Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Best Man Toast

Well as many of you know James and Jacqui are getting married on the May long weekend and I have the daunting task of being James' best man. They say being the best man is like kissing the Queen mum, it's a great honour but no one wants to do it. I think this is mainly because of the speech/toast that the best man has to make. So here I am, completely honoured and amazed that someone would ask me to be thier best man but also completely freaked out at having to write a speech. Now don't start to doubt me just yet, I said I'm freaked out but I am glad I have the chance to do this. I am a little concerned because I don't know anything about how weddings work, I haven't been to many, and I'm not sure how the toast is supposed to work either. I was looking online and the best man speech is supposed to thank the bridesmaids on behalf of the groom and tell some fun stories about the groom. About.com has a pretty good page about how to write the speech and what should be in it. There are lots of examples of speeches but I don't want to use someone else's ideas, I want it to be original.

Now on that note I was trying to think about all the stuff I know about James and Jacqui and I was kind of surprised by myself. I've know James for 20 years, since kindergarten, and I really don't know that much about him. How weird is that? We've lived 5 blocks from each other the whole time but he seems to keep his personal life to himself.

Scratch that, I do know James. As I was writing this I got thinking and I know a fair amount about the kid its just been buried under 15 years of school and other stuff. Its hard to just think about a person, you have to put it in context. As soon as I started thinking about stuff we've done or experiences I started to remember all sorts of stuff. I feel much better about this speech now.

I'm sorry to have subjected all of you to my raw thoughts but thats how the creative process works.

Anyways if anyone has any interesting stories about James and/or Jacqui that they'd like to share for my speech email me. If you have any suggestions or pointers for writing a best man speech send those my way too.

A little update on the apartment hunting. We dropped off our applications to get into the wimbledon terrace on reindeer and pinehouse. Hopefully we'll be able to get in and I'll be able to ride my bike to work. Ah the gas savings. It would be grand. I'm going to have to make some time to go garage shopping for stuff. We're getting pretty close to having most everything we need and the best part is most of it has been donated. Its amazing how gernous people can be when they are trying to get rid of 70's furniture that is just taking up space. Now if only I could find a queen sized bed for cheap. Ah well I'll work on that one.

6 comments:

Jacqui and James said...

Don't worry, the Maid of Honour is a bit nervous/doesn't really want to do her speech/toast. She's worried because she doesn't really know James but I told her that you (Zack) don't really know a whole lot about me so it'll balance out.

Zack said...

Its interesting how things work out. But the real question is has she finished her speech yet?

I've bearly yet begun to toast!

James said...

Ahh Zack I knew that when you started to think about it you could come up with some memories that would help you. If you're struggling remember that I asked you because you're my best friend and we've known each other for about 20 years (18 actually but close enough)

Maybe we'll have to go and shoot some pool one night next week and take a trip down memory lane. That might help you on what you want to write and it would be a good chance for you to dig if there is anything you're wanting to know about myself or Jacqui.

As Jacqui said Leah knows her a lot but not really me...Now you know me a lot but not really Jacqui...It'll work out as you'll each talk about one of us with a little on the other...Now that is a way to be different.

Anyways I hope you get the apartment. Let me know and I'll help you move in if it is before the wedding. If it is between the 20th and 30th tho then you're out of luck.

Zack said...

Yeah we'll have to go shoot the shit sometime here soon.

We're trying to get an apartment for June so hopefully we can get one for June 1st. If that happens the moving would be on the weekend of June 3rd and 4th.

James said...

Well if you get it that weekend I work mornings so I'll have to help after 3 if there is anything left.

Pick some nights next week that work for you and we can go out. As far as my life is I think it is open right now.

DWPittelli said...

How did it go?

I just did one, and wrote about it on my blog.

http://woodedpaths.blogspot.com/2007/06/best-mans-toast.html