Wedding Planning 101
In the past, the planning of a weddings was almost always left up to the bride and the other women in the soon to be combined family. The groom was simply expected to show up at the wedding and say “I do.” However, these gender roles have been slowly changing over the last few decades as grooms have become more involved in wedding planning.
Men have been showing more interest in helping and many women have a higher expectation that their soon to be husband will help. Since the new role of the groom in wedding planning is still in a state of flux, some grooms struggle a bit in knowing how much they should pitch in and what tasks they should take on. To help this situation, you will find three excellent suggestions on how the groom can help with planning Cleveland weddings.
1. Keeping the Cost Of the Wedding Down
In the past, the bride’s family almost always paid for the wedding. Today, however, many couples pay for their own wedding or at least help with the cost of it. This means that if the cost of the wedding gets out of hand, this can significantly affect the couple’s finances for several years into the future. The cost of an extravagant wedding can be equal to, or even exceed, a nice down payment on a home or all new furniture for a home. Furthermore, if thousands of dollars can be saved on the cost of a wedding, this can help pay the added expenses of future children.
It is relatively easy to cut the cost of a wedding in half or more if you pay attention to the two factors of wedding planning, since these two factors can easily add up to about 80 percent of the total cost of a wedding. These two factors are:
a. The venue of the wedding and reception. The number of guests you invite
The venue can be a huge chunk of the wedding budget so if the groom can scout out alternative venues, allowing the bride veto power of course, he can potentially save enough money to put a big downpayment on a house and/or buy a bigger and better house, bringing joy and comfort to the happy couple for many years! To do so, he may need to get creative by checking out unique venues like old churches, aquariums, museums, historic homes, friend’s homes, and outdoor venues! There is no law that says the wedding or the reception needs to be at a formal wedding venue. In fact, you will likely save a lot of money if it isn’t.
Much of the cost of the wedding also depends on how many guests you invite. However, choosing who to invite and not to invite to a wedding can be a difficult decision for any bride. If the groom participates more in this decision, it can actually take some of the pressure off the bride, and this can make it an easier task for both the bride and groom to keep the guest list down to a financially feasible number.
2. Be the Stress Buster
Planning a wedding can be a very stressful task, and even though times are changing, the majority of this stress still usually falls on the bride. Therefore, a groom can help his future wife by acting as a “stress buster.” When problems arise, he can jump in and do all he can to resolve the problems so his fiance doesn’t have deal with so much stress. Likewise, asking his bride for “assignments” can ease the burden too.
Another great way groom’s can be a stress busters in the wedding planning process is to surprise his bride with relaxing activities. This can be as simple as preparing a hot bath for her with scented bath oils and aromatherapy candles or something more sophisticated like a half or full day at the spa. Scheduling a couples massage can also help relax both the bride and groom.
3. Picking Out the Wedding Band
The groom can be very helpful in picking out the wedding band, one of the most important elements of planning weddings! It’s a task that isn’t considered too “girly” and the groom already knows his bride’s taste in music and overall preferences. A groom can therefore do the research, network, and pick out a potential wedding band and then present his choice to the bride for discussion and a final joint decision. This will save the bride a lot of time and take some of the stress off her.
For wedding bands or DJs in the Cleveland, Northeast Ohio areas, there can be no better choice than “Like the Record Productions.” They have Cleveland bands that play perfect covers of the most popular songs that appeal to multiple generations — they also have an in-house band that quite literally sounds just “Like The Record!” They have also built quite a reputation in the greater Cleveland area as having some of the best wedding bands in Cleveland. Some bands can get booked up far in advance so you should give them a call immediately at 216-214-5216
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