Wedding planning from a guys perspective

As many of you know Neeva and I got married a little over a month and a half ago(yes she know exactly how many days and probably to the hour); as such we are wiley old veterans with grandpa like wisdom and advice when it comes to wedding planning. And as much as we love to talk about wedding themes, bouquets, colors and the like we have not addressed the needs of men (yes those accessories on the brides arm when she gets married) in the wedding planning extravaganza. Below are a few of my personal tips:

1. When you hear “honey what do you think?” for anything wedding related; DO NOT I repeat DO NOT give your opinion. What your fiancé wants to hear is that her choice is perfect and exactly what you like. Therefore if it is a hit, she picked it out; if it flops you share the blame (took me over two months to figure this one out). To ensure your voice is heard, make your opinion known well before the credit card comes out, discuss what you both like and find a middle ground before heading out to purchase this includes venues, décor, photography, catering and the like. Women have been planning their wedding since they were 3 years old, they have put a lot of time an effort into planning, if we want our voices heard we need to catch up and discuss.
2. When you hear “Lets go _________ shopping, it will be quick and fun!” Run! Quick; means going to seven different stores on a Sunday when the NFL playoffs are on and fun means debating over seven different variations of toupee for the perfect toupee(yes, toupee is a color). To combat this; do a lot of on-line shopping/planning we would go online to find the type of items we liked, the style and get an overall understanding of the average price. From there we would go to the stores to look; this would become quick stops because a majority of the research has already been completed and we did not have to scrimmage through every single item in the store.
3. Man Time: With a demanding job, wedding planning and the million other little items going on in our lives; a little alone time is necessary. However with a wedding to be planned any free time in your fiancés eyes may be wedding planning time. As a huge Redskins fan it was hard to watch the game on my iphone with the ESPN app from Michaels while picking out the perfect candy jars on Sunday Afternoon with spotty coverage. My advice is to bribe! Yup, set up an appointment for your fiancé to get pampered at the spa, go to lunch with her friends, get her tickets to a show when you need your time. Another less expensive option is to collectively set aside time to decompress separately before going all out wedding planning.
4. Dates: It is important to keep remembering why you are getting married in the first place, take your fiancé out to a movie, a nice dinner, even coffee. Set ground rules to ensure the date is actually a date:
   1. No Wedding Speak
   2. Refer to Rule 1
   3. A little action would be nice

Until next time; stay thirsty my friends!