Best Man’s Duties at the Wedding Reception

Your role as the best man does not end when the wedding itself ends. You are there to celebrate with the bride and groom at the reception. You should also try to help make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible during the reception. The bride and groom will be extremely busy during the reception trying to socialize with all their friends and family. This means many times that they don’t have time to take care of all the small items that might arise during the reception. As the best man you should let the vendors who are working at the reception know that if they need assistance you are available as a contact for them. This will help the bride and groom spend more of their time socializing with their guests. Here are several things you can do to assist the bride and groom at the wedding.

1. Help Keep The Wedding Party Organized– After the wedding quite often the wedding party starts to split apart to socialize with their family and friends. There still are several activities though that the wedding party must be together for. These will include photographs (if they weren’t done before the wedding), the introductions, and possibly joining the bride and groom on the dance floor after the first dance. Try to keep an eye out for where everyone is at the reception and be able to go and find them when they are needed for any of these activities. Ask them to let you know if they can if they will be outside of the reception hall for any extended period of time so you can let the bride or groom know this when they are seeking that person for any activities.

2. Introduce Yourself To The Disc Jockey– The disc jockey in general will control the tempo of the reception. They will be looking for the bride and groom at different times as well as the bridal party for the bridal party activities. Make sure the disc jockey knows that they can come to you if they are looking for the bride or groom, or need the bridal party organized. Remember, the bride and groom will want to be able to have their time free to socialize with friends and family and will be happy if you can handle the minor organizational issues for them. Of course if there is something you are not sure how it should be handled check with the bride or groom. Overall though you can be a strong resource to the disc jockey when they are looking for the bride and groom for activities such as the first dance, bouquet and garter tosses, and the cutting of the cake.

3. Offer To Help The Mother Of The Bride And The Mother Of The Groom- More often than not the mother of the bride will be taking a stronger role in the organization of the reception but the mother of the groom might as well. Make sure they are aware you are willing to help them in anything they need assistance with. This might be finding certain people during the reception or possibly taking items to the cars and retrieving items.

4. Keep The Party Going With Help From The Maid Of Honor– Try to develop a good rapport with the maid of honor. If the dance floor starts to remain empty for a large period of time work with her to get the members of the bridal party out on the floor and to encourage their friends to join them. The bride and groom won’t have time to do this, but you two will. Also, of course if you wish to decorate the groom’s car at the reception the maid of honor might want to help join in on the fun by organizing the bridesmaids to help. Remember if you are doing this you want to have enough members of the bridal party at the reception to cover for the others and then rotate out when you can.

5. Be Available To Help In Any Way The Bride Or Groom Requests– If there are any problems during the reception the bride or groom might be seeking assistance. As the best man you should make yourself available to help them. Remember, you want to make sure this day is very special for the two of them.

The role of the best man at the reception varies. At some weddings the best man has a lot of responsibilities during the reception. At other weddings as the best man you might have very little to do. A lot of this varies on the preferences of the bride and the groom. The key to making sure they have an entertaining and enjoyable reception is communication and making yourself available.