It’s Groom’s Week with Craig Michaels, Author of Thirty to Wife!

April 23rd, 2007 | Groom Ideas, Wedding Ideas

Hi everyone! It’s Groom’s Week at Our Wedding Plus! We are honored to have Craig Michaels, author of the popular book Thirty to Wife: The Tell-All Groom’s Guide to Weddings - How to Get Hitched Without Losing Your Mind or Your Fiancee (rated 5 stars on Amazon), guest blogging with us this week. If you are having problems getting your fiancé involved in the planning process or if you are just wondering what’s going on in his head (if anything) stay tuned this week. Craig’s book is the ultimate guide to help the groom through the planning process and help him to help you keep your sanity! It recounts the last thirty days prior to his wedding in which he confesses his mistakes to hopefully help future grooms avoid them. It’s informative and funny, it had my husband laughing, alot!

I encourage you to pick-up a copy of his book and give it to your significant other. It will pay dividends for both of you! Ladies, it might be a good idea to get your fiancé to read Our Wedding Plus this week to get some ideas. Tell him not to worry, we won’t tell anybody that he is reading a wedding blog. I promise there won’t be talk about flowers, dresses, or china. Now I’m going to hand over the reigns to Craig…

Thanks Rhonda…I understand your audience is mostly women so this week I want to pass on some tips on how to get your man involved in the planning process.

I’m a happily married man, but the memory of my wedding planning is still fresh in my mind. Besides writing Thirty to Wife, I operate Groom411.com, an extensive Web site serving as a sounding board to help grooms not make the same mistakes I did.

I’m going to start the week with:

Reasons Why Grooms Should Help Out With Planning

Not too long ago, the groom’s role was much more about just showing up. And worrying about life after marriage. In many cases grooms were purposely excluded from planning as weddings were strictly the domain of the bride and her mother. But not now. When by choice or by chance, grooms need to be involved. And here’s why.

Location, location, location.
Over 15% of all weddings are “destination” in nature. And, according about 30% of weddings are being held away from either the bride’s or groom’s home. Whether it’s out-of-town or out-of-country, there’s significantly more planning pressure when you can’t just reach out and strangle a florist. Therefore grooms should be lending their expertise, from location scouting to travel planning to vendor negotiation.

Money doesn’t grow on trees. And most isn’t supplied by mom and dad.
The average wedding costs almost $30,000. And a recent survey by American Express and The Knot revealed that almost 60% of couples felt that dealing with wedding costs was the most daunting aspect of the wedding planning process. Brides and grooms are paying for more expenses, whether by choice (for more decision control) or necessity. So as more checks are being written by the bride and groom, it makes sense that the groom should be more involved. To some, more involved might translate into more objections to the expenses, but hopefully, to most, it means more time spent on choosing the best way to spend their sports car, retirement, or big screen TV fund.

So many plans, so little time.
Couples are now going into the engagement as a team, giving grooms the chance to shine, especially if other priorities are taking time away from the bride. Dual careers, compounded by out-of-town venues, almost demands groom involvement. Hopefully getting married later (the average age of grooms is 28) has also helped in the “maturity and responsibility” department. But if, not hit him where it hurts, namely in the “between the sheets” department.

Multiple parties = multiple plans.
Today’s weddings involve more events that are more elaborate with more choices. Besides groom-only events (e.g., the bachelor party, where you can be sure he’s helping plan) there might be different religious or ethnic events that he should handle if you are an interfaith couple. And when in doubt, apply some peer pressure to help him help put on a good show. He might spend much time in the playground these days, but that doesn’t mean he won’t respond to a good “double dare.”

Now that you know why the groom should help out, tomorrow I will let you know how to get him involved.

Craig
Groom411.com