A BEST man will give his speech 10,000 miles away from the wedding.

Stephen Needle cannot travel to Australia where his best friend Paul Norris is getting married next month.

So he will get up at 5.30am and tell his jokes via a webcam from his Wigan home.

Stephen said: "Obviously it won't be your normal speech. I reckon I'll have to keep it a bit shorter but it'll be okay, hopefully.

"I'm going to have a practice before the day itself. And I'll have to set my alarm clock to make sure I don't miss it.

"I'm looking forward to it though, it's the next best thing and at least I won't miss the wedding."

Paul, 46, will marry Janette Taylor in Adelaide on February 10.

The couple, who are also from Wigan, got engaged two years ago but hadn't thought about setting a date for their big day until they started to plan a trip Down Under.

Paul's two sisters and parents have emigrated to Australia and, after his last visit six years ago, he decided another reunion was in order.

Janette's mum, who lives in France, said she'd always wanted to visit Australia so they decided it was the perfect opportunity to tie the knot.

Paul said: "We realised that we probably wouldn't get the families together in one place again so decided to go for it."

But unfortunately a few guests - including Stephen - will be left behind in Lancashire, which is why Paul came up with the idea of putting the ceremony on the web.

He said: "I thought if I could get a webcam for my house here then people who can not make the wedding can watch the reception and Stephen can do his speech.

"I've been a best man three times so I know how bad it can be." Tweet