Being the Best Man For Dummies - UK, 2nd UK Edition E-Book

Dominic Bliss

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 215

Beschreibung

If you're looking for practical, straight-talking advice on getting things right, look no further. Being the Best Man For Dummies is a perfect one-stop guide to being the ideal best man. This newly updated edition includes: * Advice on organising the stag night (or weekend), including a guide to the best destinations, activities, and organisers, with contact information. * An outline of your wedding day responsibilities (in the morning, at the church, during the reception, and all points in between) plus tips on how not to screw things up. * A guide to writing a delivering a great speech, including opening lines, jokes, quotes, and more. * Ten wedding-day nightmare scenarios to avoid. * Guidance on how to dress to impress. All that in one convenient package that also doubles as a terrific prop for the reception speech.

Leseprobe

Being the Best Man For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2013

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-118-65043-1 (hardback/paperback); ISBN 978-1-118-65042-4 (eMobi);ISBN 978-1-118--65038-7 (ePDF); ISBN 978-1-118-65040-0 (ePub)

Printed in Great Britain by TJ International

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Being the Best Man For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/beingthebestmanuk to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Getting Started with Being the Best Man

Part II: Wedding Preparations and the Big Day

Part III: The Speech

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started with Being the Best Man

Chapter 1: Best Man Basics

I’m the Best Man! What Am I Supposed to Do?

Important Advice to Heed

Acting as the middle man

Keeping in with the in-laws

Shining at the engagement party

Being the best, best man a man can get

Chapter 2: Stag Do’s and Stag Don’ts

Guest List Only

Clique is weak

Show me the money

Nearest and dearest

Home or Away?

Choosing the Organiser

Do it yourself

Let the pros take over

Getting Out and About

From paintballing to parachuting

The Sporting Life

On the sidelines

Evening Entertainment

Casinos: Betting you’ll have a good time

Nightclubs: Opting for a night on the tiles

Adult clubs: Stripping down to the basics

Pubs and bars: Drinking the night away

Sorting Out the Details

Organising the finances

Warming up the proceedings

Clothing the stag

Chapter 3: The Stag Party

Warming Up the Stags

No Sleep ’Til . . .

Getting ’em in

Carrying on after hours

Setting Him Up

Getting the Stag Home

Dealing with Emergencies

Putting the Party on Record

Taking photographic evidence

Getting the stag online

Part II: Wedding Preparations and the Big Day

Chapter 4: The Build-Up to the Big Day

Getting Him to the Church on Time

Preparing Your Wedding Wardrobe

Choosing your garb

Wearing your kit correctly

Ushering the Ushers

Rehearsing the Wedding Ceremony

Understanding the ceremony

Playing the part

Yes, minister

May all your problems be little ones

Organising the Groom’s Last Night

The last supper

The last-minute details

The final checklist

Chapter 5: The Morning of the Wedding

Rise and Shine

Cool as a Cucumber

Cross-Town Traffic

The groom’s wheels

The wedding car

Band of Brothers: Organising the Ushers

Dutch Courage: The Groom’s Last Drink as a Free Man

Chapter 6: The Actual Ceremony

Your Job’s Easy

Pew ! What a Lot of People: Seating the Guests

Altar-gether Now

Here comes the bride

Surviving the service

Lord of the Ring

Postnuptial Duties

Registering your approval

Marching orders

Saying ‘Cheese!’

Chapter 7: The Wedding Reception

The Reception

Guest Appearances

For What We Are About to Receive

Master of All He Surveys

Being the host with the most

Take your partner by the hand

Seeing Off the Newly-weds

Part III: The Speech

Chapter 8: Writing the Speech

Structuring Your Speech

Putting Pen to Paper

Does length matter?

Going to press

Kicking Off on a Good Note

Including the Essentials

Acknowledging the other speakers

Replying on behalf of the bridesmaids

Congratulating the happy couple

Complimenting the gorgeous bride

Dishing the Dirt on the Groom

Character traits

Anecdotes and ideas

Don’t mention the war: Subjects to avoid

Safe targets

Absent Without Leave

Quote Me on That

Some great quotes

Poetry in motion

Raise your glasses

Chapter 9: Delivering and Presenting Your Speech

Practise Makes Perfect

You’ve been framed

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Some friendly advice

Any time, any place, anywhere

Fret Not

Delivering the Goods

Making a stand

Getting your audience on side

Keeping it slow

Throwing your voice

Taking the mic

Making your moves

Making notes

Toning up your speaking skills

Preparing props

Involving the audience

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Chapter 10: Ten Great Ideas for the Stag Do

Tee Time

Fuelling Your Imagination

Monopoly Board Pub Crawl

Argy Bargey: Hiring a Barge

War! What Is It Good for?

The Sky’s the Limit: Sky Diving

The Big Blue

Viva Las Vegas

The Beautiful Game

Getting Festive

Chapter 11: Ten Best Stag Do Destinations

London, United Kingdom

Newquay, United Kingdom

Brighton, United Kingdom

Nottingham, United Kingdom

Barcelona, Spain

Tallinn, Estonia

Berlin, Germany

Amsterdam, Holland

Prague, Czech Republic

Dublin, Irish Republic

Chapter 12: Ten Wedding Nightmare Scenarios

Stag Do Injuries

Lose the Ring

No-Show Bride, No-Show Groom

Ceremony Interruption

Wedding Fight

Speech Embarrassments

Drunken Guests

Dodgy Weather

Family Feuding

Avoiding Temptation

Chapter 13: Ten Great Budget Stag Tips

Life’s a Beach

Master Chef

Raise You!

A Rambling We Will Go

X Marks the Spot

Out of Your League

Pub Olympics

Posh Picnic

Better than Hitch-Hiking

Your Name Is on the List

Chapter 14: Ten Great Drinking Games

The Cocktail from Hell

Dice Men

Beer Hunter

OO7

Roxanne

Match the Match

Pub Golf

Off-Ground Groom

Booze Relay

Card Sharp

Appendix: Surfing the Best Man Web

Stag do organisers

Stag do venues and events

Stag do accessories

Online photo and video galleries

Limousine hire

Get your kit on

Speech ideas

Sources of quotations

Sources of jokes

Cheat Sheet

Introduction

In a previous existence, I was launch editor and feature writer for a men’s wedding magazine called Stag & Groom. Among the articles we published, we had loads of no-nonsense advice on stag parties, speech content and wedding suits. Inevitably, whenever friends or colleagues got engaged or appointed best man, the first person they would call for advice was me. Every springtime, just as the wedding season was starting to hot up, I used to get at least a couple such calls a week, and the two topics they would be panicking about most were the stag party and the speech.