Brides love to bring others into the wedding planning process, and most brides are usually eager to get their mom, her bridesmaid and the maid of honor fully involved. After all, the ultimate goal is to ensure this is truly the wedding of her dreams.
But there’s someone else that the bride can and should get involved in all wedding planning: the groom. That might sound like a typo; after all, doesn’t the bride typically handle most major decisions on the wedding, while the groom happily takes a back seat?
True, the groom traditionally has certain responsibilities of his own to fulfill. That can include finding his suit and getting it fitted, writing his vows, and selecting his best man. Everything else is the bride’s territory.
It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Just as the bride and groom are planning to spend a lifetime together, there are other ways the groom can be brought into the pre-planning stage of the wedding — and make some meaningful contributions.
How Can the Groom Help With Wedding Planning?
A wedding can be the most joyful and memorable day of any couple’s life. Planning for one, on the other hand, can be a combination of exciting — and stressful. The desire to ensure that everything comes off smoothly and efficiently will be sky-high. The more you strive for perfection, the harder it seems to get there.
If the bride often brings more in the way of vision to the process, one of the things that a groom can do to make this a smooth process is to be highly supportive all the way. Some grooms try to step away from the process as much as possible. Let’s say your bride-to-be is having a difficult time finding the wedding dress that she wants. Most grooms will freely admit that the last thing they are is a wedding dress expert, so they tend to back off.
A better option for the groom is to become a great listener. Don’t try to fix the problem by jumping into the dress hunting search, but instead always be ready to listen sympathetically and bring plenty of empathy to the discussion. A lot of grooms don’t realize how important this is.
There are other roles the groom can take as well.
Volunteer for Any Necessary Tasks
Find out what the bride is feeling stressed about and volunteer to take things off her hands. There should be plenty of smaller tasks that the bride is juggling, and you could help by handling some of them. That can include everything from checking on how the caterers are doing with your wedding menu to scheduling the band that’s going to perform at the ceremony. If the bride is shouldering the bulk of the planning, there’s no reason why the groom can’t tackle some of the more nitty-gritty matters.
Volunteering for tasks that the bride doesn’t have time for is also a great way for the groom to give his partner a break during this busy time, let her relax while he handles some of the chores. That’s a great way for the groom to express his love for the bride.
Plan the Guest List with the Bride
The groom can and should sit down with his bride and work out the guest list together. If the groom has lots of friends, family members and coworkers to invite, the couple may find that they won’t have enough room at their venue, so the list will need to be trimmed. That’s a good reason both Bride and Groom should create the guest list together. The groom should also agree to resolve issues that may occur with his own side of the family. An example could be if his parents have their own friends they want to invite, but there isn’t room for them all, he needs to explain to his parents that they cannot invite their friends.
Coordinate Plans for the Honeymoon
In some instances, the bride and groom want to plan their honeymoon together. In other traditions, the groom plans the honeymoon, with the location being a surprise that he announces on the couple’s wedding day. Either way, the honeymoon is one responsibility that the groom can take over.
Enjoy Your Wedding With Windows on the Water
At Windows on the Water, we’re delighted to host your wedding because we know that your wedding venue is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. As a popular waterfront wedding venue, we strive to make your day unique because you deserve the wedding of your dreams.
Visit us to see what makes our property one of the most popular wedding venues in Central Jersey. As you tour the breathtaking grounds, you’ll see why so many brides and grooms choose us as the backdrop for their declaration of love.
Start planning your Central Jersey wedding and contact us today at 609-208-9475 or online for our Windows Wedding Packet that includes menus, event pricing and everything in between.