Writing the Maid of Honor speech with Queena was pretty incredible. Anna had the idea of making a slideshow of pictures and playing it during the reception in place of Queena’s speech. Well, this was a fine idea but I wanted to take it a step further.
Throughout the wedding process I frequently facetimed with Queena to get her opinion on certain upcoming events. From bridal shower planning and themes and bachelorette party ideas, to lingerie gift advice and her Maid of Honor speech – we covered it all.
I wanted the speech to be from Queena. The last thing I wanted to do was stand in front of Anna and Jonathan’s family and friends and make the speech on behalf of Queena. I thought to myself, I can finally use my fancy computer and put together a full video slideshow!
I called my fellow bridesmaid Katie to see if she would record it with me. I didn’t want to stand up and read it myself and I didn’t want the video to be all in my voice either. This video needed to be 100% from Queena.
I facetimed with Queena and Mom and got their opinion. Mom was super excited and said she would find a bunch of pictures from when Queena and Anna were kids. I jumped on Facebook and downloaded whatever I could find of the two together. The video-slideshow-MOH-speech was a GO!
We had to be sneaky about our plans to surprise Anna. I was in Tampa for a meeting and arrived a day early so we could get to work. Katie met me at Queena’s house to begin the speech writing. Vanna told us lots of stories about the sisters growing up and the four of us laughed and laughed. The stories with the better reactions from Q were used, notably mom drifting to sea in the Bahamas, the ice bucket challenge and the speeding ticket. From these stories, Katie and I formulated the skeleton of the speech.
Queena had a quick therapy session and we shared what we had so far… She laughed at several parts and told us in her own way to remove the part about Anna meeting Tim Tebow. I was surprised but this but agreed.
Later, when Mom came in the room to check on us, Katie and I said we were all set and Q only wanted us to remove the part about Tim Tebow. Mom started laughing and told us Anna wasn’t there when they met Tebow. This gave me goosebumps. This shows Queena was really listening and definitely had a role in the speech and the content included.
Katie read the speech one last time before leaving that night. Reviewing song choices from the Piano Guys, the quote from the Chaos Theory, Anna’s favorite bible verse Jeremiah 29:11, and recapping the engagement story. Queena smiled and laughed, showing us she was happy with the words we had put together for her.
Another visit with Katie to make the recordings, a few facetime calls later, and we had a finished product. I called Queena and Mom to play the full video-slideshow-MOH-speech one last time and they both loved it!
I’m so glad we were able to create this with Queena for Anna’s wedding day. I’ll never forget the look of shock on her face when the voiceover came on the speakers.
