Best Man Ordered To Leave Wedding By Bride As His Risky Joke In Speech Backfires

Aug 12, 2021

While it’s a cliche that the most important day of your life is your wedding, there’s some truth to the time-worn saying. For many, it’s a day that symbolizes a new chapter in their lives, signaling the beginning of true adulthood and a commitment to stay with someone for the rest of their life. It’s, therefore, no wonder why couples put in months, if not years, of effort into planning the perfect wedding.

That’s why everyone should be on their best behavior while at a wedding. No matter how much you want to crack an off-color joke or argue with your sister-in-law about politics, it’s best to keep the focus on the bride and groom — or else you might get kicked out like the man in this story.

In a since deleted Reddit post, a best man explained how his rather inappropriate speech got him ejected from his buddy’s wedding.

According to MSN Lifestyle, which had access to the post before it was taken down, the speech began well enough, with people laughing at his sense of humor. But then, the best man in question made a big mistake — one that would end up with him leaving the wedding and issuing a public apology on Facebook.

The best man insulted the bridesmaids. While it goes without saying that it’s fine to pepper your speech with a few jokes, this young man’s story is a cautionary tale. When you’re invited to a wedding, don’t make fun of the bridesmaids. Because if your joke crosses the line, you might be the first guest out the front door no matter how important you are to the groom.

"It was going so well and people were laughing at all the right times and getting all the jokes," the best man explained in his Reddit post, which he has since removed.

But then he made the joke.

"I said, 'Bridesmaids, I am a bit short of time here and I don't really know you all so I'd just like to say that five out of six of you look stunning today... figure it out amongst yourselves.’”

The room went silent — and that’s when this jokester knew his time was up.

"The bride came up to me and just said 'I think it's best you leave' and the groom just nodded behind her. I felt so bad and messaged them all and also apologised on the group Facebook page,” he wrote on Reddit.

The post went viral on Reddit, gaining more than 27,000 upvotes and 2,000 comments. And since it hit the front page on the site, multiple media outlets have picked up the story. Many of the comments were — perhaps surprisingly — partly sympathetic to the best man’s embarrassing speech, though fellow Redditors did take the opportunity to poke a bit of fun at the man’s foolishness.

“As a wedding photographer, I feel this one. Big time. I have seen some terrible best man speeches in my 400+ weddings, but if I had heard this speech, it would have been my top 2 or 3 worst ones ever. That is quite the accomplishment,” one Redditor wrote.

“You're boned, defleshed, and set on the grill with a squeeze of lemon,” another Redditor joked. “If you have the means to do so, I'd offer up a bribe of a free pedi/mani for the bridesmaids and apologize the one time.. then disappear.”

Other Redditors chimed in with similar stories of speeches gone bad.

“My buddy decided to wing his speech at his wedding. He wound up saying ‘I didn't marry you for your looks’ in his speech. The whole room went quiet. I thought it was hilarious because I knew what he was trying to say but it didn't come out right. It got funnier because he started trying to explain himself out of it but kept digging a hole,” a user wrote.

“Stories like these are why you shouldn't wing the speeches or parts of them lol,” he added.

Brides.com consulted with David Litt, a former presidential speech writer, for his tips on writing the perfect best man speech. And it’s clear that this Redditor didn’t follow Litt’s expert advice. First of all, Litt says that the speech shouldn’t rely on humor. "Let me put it this way — there’s such a thing as too many bad jokes, and that number is about one,” Litt told Brides.com. He also added that the speech should be overwhelmingly positive; in other words, don’t insult the bridesmaids!

"I’ve seen best man speeches where someone thinks, 'Oh, my job is to roast the groom.' Unless the couple specifically told you that’s your job, that’s not your job. The way to think about jokes is that you don’t want people to be laughing at the groom or at the couple. You want people to be laughing because they suddenly know the groom better than they did before,” Litt explained.

What do you think about this best man’s joke? Was it over-the-line? Let us know — and be sure to get your friends and family members’ opinions!