The story begins on a beautiful spring afternoon in 2013. I
was scrolling Twitter while binge-watching Netflix as I typically do during my
downtime. After reading hundreds of insignificant rants and catching up on all
of the latest celebrity gossip, I was just about to log off of Twitter until
something caught my eye. Upon my feed read a tweet that simply stated “greatest maid-of-honor speech of all time” with a link to a YouTube video. This
immediately caught my attention seeing as my sister had just asked me to be her
maid-of-honor. I clicked the link and I instantly realized why this woman’s
speech was so epic. In this video, the maid-of-honor and younger sister of the
bride rapped her speech to Eminems’ song “Without Me”. I was blown away by this
speech and immediately texted my sister half-jokingly asking her permission to
recite my speech in this manner. As my sister has a great sense of humor, she
agreed, thus beginning my year-long plan of creating a rap for my toast.
For months, I searched for just the perfect song to rewrite
for my toast. It wasn’t until April of 2014 that I discovered the perfect song,
“Fancy” by Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX. The reason that this song was so
perfect is due to the fact that my sister and her fiancé call each other their
“fancy boos.” If you want the whole story behind the nicknames, you’d have to
ask them. So after choosing the song and
finding the instrumental version of it online, I went to work writing the rap.
Here’s the thing I discovered while writing the rap, it’s
very hard to write a rap. Seriously, I have so much respect for the rappers and
songwriters of the world because finding words that rhyme AND make sense
together is as challenging as trying to get to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey
(many have attempted, few have succeeded). After many, many rewrites, I finally my completed rap. Now, if you have heard “Fancy”, you’ll know that Charli
XCX sings the chorus and a verse of the song. Although I was willing to make a
fool of myself with attempting a rap, I was not willing to hurt everyone’s ears
with my singing voice. So, to help save myself from further embarrassment, and to
make the rap even more special, I recruited two of my sisters best friends and
fellow bridesmaids, both of which have AMAZING voices, to sing the chorus’.
During the year leading up to the wedding, I had been
repetitively telling my sister and her fiancé that I was not going to be doing
a rap during my toast. I decided that it would be much more fun if I was to
surprise them.
My sister’s big day finally rolled around in June 2014. I
woke up the morning of the wedding with the wildest butterflies in my stomach
but had to ignore them, as I instantly had to begin preparing for the afternoon
ceremony. Throughout the day, the hustle and bustle from the festivities made
my anxiety skyrocket. So with this,
my nerves were unsettling that day, setting me up for a not-so-smooth wedding
toast.
After the ceremony, the first dance and dinner, it was
finally time for the wedding toasts. When the best man stood up to give his
toast, my anxiety washed over me like a tidal wave. After his very sweet speech, it
was finally my turn.
One thing to know about me is that I love public speaking. I
love performing, giving speeches and talking in front of crowds and it has never once made me
nervous. Yet, when I began to give my toast, my nerves stung me and I
suddenly felt as though I was watching myself give the speech rather than
actually delivering it. So, I’ll just cut to the chase. By the time the music had
come on (due to a secret cue from the DJ), I completely forgot everything that
I had been working on for months and basically froze for the majority of the rap. After it
was over, the only thing that was on my mind was “it is so hard to rap in front
of people”, which I ever-so-kindly and awkwardly let the guests know. Yet
after all was said and done, I knew that I had surprised my sister and new
brother-in-law and if nothing else, gave them, and the wedding guests a good laugh. I’ve
only been able to watch the video of it once, seeing as it makes me just
cringe, but if you’re interested in having a good chuckle, I’ve added a link to
the video below.
If you’re ever given the honorable title of maid-of-honor, I
highly suggest putting together a rap. Even though I wasn’t able to perform it
perfectly, it was so much fun to put together and made my sisters wedding even
more memorable.
Blissful wishes,
Lyss
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