Men

Men Have Their Say (November, 2006)

So much focus is on the Bride and her day that little attention is given to the men. How involved do men get in planning their wedding? After all, it’s their day too.

PrescottWeddings.com took this intriguing question and asked Grooms for their comments. We were interested to learn what stood out most in their minds, or what they took charge of. The response was as varied as the men themselves. Here’s what they told us:

“My bachelor party was the greatest. It wasn’t like anything you’d imagine. My best man arranged for all of us to meet at a paintball range. For two hours we waged war on each other, getting soaked with paint. Afterwards we went to a local pub downing a few beers, laughing over our antics and feats of bravery.”

“I insisted on being the one to choose the tuxedos for my best man and groomsmen. Sometimes girls can get to frilly in their color scheme (that has to match) and what they want the men to wear. I didn’t want any paisley looking vests or pink cummerbunds on the guys, or worse yet, ruffled shirts.”

“My now-father-in-law scared the dickens out of me the night before the wedding. We were all staying at the hotel where the wedding was to take place. While his “little girl” laughed with all the wedding party and family gathered at the rehearsal dinner, he quietly took me aside and said, “Don’t ever hurt my baby. I own a shotgun, 5 acres of land, and have a shovel”. I never knew if he was kidding or not.”

“My bride was and is the best. In planning the wedding, she made sure to include my mom in a lot of the details. Once, with her mom, they all went shopping and had lunch together. She’d call to let my mom know when guests from my side of the family RSVP’d to the invitation, and what gift they sent us. Mom loved being involved. She got to know why I loved Jeannie so much.”

“My bride turned into a true “bridezilla”. I couldn’t believe how little things would set her off, like the color of ribbon not being the exact right shade of blue for some party favors. She felt she could say anything she wanted to people, saying it was her day and she could do whatever she wanted. She turned me off so much I started to second-guess marrying her. I mean, there’s a lot of things that will happen in life, some good and some not so good. I want a partner to share the ups and downs and not over-react when something doesn’t go just her way.”

“What stands out most in my mind? The honeymoon. Enough said.”

“I wanted a great band – not a DJ – at our wedding. In my mind, there’s nothing like live entertainment to really get the party going. The entire responsibility was mine. I took months researching bands, getting demo tapes or attending one of their gigs, before selecting the one I wanted. It was well worth it. Our reception was a blast.”

“All I wanted was to get married to the woman I loved. The wedding was hers. The planning of the however, wherever, whatever, whomever wasn’t my thing. We could have eloped and I would have been just has happy. I told her, just tell me when and where and I’ll be there.”