Groom who made a mannequin his Best Man so that he can refer to it as his Best ‘Man’nequin, now unsure whether his friends, family and bride will get the joke.

Was this worth the effort? Will anyone get it?

Those were the questions that a soon-to-be husband was asking himself mere minutes before he was to tie the knot and be joined with another human being for hopefully the rest of either of their lives. But these did not pertain to the idea of being bound to another person. In fact, his worries stemmed from his decision to involve a non-human figure into proceedings.

The young man had devised what he believed to be a hilarious joke to play at his own special day. Rather than have his brother or his childhood friend of 15 years to play the role of Best Man, he would enlist a mannequin. In his vows he would refer to it as his Best Mannequin. Get it? Best ‘Man’nequin. The groom chuckled quite boisterously when he first thought of the idea. And continued to do so even when he paid for the mannequin, got a tuxedo rented for his lifeless companion, and dressed his anatomically-incorrect pal for the big occasion.

His concerns rise in three waves. The first is whether or not any of his loved ones will put his little bit together or will they spend the entire event puzzled and questioning their own eyeballs. But what if they do understand it and they don’t appreciate his comedic genius? Would he be the Van Gogh of wedding humour? Or worst of all, would they get it, think it’s funny but refuse to acknowledge it in fear of being a minority?

Minutes before the wedding he began to get cold feet. Not about marrying the love of his life. She’s the love of his life. But maybe she won’t quite enjoy the vacant expression from the object to her betrothed’s side. She was expecting said vacant expression to come from his brother instead. Speaking of whom, he has not yet been informed that he will be replaced by what is effectively a human-shaped clothes hanger. Will he take it well?

Initially he had assumed the reception to this marital bit would be overwhelmingly positive. He had after all, planned on referring to his fiancée as ‘in sync with all my shenanigans’. Is that poetic, or even good? No. Of course not. But it did speak to a confidence that no matter what stunt he pulled he would be either supported or outdone by his wife. Maybe she has more mannequins on her side of the wedding?

Though he had clearly stated that he is in no way concerned about spending the rest of his life with this woman, considering he is now expressing doubts – albeit regarding an entirely different matter, maybe there are indeed question marks around their marriage. But mostly it is just this one joke that’s worrying him.