, there was a note waiting, sometimes literally. When I left for college she'd hidden a letter in my sock drawer for each of the first seven days. Day four just said, "You're fine. Eat something."

She's been that person for everyone in this room. Ask anyone here who's had a bad year.

So when she started dating Daniel, I did what any responsible younger sibling would do and ran a background check, which is to say I followed him on every platform and asked our cousin to invite him to a game night. He came. He lost at every game. He was completely happy about it. Rachel spent the evening watching him lose and I spent the evening watching her watch him, and I thought, finally, someone she doesn't have to be brave for.

Daniel, you're marrying the person who goes first. She'll do it for you too, whether you ask or not. What you've given her, and I've seen it, is somewhere to stand still. Thank you for that.

Rach, you were my example before you were my friend, and you were my friend before you were my best one. Today I finally get to go first at something: I get to say welcome to the family, Daniel, before anyone else does.

Everyone, please raise a glass to Rachel and Daniel. May you always have a note in the sock drawer, and may day four always say eat something.

I'm Priya, and I was Nina's roommate for three years, which qualifies me to tell you two things with total authority. One: she cannot cook rice. Two: she will drop everything for a person she loves, including a final exam, which happened, and which I'm still grateful for.

Junior year I got the call that my grandfather was in the hospital, six hundred miles away. Nina had an exam at nine the next morning. At six she was in my doorway with her car keys and a bag of the worst rice you've ever seen, and she drove. She took the exam a week later. She says she'd have passed anyway. That's not the point.

Nina has never needed anyone to be impressive for her. She just needs you to be there. So when she told me about Theo, what she said wasn't that he was handsome or funny, though he's both, and I'm sorry, Theo, you're going to have to live with that. She said, "He waits for me." She meant it literally. He's the kind of man who slows down on a walk without being asked. He's the kind of man who notices that you slowed down too.

Theo, you married someone who'll drive six hundred miles at six in the morning. Be the person who's in the passenger seat.

Nina, you dropped everything for me once. I'll never forget it. Today I get to stand next to you while you pick up everything you've ever wanted.

Please raise your glasses to Nina and Theo. May you always wait for each other, and may somebody else always make the rice.