Ok so given the fact that my wife is Morgan of Morgan Gallo Events, I have had the opportunity to attend more weddings, rehearsals, bridal shows, and wedding planning sessions than most men could ever think of.

From time to time I like to add in a male perspective on the entire wedding planning process. So brides, since I know your future husbands aren't spending their days looking for  ideas on flowers, locations, and reading wedding planning blogs,  hopefully you will find some of this information useful enough to pass along to them to kind of help steer the ship. And while there is a fair bit of sarcasm thrown in here I hope you find some of it useful.

BUT if you DON'T do a little pre-mission planning on your own, the time from Proposal to Wedding Day will be filled with more stress than a Raccoon with a pack of blue tick hounds on its' tail.

So you got her to agree to marry you, that's step one (pretty important part of this dance) so now I want you to focus on the following:

Venues, flowers, cake tastings, menu tastings, DJ vs Band, open bar vs cash bar, rehearsal dinner, tuxes, transportation, who is sitting next to whom (cause face it Aunt Betty can't sit next to Aunt Gertrude cause they haven't talked in 20 years even though they are sisters), bachelor party, invitations, save the dates. Overwhelmed yet, and I do realize that the only thing you probably took out of that sentence was tuxes and the bachelor party!! Well all those other things that you didn't see are the additional things that your bride to be has to think about and work on. Even though you have probably been an item for a while and she knows how you operate, the things you do, or more importantly do not do, during this process will be noted and saved on file for use at a future date. I have been married to Morgan for just about 4 years and we have been together for 8 so I like to think I know a little bit about what I am talking about here (reference her proposal tips)!

I fancy myself a guy's guy, I like good bourbon and cigars but the planning process is a time for you to buck up and put the "man" card away. "Just tell me what time to show up" are the eight worst words you can say at any time during the planning process. This is a day that she has dreamed about since she was a little girl and you would rather spend the afternoon with Charles Manson than screw this up. The one thing you are allowed a pass on is when she goes to shop for wedding dresses. Be honest with her about your opinions I know you aren't losing sleep over the fact that the color for the invitations are burnt orange versus mahogany chocolate but she is and its important to her (this is what I like to call couples advanced math, it's important to her so that equals the fact that it better be important to you).

Here are some simple rules that will help you along the way:

1. When she asks for your opinion give her honest but fair feedback, (“I don't care, it doesn't matter to me, not my department”) are not considered acceptable answers

2. Ask her what she wants you to concentrate on (then complete whatever task it may be)

3. Be supportive (there are going to be ups and downs in this process)

4. Give her a break (when she seems especially stressed out plan a nice get away for a few hours to take her mind off things)

5. Join and/or keep up with blogs like Groom Groove or Grooms Online

You also need to be realistic. Things are not going to be perfect from start to finish and there are things that you aren't going to be able to control and at the end of the day you want to have nothing but wonderful memories that you will talk about for years to come. Since Savannah is a great destination for a wedding my next post will concentrate on what you should do when you visit to do some planning for your big day!!!

Until then

Tim

Pictures by Allison Reisz