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Jeedan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My friend is getting married in november and I'm best man.
What are my responsibilities? Stag night, speech. What else? Any tips for the speech?
What are my responsibilities? Stag night, speech. What else? Any tips for the speech?
Jeedan on
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Ask the groom about the time you have for your speech. Odds are the couple and the venue have discussed wedding timing to death and have a time your speech cannot run past or it will interrupt other things.
Ask her what she wants to tell him to tell you what to do.
Remember to memorize a few risible tales for the reception. Nothing too ribald, of course. Keep in mind, too, that should the groom flee from his obligations you shall be required to step in and marry the bride to save her from disgrace. Should you balk at this you may be forced to duel one of her brothers over the offense.
Ok, on topic, do expect to have to usher folks to their seats. Do expect to be the major planner for the stag night unless you know someone who'd be better at it or more enthusiastic about it. If you have the stag night the night before the wedding day, make sure at least one of the groomsmen stays sober enough to drag the rest of you out of bed the next day. I cannot stress how important this last point is and I'm speaking from experience here. I never made a speech when I was best man at a friend's wedding but if you do then I'd say that brevity and humor are the way to go.
Me and the other groomsmen ushered people to their seats. I spent the whole day of the wedding with the groom helping him out, taking him to lunch, bringing his bags to the hotel and checking in early with him. Just be there to help him out with whatever he needs and help him with anything mundane that could be a distraction for him.
I brought safety pins, baby wipes, a lint roller, extra socks, hair gel, water and some granola bars to the wedding hall where we got dressed and a lot of those things came in handy and no one else had them.
I hate long speeches so I gave a toast that lasted about 5 minutes or less. It was basically like this
Make sure you right it down word for word. Don't think you won't stumble if you just have an outline.
other random duties that I performed
stood guard at the door in the old reception hall while bride and groom changed into traveling clothes
took up the slack and played emcee
found someone to get the wedding party coffee during the rehearsal
tossed the groom a 5-hour energy drink right after the wedding since he was exhausted
hunted down all the groomsmen after the wedding and returned their tuxes to the rental shop
broke down tables and cleaned up the reception hall after the happy couple left