Safeguard Honeymoon Money
First, don't embezzle the honeymoon money.
Safety On Stag Nights
Second, don't take the groom on a stag night in which everybody is so drunk that they have black eyes and don't enjoy the wedding. On one or two stag nights the groom or best man has been badly injured or even gone, missing, immediately or much later found drowned. Sometimes, the bride sees the photo of the groom kissing the near naked stripper and cancels the wedding.
The wedding ceremony - money
In France at the church a cup or box is passed around collecting money. This is not for the bride and groom but for the poor. So do not put into the box the gift for the bride and groom because they will not receive it!
If the minister is not paid but received a 'donation', the best man has to ensure the correct money is in an envelope with the minister's name, and must work out when to discreetly hand it over.
1 Forget to reply to the wedding RSVP in the UK
Why is this wrong? The wedding dinner is costing the bride or groom or their families easily 50 or 100 pounds sterling per seated guest just for the meal. If five couples don't turn up, that is 500 hundred pounds or more spent unnecessarily, wasted food, looks like their friends don't love them, their friends who were left off the list to make room for you will be annoyed, and when you fail to send a gift and confess, "Oops I forgot!", your friendship may sour.
Remember the RSVP!
Ushers should know the seating order. Family at the front. Bride's family on one side, groom's family on the other side.
If you mislay the wedding invitation and reply, you might get lost between the wedding ceremony venue and the reception venue and miss the dinner.
Don't follow other guests.
One group followed another car and ended up outside the local hospital. They had followed a doctor who was on call.
2 Deliver gifts to the bride's home in advance. Gifts at hotel go missing.
Traditionally wedding gifts are not delivered at the wedding. Only close family would give money.
At a wedding I attended, my gift and all the others were stolen from the family\s hotel boot in the hotel car park.
3 The best man should make sure the groom reaches the wedding venue. If there is a delay or cancellation, he should tell the bride and venue.
I was supposed to be a witness at a wedding on a cruise ship. The groom did not turn up. the ship's staff called all the local hospitals. The groom had evidently done a runner.
Unfortunately, his parents were already on board, on the one week cruise, sharing a dinner table with the bride's parents. The cruise ship said they could not move the table seating,because all the other tables were families and friends who would not wish to be separated. I don't suppose anybody else wanted to be forced to try to be jolly sharing a table for a week with the jilted bride.
2 At dinner, don't talk with your hands. Even if you are Italian.
Why not?
a) You look like a foreigner.
b) You are likely to knock the red wine over the bride's white dress. Would that make you popular?
The groom will assume:
You made a mistake. You are an idiot.
You did it deliberately. It might start a fight.
3 Do not not get drunk and do not start a fight.
Why? The hotel will charge a lot of money.
The wedding party giving speeches next door will not be pleased about the noise.
(I heard about this from a hotelier in the UK.)
The groom will spend the night in jail.
The bride will never forgive you. (Her mother will say she was right about you all along.)
Hire a wedding car - and have a backup.
In Australia I was sent videos of out-takes by a wedding video photographer.
In one video, the best man was distracted and left off the handbrake. His car rolled downhill into the car of the bride's father. In addition to the damage, they needed two cars at short notice to get to the wedding.
In another video, the best man's group thought it was funny to cover all the groom's car windows with several inches of shaving foam. He could not see to drive to the airport. He was in a hired suit. I have never seen anybody look so angry.
Don't deliver items to the honeymoon suite or make an apple pie bed nor allow anybody else to do so.
The best man or so called friends so often wreck the room that many hotels will not allow anybody else in. Because the bride and groom will sue the hotel for running the wedding and the hotel in turn will sue the guests or bride and groom for damage to the room.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Author of
Wedding Speeches & Toasts
Etiquette for every occasion.
First, don't embezzle the honeymoon money.
Safety On Stag Nights
Second, don't take the groom on a stag night in which everybody is so drunk that they have black eyes and don't enjoy the wedding. On one or two stag nights the groom or best man has been badly injured or even gone, missing, immediately or much later found drowned. Sometimes, the bride sees the photo of the groom kissing the near naked stripper and cancels the wedding.
The wedding ceremony - money
In France at the church a cup or box is passed around collecting money. This is not for the bride and groom but for the poor. So do not put into the box the gift for the bride and groom because they will not receive it!
If the minister is not paid but received a 'donation', the best man has to ensure the correct money is in an envelope with the minister's name, and must work out when to discreetly hand it over.
1 Forget to reply to the wedding RSVP in the UK
Why is this wrong? The wedding dinner is costing the bride or groom or their families easily 50 or 100 pounds sterling per seated guest just for the meal. If five couples don't turn up, that is 500 hundred pounds or more spent unnecessarily, wasted food, looks like their friends don't love them, their friends who were left off the list to make room for you will be annoyed, and when you fail to send a gift and confess, "Oops I forgot!", your friendship may sour.
Remember the RSVP!
Ushers should know the seating order. Family at the front. Bride's family on one side, groom's family on the other side.
If you mislay the wedding invitation and reply, you might get lost between the wedding ceremony venue and the reception venue and miss the dinner.
Don't follow other guests.
One group followed another car and ended up outside the local hospital. They had followed a doctor who was on call.
2 Deliver gifts to the bride's home in advance. Gifts at hotel go missing.
Traditionally wedding gifts are not delivered at the wedding. Only close family would give money.
At a wedding I attended, my gift and all the others were stolen from the family\s hotel boot in the hotel car park.
3 The best man should make sure the groom reaches the wedding venue. If there is a delay or cancellation, he should tell the bride and venue.
I was supposed to be a witness at a wedding on a cruise ship. The groom did not turn up. the ship's staff called all the local hospitals. The groom had evidently done a runner.
Unfortunately, his parents were already on board, on the one week cruise, sharing a dinner table with the bride's parents. The cruise ship said they could not move the table seating,because all the other tables were families and friends who would not wish to be separated. I don't suppose anybody else wanted to be forced to try to be jolly sharing a table for a week with the jilted bride.
2 At dinner, don't talk with your hands. Even if you are Italian.
Why not?
a) You look like a foreigner.
b) You are likely to knock the red wine over the bride's white dress. Would that make you popular?
The groom will assume:
You made a mistake. You are an idiot.
You did it deliberately. It might start a fight.
3 Do not not get drunk and do not start a fight.
Why? The hotel will charge a lot of money.
The wedding party giving speeches next door will not be pleased about the noise.
(I heard about this from a hotelier in the UK.)
The groom will spend the night in jail.
The bride will never forgive you. (Her mother will say she was right about you all along.)
Hire a wedding car - and have a backup.
In Australia I was sent videos of out-takes by a wedding video photographer.
In one video, the best man was distracted and left off the handbrake. His car rolled downhill into the car of the bride's father. In addition to the damage, they needed two cars at short notice to get to the wedding.
In another video, the best man's group thought it was funny to cover all the groom's car windows with several inches of shaving foam. He could not see to drive to the airport. He was in a hired suit. I have never seen anybody look so angry.
Don't deliver items to the honeymoon suite or make an apple pie bed nor allow anybody else to do so.
The best man or so called friends so often wreck the room that many hotels will not allow anybody else in. Because the bride and groom will sue the hotel for running the wedding and the hotel in turn will sue the guests or bride and groom for damage to the room.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Author of
Wedding Speeches & Toasts
Etiquette for every occasion.
