More than a decade ago, I proposed a new job idea:
Professional best man.
It remains a role that I am waiting to fill, and I may finally have the chance to do so.
Let me explain.
Although I meet many outstanding best men in my role as a wedding DJ, I also meet many who are too nervous to deliver the toast, too drunk to assist a groom in need, and too disinterested in the role to be of any use.
Besides, why burden your best friend with this role if all he wants to do is have a good time at the wedding as well?
Instead, hire me. Your professional best man.
What, you may ask, are my qualifications for such a job?
They are, admittedly, quite extensive:
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I’ve attended more than 500 weddings as a DJ, guest, groom, member of the bridal party, and best man, so there is little I haven’t seen. As a result, I will be ready and able to assist in almost every unexpected or unusual circumstance.
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My experience and expertise will ensure that the DJ, photographer, caterer, and other professional staff are doing their jobs to the best of their ability and serving the bride and groom to my exceedingly exacting standards.
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I have extensive experience in dealing with in-laws, drunken guests, angry girlfriends, belligerent uncles, and any other potentially disruptive wedding attendee and am adept at deflecting these distractions away from the bride and groom.
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I can deliver an outstanding toast. I am often instructing tragically unprepared best men on what to say just minutes before their toasts, and I make them sound quite good, as I teach communication for a living.
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I am a skilled party planner and will give you the bachelor’s party of your dreams while ensuring you do nothing you will regret the next day.
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I have a wide range of interests and am skilled at ingratiating myself with diverse people. I can be a jock and a nerd equally well, and I rarely meet someone with whom I cannot find common ground. We may not be best friends after your wedding, but for the duration of our nuptials, I will be surprisingly likable and chameleon-like in my ability to blend in with your group of friends. And who knows? One of my best friends is a former client. It could happen to you, too.
And what if you want to hire a professional best man but have a friend who also wants the job and would be upset to learn that you went with a professional?
No problem. Simply have two best men.
One who will get drunk during the cocktail hour, hit on one of the bridesmaids during photos, deliver a humorless speech, and forget to end it with an actual toast.
The other will not drink at your wedding except when capping off an amusing and heartfelt toast, will keep your best interests in mind at all times, and is skilled and experienced enough to ensure that everything goes smoothly on your wedding day.
Don’t you deserve another friend on your wedding day?
A friend absent from personal needs and petty grievances on your big day.
A friend who will guide you through and past every awkward, annoying, unfortunate, and potentially disastrous moment of your wedding.
Don’t you deserve the services of a professional on your wedding day?
A professional best man.
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Since I proposed this idea back in 2011, a number of surprising things have happened:
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Three grooms have attempted to hire me. Two lived in California, and one lived in the UK, and their wedding dates did not align with my schedule, so I had to decline.
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One groom hired me, explaining that he was marrying a woman whose culture required the best man to be an unmarried, never-been-married friend, and that he had no one in his life who met these qualifications. I explained that I didn’t meet the qualifications either, but he didn’t care. He planned to lie to his fiancée and tell her that I was a lifelong bachelor. My wife wasn’t pleased, but I agreed. After hiring me and planning for six months, he backed out without explanation.
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A bride strongly considered hiring me for her husband, who is “a great guy” but lacks any real close friends. Ultimately, she decided that it might hurt her fiancé’s feelings to hire me and opted not to.
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At least three television producers — two reality show producers and one documentarian — have contacted me about appearing in their television shows. We explored the possibility in all three instances, but nothing came of it.
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When “The Wedding Ringer” — a film about a professional best man — came out in 2015, the actor and star, Kevin Hart, contacted me, crediting me with coming up with the idea first.
But now, once again, a groom has reached out to explore hiring me for this role. The wedding date works well, and it’s geographically close enough that I could drive to the festivities.
We’re going to speak next week.
Fingers crossed I can finally bring this idea to reality.
