Maid of honor

On June 11, 2011, I was honored to be given the privilege of being my sister's maid of honor in her wedding. When she initially asked me, I had not thought about the speech I was obligated to give at the wedding reception. I was too excited to even consider all the duties required as a maid of honor. After I said yes, I started to become nervous. Not only was everyone going to be listening, unlike speech class in college where the students are present but not truly listening to you because they are going over their own speeches in their head — it was in front of the people I cared about the most: my friends and family. Of course, these are the people in one's life that are the most understanding, but that does not mean I did not want to impress them or make them understand my connection to my sister and her new husband. I have attended many weddings and always look forward to the maid of honor and best man speeches because it helps me connect to the couple.

I looked up different examples of speeches on the Internet to give me some ideas. In the first one I wrote, I tried to be funny and then realized it was forced and not funny at all. Then I tried one a little deeper and realized it did not sound like me. Finally, I ended up at my mother's side asking her for some advice. She was the perfect person to go to because she knew my audience the best and she is a fantastic writer. We ended up with the perfect mix of a little bit funny and a little bit sentimental. I read my speech a few times the night before the wedding in my bedroom, reminding myself to control my breathing and pace.

It was the day of the wedding and everything went flawlessly. The ceremony was perfect, and before I knew it I was sitting at the head table at the wedding reception and the deejay was telling me I was giving my speech in five minutes. My heart started to race. I could feel my palms getting damp and clammy. I have never been good at public speaking. I do not really know why I get so nervous, it could be a symptom of my dyslexia, but I am not sure. As I sat there, I did not know what to do, so I started to pray. I asked God for strength to make it through this speech in front of 300 people without fainting. Then, before I even had time to finish my prayer, I was handed the microphone. My heart skipped a beat. I stood up and started my speech. I talked, slowly and clearly, and by five words in I reached a state of calm. The people melted into the background, and I felt like I was just talking to my sister and her new husband.

For those of you who don't know me, I am Alexis's little sister, Paige. We've been asked our whole lives if we are twins but I assure you, we are in fact, two years apart. Luckily, we haven't been confused today... I think everyone has figured out Alexis is the one in white.

Alexis is not only my biological sister, but my sorority sister as well. Matter of fact, her little sis is my big sis making Alexis technically my grandma. However, she refused to wear the #1 Grandma sweatshirt!

One of our favorite pastimes is speaking to each other in accents. Alexis and I amuse ourselves while working at our family's newspaper by answering the phones in different accents... British, French, New Jersey, southern. It gets a little confusing for us when we have all the lines on hold and have to get back on to take a message and forget which accent we were using on which line. We even convinced a friend at college for most of this year that we were Italians from New Jersey.

Justin just smiles and laughs with us. He's just enough of a goofball to fit into our family perfectly. Justin, I've always wanted a brother ...not a little brother, I like being the baby of the family, but a big brother...and I couldn't have chosen one more perfect than you!

I recently interviewed Justin for a game I was putting together for Alexis's sorority shower where Alexis would have to answer what she thought Justin's answers would be. One of the questions I asked him was, "What three words would you use to describe Alexis?" Justin replied, "Intelligent, beautiful and funny" then he quickly added "and always happy". I think Alexis has found a new twin because I know she would use those same words to describe Justin. Well, she wouldn't exactly use the word beautiful but there's a reason his junior high and high school female students nicknamed him Mr. Yumm!

Alexis, it has been so much fun to be a part of your fairy tale wedding. You are the most beautiful princess. Since Justin stepped into your life, I have known he was your true Prince Charming.

So everyone raise your glass, on this, your wedding day, I want to wish my big sister Alexis and her Prince Charming, my new big brother, the very best "happily ever after" a girl could ever dream of. I love you both! Congratulations!"