From the get-go, the wedding day is jam-packed for your partner. From last-minute organisation to full-on pampering and preening with the hair, make-up and dress, the day is usually planned down to the minute for the bride. However, for grooms there is just one cliché to follow; ‘turn up on time’. However, with all the focus being on the bride, many people don’t think twice about what the groom is doing pre-wedding. Depending on what type of groom you are, will say a lot about your pre-wedding activities.
Breakfast
If the groom has supportive friends or perhaps a smothering mother, then the day begins with a hearty breakfast. After all, folklore says a big breakfast can help settle the stomach and the butterflies before the main event.
Of course, there will be some chaps that’ll wake up with butterflies so ferocious that they cannot stomach anything else. We’ll call these grooms the ‘bags of nerves.’
The liquid breakfast, on the other hand, will be apt for those who are middling between nervous and excited. The liquid breakfast may also be required in ‘the hair of the dog’ format if the last night as a ‘free man’ was a big one.
Advice – Be wise about your pre-ceremony drinks. A Bloody Mary for the hangover, maybe a beer or two to mull over the big day or perhaps the hipflask whisky shot. For the bride’s sake (and the suit’s) know your limits, there is a long day ahead.
The Morning Activities
If the wedding doesn’t start until the afternoon and showering and suiting take just ten minutes; there is plenty of time to kill. If you are the obedient groom, there will no doubt be a checklist of final preparations to see to. If you’re a practical groom, then mowing the lawn, clearing up from the night before and sorting out the kitchen may be in order, especially if the honeymoon starts the next day.
For the bags of nerves, exercise is always preferable to clock-watching and re-reading the speeches for the thousandth time. Get the groomsmen out for some golf, go for a run, or sweat it out in the gym. Make sure to relax after in the pool and sauna, the stiff-robot walk with your new bride will not look good in the wedding video. On that note, the robot doesn’t look good in the wedding dance either, unless you’re a pro, Peter Crouch or a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.
While exercise is great to get rid of the jitters, wake you up and get you stoked for the ceremony, your bride will expect you in one piece. It may be best to avoid the extreme sports until you’re hitched and perhaps don’t mention how long you were in the clubhouse at the golf course…
Pampering
A spa experience isn’t just for the ladies. Enjoy a gentleman’s shave or final hair trim and style with a professional at the helm. Those shaky pre-wed hands will inevitably lead to knicks and cuts with the razor which will not be a good look for the photos. Sit yourself down with a barber and your bros and enjoy a little me-time. They’ll finish your treatment with a great smelling aftershave too which you know your new bride will appreciate.
Not a fan of preening? Been banned for physical activity until you’ve walked up and down the aisle? How about enlisting your groomsmen for some winner takes all poker? Each groomsman can bring a prize, be it cigars or a bottle of bourbon and in the end, the winner takes all. Make sure the stakes aren’t too high though, you don’t want to risk a pre-wedding fallout or punch-up. Practising your poker face is a great way to keep calm and make sure you can keep your emotions in check in preparation for the main event.
Finally:
· Set an alarm for the time you MUST get ready by and make sure it is 30 minutes before what you think.
· Don’t forget the rings! No, seriously don’t.
· Remember to be present – enjoy the private moments with your bride and meaningful moments throughout the day, even before the big event.
· Say thanks, to everyone, a lot.
· Relax and enjoy it!
What Type of Groom Are You?
Mr Organised And Efficient
Mr There’s Plenty of Time
Mr Continual Pocket-Frisker
Mr Pacing the Corridors
Mr Should’ve Paced Myself Better
Mr O.M.G.
Finally, don’t wake up the day after the Wedding and say “Where am I”
Let us know! E:chirpeeflowers@gmail.com , we love to hear your wedding stories
Tim aka Chirpee Flowers www.chirpee.net (c) 2019