Probably the Greatest honour a friend can give you as a Man Is The Privilege of being his Best Man.
The History of The Best Man
A lot has changed when it comes to the way that weddings are done these days.. In a Church ? On a Beech, in a Hotel? and many more places, but It’s considered a very big honour to be asked to do this job, wherever it is and whatever the location.
Today you don’t have to go and abduct the Bride from her home as men who lived in Scotland and Britain did back in the 16th Century. Those days being a best man had a totally different experience. It was the role of The Best Man to join the Bridegroom and go and kidnap the Bride from the comfort of her own home.
This is no longer the case these days. When we get the opportunity to be The Best Man, the role is to try to help the Bridegroom as much as possible to prepare for the Wedding Day. It is the responsibility of The Best Man to prepare a great send of for him by organising a Stag Do and in some cases booking flights and Hotels as they are becoming more and more elaborate, with my own clients going to places like Prague, Dubai and even Las Vegas. They also have the responsibility of getting The Bridegroom to The Ceremony Venue and presenting the Wedding Rings. In the past, The Best Man had a totally different role from the one that is currently designated to them.
Kidnapping Of The Bride
The Tradition of kidnapping The Bride can be traced back to the Goth community of Germany. In the past ,it was custom for people to get married to women in the same locality as them. As time went by the population of women outgrew that of men in the area and became unbalanced causing a shortage of women who were eligible for marriage. This forced the men who wanted to get married to go searching for Brides in neighbouring towns. The Bridegroom would go and ask one of his closest friends to accompany him to the village where the woman he wanted lived. She would then be kidnapped and he would proceed to marry her.
The responsibility was high as it was now The Best Mans duty to bodyguard the couple, as the family of the Bride were expected to try to come up with ways of getting her back. The Brides family were kept away from the Wedding unless they accepted the man who kidnapped their daughter.
The best man also had the responsibility of protecting the Bride from any other Men who would be interested in kidnapping her.
During the wedding Ceremonies, The Best Man was required to stand guard with a sword at the right hand side of The Bridegroom. This was to ensure no threat was made during The Wedding and if it was then The Best Man would step in and defend The Couple.
These days it’s considered a great honour to be The Best Man, with Social Media as powerful as it is and us all being more sociable and outgoing as a life style, it really is an absolute pleasure to be asked and the stress of Writing and delivering a Speech is a very small price to pay, and your only required until the end of The Speeches then you can relax.
Want to know if you should have you wedding filmed ? Heres a great post on wedding videographer pros and cons Click here
Here’s some pictures of Best Men in action on the Wedding Day.
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