Planning Your Wedding: The Role of the Best Man

Wedding season is upon us and if you've ever taken a hand in helping to plan a wedding, you know just how daunting all of the little details can be. To make the day special for both the bride and the groom, there is a lot of thought and effort put into making things happen. But while all of the small details can seem overwhelming at times, the groom choosing a best man early in the game can help alleviate some of the stress. But what is the role of a best man? Is his job simply to stand at the altar behind the couple? Well, the answer is yes and no.

The role of a best man is really to make sure that all of the small, but important details are taken care of so that the groom can really spend his time focusing on the big picture and his bride. He takes charge of making sure that everything runs smoothly, from the beginning stages of the wedding planning to after the wedding and reception have taken place and the bride and the groom are already on their honeymoon.

Before the wedding day, it is the best man's role to really take charge of the groomsmen. He will coordinate the fitting sessions of all of the groomsmen so that the groom, himself, can focus on his own fitting. He will hold on to the bride's wedding ring for safekeeping until the big day, and plan the bachelor party. He may front all of the costs for the party, himself, or he may share the cost with the rest of the groomsmen.

Just before the big day, the best man will confirm all of the plans for the honeymoon so that the couple doesn't have to worry about anything going wrong with it, and they can focus on the bigger picture. In the days leading up to the big day, he will take it upon himself to take care of any small, last minute details such as reservations and confirmations. At the dry run of the ceremony and the rehearsal dinner, the role of the best man is to stick beside the groom, continuing to make sure that all of the little things are taken care of. He interacts with the family and friends of both the bride and the groom, and offers a solid reassurance that things will run smoothly on the day of the main event.

With all of the things the groom has to do to prepare for the big day, he may become jittery and irritable in the days leading up to the wedding. The best man will step in and see to it that, even with the pre-wedding nerves, things still run smoothly, and that any and all of the groom's worries are calmed. He is just as much a man of many tasks as he is a pillar of support.

On the wedding day, itself, the best man really takes an active front role, standing beside the groom throughout the day and working on the sidelines at the same time. His role on the big day doesn't lessen. He stays busy the whole time, picking up the tuxedo, getting the groom to the venue, and assisting in the preparation of the groom and all of his groomsmen. During the wedding, he will stand behind the groom as he marries his bride.

At the reception, the best man will give a toast to the newly wedded couple, and assist in rounding up the men to participate in the traditional tossing of the garter. After the wedding and ceremony have come to a close and the bride and groom have taken off on their honeymoon, he will return any rented formal wear to the shop and all personal items and wedding gifts to the house of the new couple.

As you can see, the role of the best man is very important in making sure that things run smoothly from the beginning stages of planning the wedding all the way through the event and after the bride and groom have left for their honeymoon. He stands as support and a micromanager of all the small details that go into making things go off without a hitch. Because there is so much resting on the best man's shoulders, the groom should pick wisely, choosing someone he trusts completely to be loyal and dependable. This role isn't to be taken lightly as it is really to be the groom's right hand man throughout the whole experience.