Best Man’s Guide – So you’ve been given the “honor” of being The Best Man.All those years of lending each other money, lying for each other,wearing dubious fashion trends, attempting to pull dubious girls havepaid off and you are in effect, the last man standing amongst yourgroup of mates.
After the elation of this momentdissolves it becomes clear that there is more to this than pouring outa succession of half-arsed jokes to a room full of strangers andpiss-takers (friends) for 15 minutes. One of the big pre-weddingpriorities is of course, The Stag Weekend
Where to Start?
This traditional event has developed over the years. Initially it was asimple night out with the lads in the local pub, a buffet that wasgenerally overlooked (and thrown around at about 10pm) and if you werelucky / unlucky, a stripper.
The playing field has changed slightly recently and the UK, Europe andbeyond has become the venue for adrenalin-fueled activities andadrenaline-fueled drinking. Cheap airlines have opened up previouslyoverlooked destinations and the lure of 8 pints for £10 is strong.
Everyone has got a story about such and such having “the best stagweekend ever” and expectations can be high. The prospect of going downin history as the organiser of “the worst stag weekend ever” is notsomething anyone wants to carry around with them, and if your friendsare anything like mine, you will, and they won’t let you forget it.Ever.
This is where we come in.
The Stag Company has had 4 years solid experience in organising stag weekends in Brighton and Edinburgh through to Poland and Barcelona and we would like to take this opportunity to give you some general advice.
The Best Man and the Stag
You guys are the key players in the event and as such your decision is final.
The phrase to remember at all times is “As long as The Stag and TheBest Man are happy the others must, to a certain extent, follow suit.”
If you spend your time making sure you are pleasing everyone in yourgroup you might as well stay in your local pub. 12 opinions on whattype of restaurant you want to go to, locations you want, activitiesyou want, are only going to confuse the already daunting task.
You must know that as a group of friends you will have a good timeanywhere so talk solely to The Stag and stick to your guns.
Booking Something
Thesimple thing to remember here is the further in advance you book thebetter hotels you will be offered and better choice of activities andtime slots.
No-one wants to do go-karting at 9am on aSaturday morning after a night on the beers. All of the suppliers forthe weekend operate on a first-come-first-served basis and when youconsider there are over 40,000 stag groups out each year in the UKalone you can see the situation clearly.
Phoning up 3 weeks before the weekend date and trying to book up 20 guys may not always produce the results you want.
In the ideal world you should look at getting in early (3-4 months in advance if possible).
Locations
It is years since “Stag Night” has transformed into “Stag Weekend” and the choice is almost endless.
The best way to start, once you have a list of the lads, is to decide upon the question of where to go and what to do.
Keep it simple at first and be realistic about costs, not everyone willbe able to afford a weekend in New York but the majority will be ableto attend a 2 day stag night in Nottingham.
You want as many of the people on your list to attend so be realisticwith budget and be aware that packages are there to be personalised interms of price as well as activities.
If you let us know what you want we will put 100% effort into providing it for you.
United Kingdom
Thereare a host of excellent destinations in the UK to choose from and againThe Stag and The Best Man should have the final say on this one.
Be aware that many of the coastal towns (Brighton, Newquay, Bournemouthetc) simply do not accept one night stays from March onwards. This issimply because the tourist trade picks up immensely over this time andthe hotels know they can fill up for both nights without fail.
Also don’t forget to take into account getting to the location in your budget as this can affect the choice dramatically.
Europe
The key thing to consider here is FLIGHTS and TIMESCALE.
If you are determined to go overseas then you need to be ahead of the game on this one.
There is little point in deciding two weeks before the weekend date youwant to go to Budapest. It sounds great but the flight prices generallyput this idea to rest. Budget airlines are not always as cheap asadvertised and long gone are the days of last minute booking for cheapfares, at least not for 10 people.
Choose your location and get the flights straight away, realistically4-5 months in advance, this way you should be getting them around the£100 mark. Websites such as www.skyscanner.net provide a good round up of flights to European destinations.
Think of alternate days for better prices, often going on a Thursday to Saturday can be cheaper for example.
Also if you have a large group, get the core guys to get the flightsstraight away and the rest of the guys will soon follow suit. Forexample, if you all wait another four weeks for two of your group toget the money together by the time you all go to book the flights mayhave doubled in price and then it is essentially back to the drawingboard.
Our package prices will not fluctuate but the flights always will.
