My Speech

I wanted to post the speech I wrote for my best friend's wedding so that I could always remember it and look back on it. Also, it was helpful for me to have speeches to read and get ideas from so maybe someone can get ideas from mine!

"Hi everyone! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Alex and I have had the pleasure of knowing Tiffany for 6 years now even though, in the best way possible, it feels like so much longer.

I remember clearly the first day I met Tiffany. She walked into our sixth period class, which was also our first day of high school ever, with her friend laughing and shrieking and she sat right in front of me. I just rolled my eyes and thought, “I bet she is a lot to handle.” And she later told me she thought I had on the worst outfit in the world. However, despite our first impressions of each other, we immediately hit it off and became the best of friends. This benefitted both of us, since she did my hair all through high school and I helped her with homework for the classes we had together. Now Tiffany has grown up to be an amazing woman. It is an honor to know and love the person next to me. Tiffany has a wonderful heart and she will do anything for the people she loves.

It is such a privilege to be Tiffany’s best friend and Thad; I am so happy that you are able to be that person for her now and for the rest of her life. I remember how excited she was that you FINALLY asked her on a date after months of her trying to get you to acknowledge her existence at work. I know you bring out the best in her and I know she brings out the best in you. I honestly believe that there is no better person for Tiffany and I know that the two of you will continue to make each other happy for the rest of your lives.

Lastly, I don’t have any of my own advice about marriage to offer, since I have yet to get married. But I found this wonderful quote from Lydia Netzer that I think sums up what I believe marriage should be:

“All the stuff you read in magazines about honesty, sense of humor, communication, sensitivity, date nights, couples weekends; can be trumped by one word: loyalty. You and your spouse are a team of two. It is you against the world. No one else is allowed on the team, and no one else will ever understand the team’s rules. This is okay. The team is not adversarial, the team does not tear its members down, and the team does not sabotage the team’s success. Teammates work constantly to help and better their teammates. Loyalty means you put the other person in your marriage first all the time, and you let them put you first. Loyalty means subverting your whims or desires of the moment to better meet your spouse’s whims or desires, with the full understanding and expectation that they will be doing the same. This is the heart of everything, and it is a tricky balance. Sometimes it sways one way and sometimes the other. Sometimes he gets to be crazy; sometimes it’s your turn. Sometimes she’s in the spotlight, sometimes you. Ups and downs ultimately don’t matter, because the team endures.”

I think you will all like to join me in this wish: To Tiffany and Thad Klenovich may you live forever in love and may love live forever in you. Congratulations!"