The Best Groom’s Wedding Planning Guide!
Grooms, are you stressed out and don’t know where to start with wedding planning? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with our groom’s wedding planning guide! Every year, we help hundreds of couples plan and coordinate their weddings in the Austin and central Texas area!
Though we specialize in proving DJs, photo booths, and lighting for weddings and events, we also provide wedding planning assistance, as well as day-of-coordination assistance. All of our staff are trained to assist with day-of coordination, since the business owners, Jason and Diana, are also certified wedding and event planners!
So long story, short (sort of), we’ve helped thousands of couples plan their wedding or event. We’ve noticed along the way, that groom’s usually seem to take a backseat, when it comes to helping plan the wedding. 🙁 We’ve heard the same line from grooms, many times, “I don’t know, she’s planning everything; it’s up to her.” (By the way, don’t say this). 🙂
While it is a fact that most of the time, the wedding planning is done by one person (usually the bride, but sometimes the groom), this does NOT mean that the other person can’t take charge and give input and feedback along the way! Remember, marriage is about working together. So here are our top tips, to get involved in the wedding planning!
Grooms, Help Your Bride With These Things:
1. Determine a Date
Congrats, you’re engaged! Now it’s time to say goodbye to all of your free time! Just kidding, sort of. 🙂 The very first step in our groom’s wedding planning guide will make a huge impact on all the other steps. Picking a date is very important.
Think about the type of wedding you want to have. In the Austin area, indoor and outdoor weddings are very popular. If you want a portion of your wedding to be outdoors, remember the Texas heat!
This is why fall weddings are becoming more and more popular in our area. The fall weather is great, but keep in mind you’ll have to book a venue and because fall is popular, you should start planning at least 12-18 months in advance!
2. Determine a Budget
This is the most important part of our groom’s wedding planning guide. You absolutely have to have a ballpark budget set! Now that you have a date, it’s time to determine a budget. By now, both of your families are aware and ideally, want to help!
Determine how much you want to spend and be prepared to go over it, seriously. 🙂 Once you have a ballpark figure, it’s time to start pricing venues and vendors.
3. Get the Guest List in Order
Now that you picked a date and have a budget, it’s time to start the guest list. By now, you should have an idea about how much you want to spend, it’s time to determine your guest list. Decide on who you are, and more importantly, who you are not inviting. Will you invite coworkers?
What’s your child policy (some people have child-free weddings)? Which friends will get the invite? Are there any family members you don’t want to invite? A good rule of thumb: If you have friends or family members who you have not actually communicated with, personally, in a year or more, you can likely cross them off the invite list. This is the tough part, but you have a budget to stick to.
4. Pick a Venue
One of the major expenses of the wedding is the venue. It may seem strange to pick a venue after you have your guest list, but it’s wise to do this, so you know how large of a space you may need. Venues can really vary in price, in the Austin area. Some Austin wedding venues are as cheap as $100 per hour, while others may be $50,000 or more!
It’s your special, once in a lifetime moment, so plan the wedding you want, at the venue that your budget allows for. Look for a wedding venue that is already nicely decorated. This allows you to worry less about decorations, the day or the weekend of the wedding. Here’s an Austin wedding venues link, to help you get started! 🙂
5. Choose the Entertainment – DJ/band, ceremony musicians, photo booth, etc.
This is where grooms can take the lead. Simply draft an email or write down a few questions and begin calling or emailing different companies. We happen to know of a great DJ and photo booth company. 🙂 Most DJ companies do not put their prices on their websites, so you’ll have to email or call them, directly.
DJs, bands, and photo booth companies will all need to know the following: date, start/end time, number of hours you’ll need their services, location, and whether you’ll need them for the ceremony and reception, or just the reception. So be sure to include all that in your email.
Imagine when your significant other comes home and you can tell them, “hey, I booked our wedding DJ!” Shhh… there’s no need to tell them you used our groom’s wedding planning guide! 🙂
Wedding Planning You Can Do, Solo
1. Draft your team (wedding party).
Now it’s time for the fun part: the draft! Yup, our groom’s wedding planning guide has a draft! Unfortunately, it’s not as fun as the NFL draft or Fantasy Football, but feel free to drink a beer while you’re starting this draft list! 🙂
Your best friend is obviously going to be your best man! Next, you need groomsmen. Find out how many bridesmaids there will be, or how many people you want, total, in the wedding party. Try to keep it even.
Don’t have 3 bridesmaids and a football team of groomsmen. Brothers are almost always included in the wedding party (yours and your bride’s brothers). Once you have the list, it’s time to start drafting! This is the fun part! More and more, we’re seeing parties happen for these “wedding party drafts,” so use this as a great reason to have a party or get-together!
2. Write Your Vows.
Okay, now it’s time to write your own vows and share with your friends and family, exactly how you feel about your bride! This is tough, but relax, you got this. If you need some inspiration, do a search for “wedding vows,” to see what others are writing. This is your time to be the guy in all the romantic movies you’ve watched over the years! 🙂
3. Pick the Music.
This is one of the most important parts of our groom’s wedding planning guide! This is where we see most grooms step up and take charge! You know music, so you got this! Determine the genres of music you want to hear, first.
Then determine any must-play songs for the reception. The ceremony takes a bit more planning, but luckily, we have a great online music library, with popular lists to help you out.
The hardest part of planning the music is being mindful of the varied tastes that your guests have. Sure, you may love Hip Hop, but will your guests want to hear this, all night? A good idea is to send out an email, asking guests for 1-2 song requests, each. Give them a deadline to return this and when they all are returned, you have a great must-play list for the DJ! Be sure to check out our Top 200, 2019-2020 Wedding/Party Songs article, for great song ideas!
4. Create/manage the Gift Registry.
This is also a fun task. There’s no rule that says you have to ask for only certain things. so ask for whatever you’d like. Don’t really need anything? Ask for gift cards to your favorite stores or restaurants!
5. Plan the Honeymoon.
Finally, we have the honeymoon. We saved the best part of our groom’s wedding planning guide, for last! On average, couples spent about $6000 on their honeymoons, in 2018. Find a place that you can both agree on, and do your research.
Check out Trip Advisor for some great ideas and “things to do,” at your destination. Be sure to add the honeymoon into your overall wedding budget. If you’re thinking of staying in Texas for your honeymoon, we’ve got a blog discussing top TX honeymoon places, so check it out!
After your wedding, you’ll be pretty tired, so having a great destination to sit back and relax is always appreciated! These are just some of our recommendations, based on the couples we’ve worked with over the years. There is always plenty more to do when it comes to wedding planning. We hope that our groom’s wedding planning guide has been helpful!
– Austin’s Best DJs & Photo Booths
