Being the Best Man For Dummies, UK Edition

Dominic Bliss

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781118650431
• eBook ISBN: 9781118650400
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

If you're looking for practical, straight-talking advice on getting things right, look no further.

Being the Best Man For Dummies is a perfect one-stop guide to being the ideal best man. This newly updated edition includes:

• Advice on organising the stag night (or weekend), including a guide to the best destinations, activities, and organisers, with contact information.
• An outline of your wedding day responsibilities (in the morning, at the church, during the reception, and all points in between) plus tips on how not to screw things up.
• A guide to writing a delivering a great speech, including opening lines, jokes, quotes, and more.
• Ten wedding-day nightmare scenarios to avoid.
• Guidance on how to dress to impress.

All that in one convenient package that also doubles as a terrific prop for the reception speech.

Part I

Getting Started with Being the Best Man

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In this part . . .

Know your key roles as best man.

Gain all the personal and organisational skills you’re going to need in the months before the wedding.

Discover how to be cool and organised under pressure.

Organize and execute the stag do so that it’s one for the history books.

Give the groom a proper send-off to his bachelor days he’ll never forget.

Chapter 1

Best Man Basics

In This Chapter

Understanding the best man’s role in the wedding build-up

Knowing what to do on the wedding day

Grasping the qualities of a best man

Every member of the wedding party has a precise and well-defined role. The groom’s job is to turn up on time and behave like a saint all day. The bride smiles, looks gorgeous and keeps one eye on the reception. The minister or registrar directs the ceremony. The ushers get everyone seated and organise the car parking. The bridesmaids fuss about the bride’s dress. The bride’s father worries about how much everything’s cost him. And the bride’s mother cries like a baby.

Interconnecting these roles in order to keep everyone happy and everything running smoothly is the linchpin of the wedding party. Yes, that’s you, the best man. But don’t worry: I’m here to help.

I’m the Best Man! What Am I Supposed to Do?

Your role as best man is a multifaceted one. You have to get the groom to the ceremony on time. You have to ensure that the guests are seated correctly and make the journey to the reception. At the reception, your speech is the one that everyone’s waiting to hear. And as well as the bride and groom, how you perform on the big day is what everyone remembers after the wedding.

As best man, your key roles are these:

Organising the groom’s stag do. You can find plenty more details on how to have fun in Chapters 2 and 3.

Getting the groom to the ceremony. Read Chapter 5 before kicking him out of bed on the big day.

Witnessing the wedding. Finest pen and best handwriting at the ready, all is revealed in Chapter 6.

Organising people for the wedding photographs. Get an idea of who’s in the big picture by heading to Chapter 6.

Helping guests to the reception. Help yourself to help the guests by reading Chapter 7.

Making a speech at the reception. Find out what to say and what not to say by studying Chapters 8 and 9.

Fret not! You’re not expected to do everything. Sure, you’ve got to plan ahead, be prepared, keep lists, run a tight ship and think on your feet. But lots of eager people are available to whom you can delegate tasks. The ushers are there to be at your beck and call, and you find that plenty of other guests are willing to lend a hand.

A wedding’s like a supertanker. Making a slight alteration in course takes days. As long as you’re aware of this and plan everything well in advance, you’ll stay clear of the rocks.

Some weddings are well organised, and some are chaotic. As best man, you want to pray for the former but accept that you may get the latter. Whatever happens, keep your diary organised. With military planning and teamwork, being the best man can run smoothly. I’ve included a handy checklist of what to do and when to do it, as shown in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1: The best man’s countdown to the wedding day.

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The first of the best

Don’t panic – best men have been around for centuries. Some historians believe that the role developed during the latter days of the Roman Empire. Back then, when the local village had run out of eligible girls, young Goths (black eyeliner, pointy shoes and all) were forced to raid neighbouring villages in search of a bride. Not the most romantic way of proposing to your future wife, eh? When the fathers and brothers realised what was going on, they did their utmost to protect the honour of their daughters and sisters, even if it meant a full-on Gothic brawl.

This period is where the best man came in. His job was to help the potential groom wrestle his chosen bride away from the family. He’d then act as henchman right up until the wedding ceremony, when he’d stand guard at the altar just in case the bride’s family staged a last-­minute rescue attempt.

Fortunately, nowadays, most brides have given their consent. You’d hope that their fathers were in agreement, too. The modern best man’s role is now more about organisation and moral support than pure physical force.

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Important Advice to Heed

The best man receives advice from all corners, some of which is good, some of which is bad....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: Getting Started with Being the Best Man
• Part II: Wedding Preparations and the Big Day
• Part III: The Speech
• Part IV: The Part of Tens
• Cheat Sheet