03 March 2024 , 17:19
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When Michelle Levenson tied the knot with Matthew Levenson on Jan. 20 in Athens, Georgia, her best friend and maid of honour, Ally Lothman, was noticeably absent.
The pair of besties have been inseparable for thirty years, and Lothman would have loved to be there for her bestie's big day if it wasn't for the fact that she had just become a mom to a beautiful baby girl a few days prior. "Our friendship means the world to us, and it was really tough knowing I couldn't be there because I'd just given birth," Lothman shared with the audience over a speaker during the wedding.
Even though she couldn't be there physically, the 30-year-old found a way to make her presence felt. She recorded a heartfelt message that was played at the reception.
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A woman knew she couldn't miss making her best friend's wedding speech (stock image) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)"I wrote this speech at 3am during a diaper change, the night before her wedding," Lothman told Good Morning America. "It's wild how the whole idea for the speech just popped into my head out of nowhere."
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Lothman's speech was a hit at the wedding, and when the Levensons' videographer, Woodell Productions, posted it on TikTok, it quickly went viral, racking up over 17 million views since last Friday.
View the TikTok post:
In her humorous and sentimental speech, Lothman reminisced about a trip to Italy, which she counts as one of her favourite memories with Michelle Levenson throughout their long-lasting friendship.
"I'll never forget my first evening in Cortona, Italy. In true Michelle fashion, she had whisked me up and down the incredibly steep, windy roads that Tuscan city was perched upon," Lothman began her trip down memory lane during her four-minute speech at the wedding. She finished by saying the Levensons couldn't be "more perfect for one another."
"At the wedding, [Ally's speech] killed. It brought the house down," said Michelle Levenson. Both Michelle and Matt Levenson called Lothman's maid of honour speech "perfect."
"I think she like nailed it, picking that moment," Michelle Levenson expressed. "I felt so lucky in the moment and I couldn't believe that it was happening, what I was hearing, and all the inside jokes and references brought so many memories flooding back. It was perfect."
Matt Levenson also thought the speech was amazing, saying, "What was important to me was that Michelle had her moment and felt special and loved, because she is, and Ally accomplished that and more than I could have ever imagined at that moment."
Lothman was surprised her touching speech became a hit on TikTok but is glad people are loving the video clip.
"It was so special to share such an intimate memory of [our] friendship with first her wedding and now with the whole world, and it's been such a joy to have everybody be so supportive of our female friendship," she said. "It's been a blessing to have everybody kind of be along for that and to recognise that, just like she and I have for the past 30 years."