Best man criticised for 'out of line' joke during wedding speech

At weddings, the aim of a best man's speech is to entertain guests by taking a trip down memory lane to share some humorous anecdotes, and occasionally reduce guests to tears with a heartwarming tribute to the newlyweds.

But it seems one best man is in a pickle after making a joke he thought would amuse guests, but instead landed him in hot water with the groom who didn't appreciate the gag.

With this dilemma, the best man shared his situation to Reddit's "Am I the A**hole?" subreddit in order to gauge whether the groom was overreacting or whether he did in fact miss the mark with what he said in the speech.

"I (34M) was recently the Best Man at my friend's (36M) second wedding, I was also the best man at his first. I saw this joke online and it made me laugh so I stole it and for my opening speech I said 'right well....welcome back everyone', which got more than a few laughs, especially from the bride (31F) who seemed to find it hilarious."

However later on in the night "after a few drinks", the groom made it clear that he was unimpressed with the joke as best man described how he "began to rip me a new asshole telling me I was out of line with that kinda joke and how I'd embarrassed him and it wasn't funny and that I shouldn't have brought his last marriage into this."

At the end of the post, the best man said those kinds of speeches "will always be more jokey than anything" and noted how his speech was "fairly tame" only referencing the groom's previous marriage just that one time, he then asked: "...was I really that out of line?"

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There were some people who took the best man's jest as a light-hearted joke and couldn't understand why the groom was so upset.

One person wrote: "If you weren’t a tad bit embarrassed by your best man’s speech, did you really have a best man?"

"Maybe should have ran it through him first, I’d say NAH because he has a right to feel how he feels. But also it’s a very harmless joke, like it’s not out of line and it’s quite common, plus if the bride found it funny then I don’t see the big deal," another person said.

Someone else added: "NTA [Not the a**hole] don't have a second wedding if you're embarrassed it's a second wedding."

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However, there were many who could understand the groom's perspective on the matter and noted how the best man probably should have gotten his permission to include the joke in his speech beforehand.

One person wrote: "Soft YTA [You're the a**hole] It obviously upset the groom which is something you should avoid doing on their wedding day. You didn't say it in a mean or spiteful way though."

"YTA. Good joke, but you should have run it by the groom," another person said.

Someone else replied: "Even though your joke was hilarious, even comedians know to read the room. If your intended audience (primarily the groom) didn't like it, then it won't matter if you're funny. Sorry but YTA."

"No one wants their previous failed relationships brought up during their wedding to their current love," a fourth person added. "It doesn't matter that the group and the bride laughed. You literally were there to stand up for your friend in his day and you hurt him."

All-in-all, the subreddit concluded that the best man was in fact the a**hole, so if you're prepping for best man's speech (or any kind of wedding speech for that matter) it might be a good idea to get some feedback from the bride and groom to avoid this kind of conflict.