The Curse of the Inappropriate Best Man

Several years ago a wedding planner approached me with a delicate situation concerning a client who was due to be married in three week's time.

The Bride, an otherwise confident, successful business woman, was so concerned about what the Best Man was going to say during his speech that she was literally sick with worry. So much so, that she was having recurring nightmares where she was sat at the top table of her own wedding reception with a plastic smile on her face, whilst the Best Man gave a detailed account of the Groom´s seedier exploits and conquests.

(Reading between the lines I think the Groom was beginning to have second thoughts about the wisdom of asking his friend to speak too.)

The Planner had used my services extensively in the past, and knew my rule that I never include material in a wedding speech that wouldn´t make it into a PG film. Knowing the huge amount of time, money and emotional energy that the Bride had invested in her wedding day, the Planner asked if the Bride could hire me to write the Best Man´s speech for him.

I considered her request for a moment and thought, "Why not?"

The only problem was how the Groom was going to break the news to his best friend.

Ultimately, I suggested that the Bride and Groom offered to 'treat' the Best Man to a professionally written speech under the banner of easing his burden of responsibility because, "he had done so much to help them already."

Ah, I knew that 15 years working with politicians would come in handy one day...

In fact, the plan worked so well that it has become a regular part of my service.

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