Hello.
I’m Adam and this is my very first post – so if 1 or 2 of you could find it in your hearts to leave me a comment, I will at least feel that my maiden voyage into the blogosphere has not been a complete failure. (And nothing nasty please! Men have feelings too…)
We created “The Blogfather” with the grand idea of including a bit of “man stuff” here on the digital pages of Rock My Wedding. So far we haven’t really covered anything specifically for future grooms and frankly that is a bit of a shame. The majority of us men may not care to admit it, but we want a funky fresh and cool wedding too you know.
In fact, the RMW team have toyed with this concept for a while now, but as yet can’t quite decide on how best to approach the whole “man thing” – and that is where you come in.
I was thinking that the best way to find out what blokey wedding stuff RMW should be covering would be to simply ask the men who read RMW….. and this brings me neatly on to my first problem (major problem actually). A man has never yet commented on an RMW post. So I guess what I’m really asking is for all you ladies to have a sharp word with your Other Half To Be (or OHTB from now on).
Your task is to find out what sort of stuff might drag OHTB away from the football/cricket/darts!?/baywatch to visit RMW…. Does OHTB even care what he looks like on his wedding day? Is OHTB interested in the transport to/from the venue? Does OHTB have a secret fetish for designer bow tie and cummerbund sets, thus far struggling through life without the appropriate outlet for his dark, dark secret?…
Ok, that last example may be pushing the boundaries of reality somewhat, but you get the idea. All you future brides should feel free also to mention any topics that you would like to see covered from the “grooms perspective.” We are an equal opportunities blog after all and we certainly do not gender discriminate!
Drop me a comment with any suggestions and team RMW will get straight to work, and if in the process I can provoke even 1 single comment from a future groom, then I will consider my job here at RMW worthwhile!
Bye for now,
Adam. (not married)
Hi Adam
Great to get a man’s point of view. My H2B has been very laid back with the planning of our wedding (what I mean is leaving it all to me to organize)Orignally when he proposed he were talking about what we wanted our wedding to be like and I said I didnt want a big formal traditional wedding and he took that as having picnic benches (pub garden ones) in the back garden with a barbeque!(he quickly changed that idea) How it normally works with us is I show him things and he says yes or no. When it comes to what he is going to wear god only knows as he cant decide (I wouldnt put it past him to turn up in a peach suit with ruffled shirt)
Hi there! Great to see some man-stuff included in an otherwise female orientated world. What a mantastic idea, I hope it all works superbly for you. We are MAN MEAT FIRE, a gastro barbecue company. We cater for weddings, pre-wedding gathering, post-wedding soires, and parties in general and we also run barbecue cook schools, which are a great man-bonding type events such as stag days, catering for the barbecue challenged! Do take a look at our site http://www.manmeatfire.com. If you need any more info, we’re on 08450 34 20 34. Keep rockin’
Glad to see we finally got a picture up of you Adam
For the record ladies, I think he looks much more like the B&W photo…
Roll on the Man Stuff and your suggestions ladies.
xoxo
Ooooohhhh….I’m chief bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding next month and am an addict regarding all things RMW. Now including RMW’s Adam….yum yum indeed!
Oh and, in the spirit of keeping things wedding related…my brother-in-law to-be is wayyyyy invloved with this wedding, he and my 2 brothers took a floristry evening class and are doing the wedding flowers! Amazing….
Keep up the awesome work xxxx
Mr K was rubbish for the first couple of months (I love him very much but seriously, he actually said “why do we have to plan already, I thought once we were engaged we’d have a breather” (bear in mind I was only mooting seasons to get married and not exactly screaming at him about matching ties!). But once the venue, date etc were sorted, he was much more involved. He was brilliant at the budget and I gave him “man-friendly” tasks like negotiating room rates, organising the DJ and music and choosing food and wine and negotiating with suppliers.
I will not lie, he was crap at flowers, colour schemes and clothing and could not have cared less (but he did take instruction well). Play to his strengths. Oh, and men are BRILLIANT at table plans – seriously – I was overthinking how people would get on and stressing and he took approx 30 seconds to re-arrange my post-its into the Table Plan Of Genius!
My OH is usually quite interested in some aspects, and totally interested in others.. I have to say.. if there’s something he definately does want, its hard facts, lots of visuals and easy.. ok I like it / ok I dont… what next type decisions.
I think a great “man post” would definately be on male neck candy… so many grooms these days are sporting different styles and breaking out of the mould in this aspect, perhaps you could do a feature on whats available both in the traditional and non traditional sense?
Then I definately think there would be a great post in showing how to tie various types of ties… and bowtie’s and cravats… I have seen many a wedding photo with a groom following instructions to this effect.. how great if it was RMW in the background!
I think (as much as he would hate to admit it) my OH would prob also appreciate genuine male skincare advice (of the not pushy sales assistant type) as well as perhaps advice on arranging stag do’s etc..
I think “real stag do’s” instead of real wedddings would also be a great feature for both the brides and grooms visiting the site.. as some brides tend to worry far too much about grooms visiting lap dancing bars.. when in fact all they want is a bit of male bonding time.
Just giving you my insight, have tonnes of other ideas.. a “battle of the sexes” mini wedding challenge my also get the males interested.. as they like nothing better than a bit of healthy competition.
HTH
M.I.A x
Hi Adam, my OH is not interested in colour schemes or flowers but I must confess he is far more style savvy than me in the menswear department for the event he HATES cravats and the thought of a coloured waistcoat bring him out into a sweat
so I think it may be nice to have a feature on alternative types of wedding wear for the groom and male members of the wedding party.
I think a lot of his friends didnt hear the word wedding and scream with excitement like my girlie friends the first word that popped into their mind was “STAG” so I think some real life stag features would me insightful and useful and would get enthusiasm levels up.
H2b also loves music and has started looking at bands where as I havent considered them yet so some coverage on up and coming bands for the wedding could also be a good idea.
Good luck with your writing and I think your first piece is fab keep up the good work x
Hi Adam,
I was thinking of mailing to ask this anyway so it’s good to know who to contact direct.
Could you do a feature on male wedding outfits? I have just spent the entire weekend trekking around department stores looking for stylish but not too weddingish outfits for my groom to be and his best man. Needless to say, they both claimed they were really laid back about the whole thing but, as it turned out, they are more picky and far less clued up than my maids. It’s a nightmare and is one huge section of the wedding day that most magazines completely neglect!
48 hrs later and many, many hilarious tryings on later, I think we have settled on an agreement that Reiss suits rule and I am working on getting them to wear marc wallace floral shirts – (one wedding battle I may not win!)
Many thanks and good luck with your blog!
X Ella
My OHTB had a vision of what he had always dreamed but had no idea how much anything would cost. He had no idea how to begin planning or budgeting. Fortunately for both of us I work in the industry. I think articles about the reality of pricing and guidelines for planning would help all OHTBs and be something they’d want to read about.
Woah… its comment city on the man blog!
Thanks for all the great responses – looks like I have my work cut out me. There are some really excellent idea’s here for the RMW team to have a think about…
Watch this space, we will try to start servicing your mans needs a.s.a.p
In the meantime – keep those idea’s coming in!
The Blog Father.
OK, first proper man post (no offence manmeatfire, sounds like a good business tho!)
Agree totally with most comments here, it can be hard to get enthusiastic about flowers and colour schemes (I’m a firm believer that men are not genetically programmed for flowers) However I will say that I do not feel comfortable in Pink!
A lot of wedding magazines try and include the men with the odd page here and there with suit advice and funny stories about stag do’s and speeches interrupted by lairy mates in the room but its all the stuff we already know. I guess I would like some real life advice on making sure my suit looks right all day and how best to avoid spilling gravy on my tie (nothing worse than giving a speech, on video, with gravy stains down your front!) Some practical tips on writing a speech without sounding like a numpty would be good too.
I have to say that the thing I’m most looking forward to is the smile on my wife to be’s face when we realise it all went well and everyone was having a good time!
Oh, and to confirm above, really don’t like cravats! I know lots of people do, just look to fussy for me!
Good luck with the man stuff, looking forward to more!
Mr G
My boy has completely random things he cares about. I’m dressing him up in full on waistcoat and cravat and he doesn’t say a word, but he went on with the baker about the style of the cake for nearly 2 hours. Generally, I show him something and he says yes or no with a vague, no-really-there kind of look on his face. Every once and awhile though, he pops to attention and has VERY. CLEAR. OPINIONS.
I’m still trying to figure him out.
As for getting him to the blog…well…I’m not sure he knows how to use a Reader. But if there was a manly bit on RMW I’m sure I could persuade him to read it. And maybe even leave a comment.
Brilliant. We have our first Man Comment….
Thanks Mr G – you raise some really good points there too. I doubt many guys are going to need to be told (or want to be told for that matter) how to arrange a stag do – although If we could uncover something a little less “run of the mill” it may get RMW coverage.
The stuff we may be not so confident about like suit maintenance, and speech performance are definitely area’s we would like to advise on.
I had the dubious task of giving a best man speech to an audience that consisted of 25% English speakers, the rest being Japanese….. but I think that may be a story for another time…
My HTB literally has no interest in it at all, he is letting me make all the decisions and it kinda worrys me sometimes, why is it that weddings are usually all about the woman? Its his big day too, and I try to get him involved but he just isnt interested no matter how hard I try to make it “man friendly”
Arrrrrrggghhhhhh! Desperately seeking somewhere we can hire cool suits and not the ill fitting, cheaper looking, big lapelled ones that are supplied by all the well known suit hire businesses.
I’m after a light grey lounge suit and waist coat with more of a fashion fit but shelling out and buying a suit for all 5 groomsmen is stretching the budget.
Any Pointers?????
Mike