Most of you don’t know this but I’m best man for my friend’s wedding. This is his second marriage. I was at his first wedding but I wasn’t his best man for that one. I was just considered a close friend. This time around, I’ve moved up the ladder. Yay!
While I think it’s a great honour to be best man, it’s a role that I’ve never had before. I like to think I take these type of things seriously but when it’s your first time, you don’t have experience to fall back on. For example, I’m in charge of organizing the bachelor party. I’ve never done that before. About a week and a half ago, my friend gave me a list of dudes and date that he wanted the party to be on. I immediately got stressed because there were 30 names on that list. I’ve attended several stags and I’ve yet to see that many dudes on one. That immediately ruled out a few options because the group is so large. To boot, other one of the guys, I don’t know any of them.
In hindsight, I should have asked my friend for the list two months in advance so I had plenty of time to figure out what to do. I then discovered that people are terrible at RSVPing to things. I sent out an e-mail to all 30 dudes explaining what day the bachelor party was and that all I needed from them was just to reply with either a “yes” or “no” if they could make it. Some dudes responded right away with their answer, while others sent theirs a day or two afterwards. Unfortunately, even after about four days, two-thirds of the group hadn’t responded yet. After consulting with my friend, I decided to send a follow-up e-mail. I gave them 36 hours to respond, otherwise I’d just assume they weren’t coming. It was harsh but I needed to get a firm number so I could book a restaurant or a venue, knowing how many people would show. Some people did get their answer to me before the deadline but about 10 people gave me nary a peep.
In the end, it will be sixteen of us including the groom and myself. For the last week or so, I’ve been in touch with two professional bachelor party planners. We’ve been going over different types of venues and activities and price levels. I will say this, as with many things, if you have money, planning a bachelor party is way easier. If I were a millionaire, I wouldn’t even be stressing over this. It’s one of these things in life where throwing money at a problem actually does solve it and in a spectacular fashion I might add.
Alas, I am not rich, so I’ve had to settle for something less extravagant. I’ve tentatively booked a venue, food service, and “entertainment”. It’s within a reasonable budget but I think the guys will also have a good time. One of my biggest fears is that no one will enjoy themselves and I’ll be known as the dude who threw a terrible bachelor party.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever be in the position to be best man again but if I am, I’ll be much better at planning the bachelor party next time.