The Best Man's Responsibilities

The role of the best man is very important when it comes to making a success of the wedding day. Most people just think of the dreaded speech they have to make, but whether the wedding is a formal or informal affair, there is more to the best man role then just his speech.

If you’ve just been asked by a mate to be his best man on his wedding day, take it as one of the biggest compliments you can receive, because it really is an honour to be chosen.
Ask the groom to be, what he expects from you when it comes to your responsibilities. Also ask him who else is involved in the wedding party, you may not know the parents, bridesmaids or ushers before the event, so it may be a good idea to meet anyone you’ve not met before the big day.

Here’s a few roles we’d expect a traditional best man to undertake :

Stag Party
Probably the bit that every best man enjoys the most, however, if you’re not the type who’s good at organisation then you may be in trouble.
Organising a good stag party is by no means an easy task, start of by asking the groom for a full list of people he wants to invite, get email addresses, home addresses or phone numbers for each of the stag party attendees. Then ask the stag what he really wants from his party – note, at this stage he’s “the stag” and not “the groom” – he gives you ideas, you arrange his party.
If the stag wants a weekend away, then so be it. If he just wants a night at the local pub then it’s his choice. It’s best to spend one evening discussing options and then take the ideas away and come up with a plan yourself.
Once you’ve both agreed on what the stag party is going to involve, then you need to contact all of the attendees to see who can or cannot make it.
If it’s a weekend away, then start planning as early as possible, keep an eye on cheap flights and start looking for hotels. A great tip is to set up a savings account for all the lads to pay £20 a month into. If they save for a year, then £240 will go a long way towards a great stag weekend.

Hire suit
Needless to say the bride may want a big say in what the gents are wearing during the wedding. However, the best man needs to be present when choosing the suits, and it’s best to get this done early rather then late.
All the male members of the wedding party will need to organise fittings at the wedding suit hire shop, and the groom may wish to offload the organising of this onto the best man. The other main duty the best man may receive is the returning of the hire suits after the wedding, so it would be a good idea to clarify when they need returning by, and make sure teh bride & grooms fathers and and ushers are aware that they need to give these suits back to you as quickly as possible after the wedding.

Wedding Rehearsal
Depending on where the couple are planning to marry, there may well be a wedding rehearsal. Most churches request one, and it’s a really good idea. Not only is it an opportunity for the wedding party to get together ahead of the big day, but it may also put your mind at rest should you have concerns about where to be at what time during the ceremony. The best man really should be present at any rehearsal should one be organised.

Speech
How could we leave this part out ? The best man speech is by far the most significant part of the whole wedding for you. This is what you’ll be remembered by, and this is the single most important thing you have to get correct.
We have devoted a section of our website to the best man speech so have a good read of that for ideas. We’ll also be writing a big entry on the blog soon about how to prepare and execute a fantastic best man speech.
We’ll leave you with one tip in this article – start compiling ideas and sections of your speech very early. While down the gym, or on the way to work, whenever you get a quiet moment to yourself, start writing down speech ideas. Never leave the speech writing it to the last moment, you’ll regret it.

Transport
You may be required to help the ushers getting wedding guests from the church to the reception, or maybe from the reception to their hotel. Ideally, get well ahead of the game and print some maps off with directions for the wedding guests, and start handing them out when the time comes. If it’s a case of needed to help guests from the church to the wedding reception, then hand these to the ushers and ask them to stand handing them out, you’ll probably be busy with wedding photos straight after the ceremony.

Hopefully this has given you some idea of the responsibilities of the best man, as we mentioned earlier, it’s a great honour when someone asks you to be their best man, make sure you don’t let the groom down in anyway !

Happy Wedding Planning !

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