What Are Your Best Man Duties?

So you’ve been chosen to be a best man for your friend’s wedding. Now what? Well being a best man carries a lot of responsibility and you need to know what is expected of you. You can ask the groom but chances are if he’s like most guys the bridegroom will have no clue either. So what are you supposed to do? You could always ask the bride but that might just open up Pandora’s Box and you don’t want to be her lackey do you?

There are a lot of traditional responsibilities the best man has along with some not so traditional best man duties. It is your job to either do them or delegate them to other members of the wedding party.

Perhaps the first thing that comes to your mind is the bachelor party! You and your cohorts need to plan a bachelor party that he will remember (or maybe he won’t!). You can choose from a number of traditional, bawdy bachelor party ideas or go with a party without scantily clad women and debauchery. Only you know what the groom expects so plan accordingly. Ideas for non-traditional bachelor parties can be found here.

The next thing you’ll be responsible for is the tuxedo rentals. You don’t have to pay for everyone, but you’ll be the point man for you and the groom. You’ll pick them up and you’ll be responsible for dropping them off after the event. Make sure you get it from him before the honeymoon since he won’t be thinking about those details!

Talk to the groom or bride about boutonnières for the rest of the wedding party. Make sure you know who is in charge of them and make sure your guys are adequately attired for the ceremony.

 You’ll need to coordinate the decoration of the car or limousine for the post ceremony transfer to the wedding reception. Make sure it is out of site so that it’s a big surprise to the wedding party.

Getting the groom ready and making sure he arrives at the wedding on time and dressed is also your responsibility. Some grooms may relieve you of this best man duty, but you need to make sure and back him up anyway.

The most important best man duty is to keep the ring in a safe place and present it to the groom during the ceremony. DO NOT FORGET THE RING! In fact, good practice is to have a spare just in case you can’t find the ring during the wedding ceremony (just a fake ring will do fine). The wedding ring may fall into a hole in the rented tuxedo and be difficult to retrieve. Be prepared. Practice retrieving the wedding ring so that it is a seamless part of the ceremony. A good idea is to take it out and have it in your hand once you are in place during the ceremony.

The most disconcerting best man duty for most of us is the best man wedding speech. You’ll need to make sure you prepare this well in advance and practice, practice, practice. Get feedback if you can and don’t wait until the last minute. If you are a last minute type of guy go to Best Man Speeches and you’ll be taken care of pronto.

The last thing you’ll need to accomplish is to get the bride and groom from the reception to their place of retirement for the evening. If they are staying at the hotel where you had the reception then you lucked out. If it is somewhere else, you’ll need to do some planning. A designated driver or limousine will do the job. Just make sure you have a plan.

That should just about cover your best man duties. Any additional things should be coordinated with the bride and groom. Good luck.