Wedding Planning for Grooms

A long time ago, even before reading and writing was a common skill, weddings revolved around women. Two families would decide to marry their children together, much without their consent, and the bride's family would give a dowry to the groom's family in return for them taking care of their little girl. It was common for the bride and her mother, aunts, grandmother, cousins, and any able-bodied young girl who could be spared to create the wedding clothing for the bride (and sometimes the groom as well), along with any clothing the bride might need before her move. All the groom had to do for the wedding was make sure he showed up.

Now, after so many centuries spent with the wedding being seen as the bride's day, some grooms have no idea what to do to help out. Some don't care either way, but for those that do with to help, here is some advice.

It is often in your best interest to be supportive of your bride- to-be at this time, especially if you don't have much thought or care either way as to how everything should look.
When you do have an opinion, voice it. If you don't have an opinion, but at least you know you aren't keen on the idea you are being presented with, mention that as well.

Attempt to be available for things like looking at reception venues and help pick out music. The bride may be taking care of most of the decisions and helping the wedding planner the most, but she may need and appreciate you being there for some of the decisions that affect the both of you.

• While she's handling flowers and invitations, consider taking care of things that you might be better suited for, such as finding a good limousine company or picking the DJ or live band.
• Make sure to listen to her when she brings up the wedding. If she is very immersed in wedding-planning, she will talk about it a lot. If there is nothing else for you to do, being supportive and willing to listen to her will mean a lot to her.
• The bride traditionally plans the reception while the groom traditionally takes care of the honeymoon. If the two of you have discussed where you would like to go, and for how long, book it so after the wedding blows over, you two can go and relax and spend time together and just enjoy doing nothing for a while.

If all of that is taken care of, and you still see your fiancée doing a lot of running around, ask her for an idea of how to help. You may not necessarily like what she suggests, but she could use the help and it would probably mean a lot to her if you helped out.

If you do what you can to make the event a lot less complicated and take some of the weight off the bride's shoulders, you will both feel good about how it all comes together, and your fiancée won't be as unbelievably exhausted by the time the wedding day comes around.