Hi everyone, can I have your attention. My name is Steve and I'd like to give a speech. Jim and Jodi didn't want much tradition at their wedding, but they wanted a speech and that's my role. Not to worry though, my speech finishes with a toast, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
To get ready for this speech I went online to YouTube, where I watched more speeches than I care to remember. I can report to you today that most of these speeches share one thing in common, namely that they are very bad.
After hearing so many bad speeches, an experience you may well be in the process of sharing, you begin to realize that being mediocre is a victory. That brings us to Jim.
We were all surprised when Jodi agreed to marry Jim. Let me say a few words about Jodi. I met Jodi when she doing development work for the PIRGs, where Jim, Jodi, and I all worked. Jodi is driven, intense, intelligent, dedicated, but the thing that stands out as the secret to her success are her high standards. Which is why we were all surprised when Jodi agreed to marry Jim.
I met Jim when I first moved to Boston. They say your reputation precedes you, and that was true of Jim. I was moving to Boston and went to look at an apartment. I was talking to my prospective roommate, and told him where I was going to work. He said I should be sure to meet a guy who worked at the same place named Jim Taylor. His advice was much better than his apartment, and I'm glad to have known Jim all these years.
Through the years, I've found Jim to be laid back, patient, tall - I won't make him stand up but he's very tall, Jodi can attest to that - with a great sense of humor. As you can see by the look on his face, this speech is testing all those traits.
Jim also, and I cannot stress this enough, doesn't hold a grudge. I hope.
You heard during the ceremony about how Jim and Jodi met. Grew up in Ohio, met in Boston, started dating in Santa Barbara.
I can tell you that Jim deployed his full arsenal of moves to woo Jodi. When Jim took Jodi out to dinner, he wore a button-up shirt. Tucked it in and everything. That's about it. Jim doesn't have a lot of moves.
Instead Jim relied on being the great guy we all know and love, and that won Jodi over. Four years after those first dates, here they are. I'm sure Jim is as surprised as anyone, and happier about it than all of us put together.
It's tradition at this point in the speech to talk about how being with the bride has changed the groom. But to tell you the truth, Jim seems like much the same person to me. Which is to say, he's always been a great guy!
So I can say without reservation that Jodi you're in luck, it's not an act.
And as I've already sung Jodi's praises, though not to the degree that she deserves, I can say you're both very lucky.
I'd like to ask everyone to raise their glass in a toast to the bride and groom.
To you both, a day of perfection. A night of bliss. A lifetime of blessings. And may your home always be too small to hold all who love you.
To Jim and Jodi!
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