Short maid of honour speeches: 10 examples under two minutes

Hi everyone, I'm Ciara, Niamh's little sister, and for twenty six years I have been borrowing her clothes without asking.

Niamh was the one who checked the locks, packed the snacks and knew where everyone was. When I was eight and got lost at the beach in Kerry, she found me in four minutes. She still reminds me how long it took.

Then she met Sam, and for the first time I watched someone look after her. He makes her tea before she asks. He laughs at her spreadsheets. He found her keys in the fridge and said nothing.

Sam, welcome to the family. You are going to need a thicker coat for our Christmases.

Please raise your glasses to Niamh and Sam.

Good evening. I'm Róisín, Aoife's older sister. When she was born I asked Mam if we could swap her for a dog. I'm glad to say Mam said no.

Aoife has always been braver than me. She moved to London on her own at nineteen with one suitcase and a phone number for a friend of a friend. She rang home every Sunday, and every Sunday she sounded a little more like herself. She learned to cook, to change a tyre and to argue with landlords, and she never once asked any of us to come and get her.

Two years ago, the Sunday calls started including someone called Tom. Tom fixed her bike. Tom came to the hospital when she broke her wrist, and stayed until they let her go home. Tom learned the words to the songs our family sings at every party.

Tom, you already know us at our loudest, and you stayed. That tells me everything.

To my brave little sister and the man who makes her braver. To Aoife and Tom.

Hello everyone. I'm Grace, Lucy's cousin, and as far as we're concerned that makes us sisters who happened to live in different houses.

Every summer we were sent to our granny's in Sligo, where we built a raft that sank, a den that flooded and a friendship that never did.

Lucy, you were always the one with the plan, and Ben, you're the first person I've seen her change her plans for, happily.

Ben, she will want to know where you are at all times. That's love. Get used to it.

I'd love you all to stand and raise a glass to Lucy and Ben. May every plan you make together work out better than our raft.

Hi everyone, I'm Hannah. Sophie and I met on the first day of secondary school, when she lent me a pen and told me my fringe was brave. She was right about the fringe.

For twenty years she has been the friend who answers the phone at two in the morning, who remembers your exam dates and who turns up with chips when things go wrong.

The first time she brought James to the pub, he asked me more questions than she did. By the end of the night I knew two things: he was a bit nervous, and he was completely mad about her.

James, thank you for loving my best friend the way she has always loved everyone else.

Please stand and raise your glasses to Sophie and James.

Good evening. I'm Megan, and I shared a flat with Laura for three years in college, which means I know things about her that would make this a very different speech.

Don't worry, Laura. I'm keeping them for your fortieth.

Our flat had a broken heater, a landlord who never answered and a fridge we were scared of. We lived on pasta, toast and the hope that someone's mam would visit with a lasagne. What it also had was Laura, who made every bad week feel like an adventure. She once cooked a full Christmas dinner on two rings in October because I was homesick.

When she met Dev, I noticed she stopped telling me about her plans and started telling me about their plans. Dev, you make anywhere feel like home to her, and I can tell she does the same for you.

Raise your glasses, everyone, to Laura and Dev, and to every home they build together.

Hello everyone, I'm Priya. Emma and I met at work six years ago, when we were both new and both pretending to understand the coffee machine.

Since then we have shared a desk, a lot of lunches and every bit of gossip worth sharing. Emma is the colleague everyone wants on their team: calm in a crisis, kind to the new people, and very good at pretending a meeting could not have been an email.

When she started leaving at five on the dot, we knew something was up. That something was Jack.

Jack, you have married the most organised woman in the building. Please never ask her where anything is, because she will tell you.

To Emma and Jack.

Hi everyone, I'm Orla, and I would like to start by taking full credit for this wedding.

Four years ago I had a birthday party, and I invited Kate from my running club and Mark from my old job. I sat them together because they were the only two people who had said they would come early.

Within twenty minutes they had argued about the best crisps, agreed about the worst film and stopped noticing anyone else at the table, including me, at my own party.

I have never been happier to be ignored.

Kate, you are funny and stubborn and loyal, and Mark, you are the only person I have ever seen win an argument with her. Just the once, mind.

So please raise your glasses to Kate and Mark, and to arriving early.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Claire. I live in Toronto now, and I have flown four thousand miles to say this, so please laugh at the jokes.

Rachel and I have been friends since we were eleven. We have lived in different countries for most of the last ten years, and somehow she has never once made it feel that way. She sends voice notes that last longer than this speech. She remembers my friends' names. She stayed up until three to watch my graduation on a shaky video call. When my dad was sick, she was the first person I rang, and she sent a parcel of Irish teabags and a card that simply said, "I'm here." She was, every single day.

Ollie, I met you properly for the first time this week, but I feel like I already know you, because for two years every voice note has mentioned you at least once.

Rachel, distance has never changed you. Love has only made you more yourself.

To Rachel and Ollie.

Hi everyone, I'm Zoe, and I've been Amy's best friend since we were both the tallest girls in the class photo.

Amy is the person who notices. She notices when you have had a bad day before you say a word. She notices when the shy person at the party needs someone to talk to. And three years ago, at a friend's wedding, she noticed Jess.

Jess, you made my best friend nervous, which I had never seen before and I enjoyed very much.

Since then I have watched the two of you build a life full of friends, plants, terrible puns and a dog called Biscuit who clearly runs the house.

Please raise your glasses to Amy and Jess, two people who were always going to notice each other.

Hello everyone. I'm Sarah. Most of you know I don't love talking in front of people, so I'll keep this short, and Lisa knows that means I mean every word.

Lisa has been my best friend for fifteen years. She has never once made me feel quiet. She just leaves a space and waits, and somehow I always end up saying the thing I meant.

Paul, I've watched you do the same for her. You listen to her properly, and she lights up when you do.

That's all I wanted to say. I'm very happy for you both.

Please raise your glasses to Lisa and Paul.