We’re starting to think about registering for gifts, despite the fact that the wedding’s another year out — certain generous family members want to get us engagement presents, which is unexpected but wonderful. We will not be registering here, but I’m glad it exists.
Picking a venue
Hello, folks. I’ve been so busy planning that I haven’t had the chance to blog. I went to Santa Barbara over the weekend with the fiancee and we picked a venue, a two-day process that involved a cost spreadsheet, a half-dozen stops and a missed opportunity for wine-tasting. My job, essentially, was to stay out of the way as the bride-to-be and her mom considered size and seating scenarios.
We did a lot of prep first. It breaks down like this: Santa Barbara is a destination spot, so everything is crazy expensive. If you take a hotel deal, you get all-inclusive space/food/silverware/etc., but you also get a premium the size of LeBron James’ ego to go with it. (Hope Dirk breaks his legs tonight.) And hotels are boring, frankly, and while I don’t expect to break new ground for wedding locations, we thought it’d be nice to go somewhere with more character. So we looked at vineyards, museums, a non-denominational church, parks, country clubs. Eventually we found the right thing: one that will give us a weather-permitting gorgeous outdoor location, a not-terrifying price and a little more work to do. But weddings, as with any big project, are a team effort: the biggest job of the process is putting the right people in place to make everything come together, and then letting the experts take care of it. At least in theory.
On another note, your fiancee probably knows about this, but Martha Stewart knows everything! She should really get on Tumblr.
Tremendous, right? As you can see, I’ll consider everything except a standard black-tie ensemble; however, tuxes are back in the game since I’ll have seven groomsmen (which is probably way too many, but that’s how we’re going to roll) and it’s probably going to be easier for them to rent tuxes than suits and I don’t want them to be forced into buying anything. (Though obviously a gentleman should own one, etc.) Via. Also, it helps if you look like Ryan Gosling.
Of course, it’s an occasional feature on a not-groom blog, which is to say, a wedding blog. It is also written by ladies and coincidentally has terrible fashion advice, so bookmark it with caution. However, given The Bachelor Party’s dearth of activity, I understand if you need further reading. More posts soon, promise. In the meantime, any questions?
The Tux
If you’re going to go the more formal route? Make like Macca. (The fiancee doesn’t hurt, either.)
Wedding shoes for very brave men. I’ll be skipping the formal (boring) black plain-toe shoes in favor of something brown and wingtipped, though I’ll probably go with leather over suede. Who says the bride has to have all the fun?
(via boring-stuff)
The Invitation #2
I was just going to make a Facebook event, but apparently we have to have invitations — lots of them. (I wasn’t actually going to make a Facebook event. Were you thinking about it? You totally were.) Engagement party invitations, save the date cards, a first round of actual wedding invitations, maybe a second round depending on the probable turnout. We might as well send one to Prince William. Or maybe Seth Rogen. We’ll certainly have enough.
The fiancee liked this one for an engagement party. It looked too faux Mad Men to me, minus the flip-flops. (Tim Gunn and Don Draper would kill us in a simultaneous, extremely stylish double homicide.)
“Let’s just design our own in Photoshop,” I said.
“Do you have any ideas?”
“We could take a photo of a landscape and fade it into a watermark and put text on it. How about this one? Does it look romantic?”
“No.”
She was right. It didn’t. It looked like a poorly framed photo of a cruise ship. So we found a template with a classy font and we’re going to include a picture of ourselves from our future engagement photos. Close enough.
The lesson: Sweat the details until it feels like you just got home from the gym. Then pick something and stop worrying about it.
Best Man Briefing: Get on her good side
Editor’s note: In Best Man Briefing, we’ll examine wedding preparations for those who aren’t getting married. After all, somebody has to hook up with the Maid of Honor.
Which one’s the groom? / photo by Mr Ush via Flickr
Often the biggest thing the Best Man can do to make the Groom’s life easier: get on the Bride’s good side as soon as possible. When it was official that my friend was engaged, I gathered a couple of our friends in our building, went down to the local grocery store, bought a small cake and bottle of champagne and a few balloons, let myself into his apartment (don’t worry, I have a key — and yes, he gave it to me) and set up the celebration shortly before they arrived home.We waited in my apartment across the hall until we heard them walk in and surprised them with congratulations!
I didn’t need to impress my pal (though champagne never hurts), but the wedding, as we know too well, isn’t just for him. So surprise her, Best Men. Trust me, she’ll think it’s an amazing gesture and it will make planning the bachelor party much, much easier. Now, not everyone can do this, exactly, but the thought is what counts. So be clever, or just make an attempt. That’s all that really matters.
—Kyle Bown
There’s a point in every man’s life when he gets home to find a stack of wedding magazines on the coffee table. Do not, under any circumstances, read them.
Wedding Wardrobe: The Search for the Perfect Tie
We’re planning on having a daytime wedding, which means no tuxes — in part because I don’t particularly want to wear one. Our style heroes at Put This On have written the definitive post on the subject of the wedding wardrobe, so I’ll spare you the definitions and skip right to the clothes. I’m planning on buying a navy suit, but until I lose a few pounds, I’m delaying the search. In the meantime, I can ogle ties.
Since our colors (because weddings have colors, apparently) will be navy, yellow and green, this handsome option, from L.A.’s Windmill Club, could be a good start. 2.75” wide, which is to say, neither trendily skinny or Wall Street fat, and a sub-$100 price point. Search is over! Except that in real life, the only stripes I like are the ones with Bill Murray. So maybe my wedding day isn’t the best time to begin to embrace them. The search continues…
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