- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
Hi and welcome to Weddingbee. There have been many posts on how to involve the fiance, but my first tip would be to lay off the wedding talk altogether for like a week. Come back to it fresh and start over with some of the helpful tips you'll find here on Weddingbee!
Hang in there! It can be frustrating...
Here are a few links to start with:
http://www.weddingbee.com/2006/07/27/confessions-of-a-groom/
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/how-involved-is-your-fiancee-in-the-wedding-planning-and-diys
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/not-so-enthusiastic-fianceand-wedding-planning
There's another really good thread with lots of practical advice, but I can't find it right now...
I basically made my FI's guest list for him. I sat him down and asked about family, (who are your aunts, cousins, etc, what are their addresses) neighbors, friends, etc. You can try to do the same thing, show him that just because yours is "done" you're still working on this... with him.
Don't get upset if he's not concerned about colors. He's a guy.
Give him direct things to do and impose a deadline. Then let him loose. Figure out if there's one thing he wants to be in charge of. I know you said you have a DJ, but would he be interested in putting together a playlist? Choosing a menu? Budgeting for anything, if he's a numbers guy like mine?
Good luck! This is tough for a lot of us in this area. Be sure to keep up your old banter, too, not just wedding talk. I know that's hard because you've been engaged for a while.
Could you maybe talk to his parents, or maybe a sibling or something to get the list started? My fiance was clueless about his family and had his mom make the "family" list and then he added his friends/co-workers.
Like you, I started by working off of my cousin's guest list and went from there.
I'm not sure if I have any solutions, but I sympathize with your frustration. I've always wondered why it becomes the bride's job to do everything and why the bride is the one criticized if the guests are peeved or simply dislike something. Don't send out STDs only to your family - you'll catch flack forever for that.
When I was frustrated with my FI for seemingly not doing anything, I sat down and talked with him about "our" wedding as "our" project and how could "we" manage it together. There are things that I do better and things that he does better, so we've tried to divide up tasks by strength. And I spend every day reminding myself not to 'helpfully' remind him to do what he said he would... He typically does get it done though... most of the time...
My suggestion is to get a list from his mom. That is what I did. Once we got her list, we added on anyone else he wanted to invite. I think it is hard for most guys to take the wedding planning seriously because to them it feels so far off. I would try sitting him down and explaining to him how important it is to take care of this stuff early so at the end you are not completely stressed!
I totally understand where you are coming from. My fiance offers input when asked, but is certainly not proactive in this planning process.
As for the guestlist, make a draft list based on who you know in his family, give it to him to look at and ask him to add people you missed. Then, send it to his parents to get addresses (and find out if he missed anyone!). That way he only has to think of names rather than gathering all the info. Or, you can just bypass him completely and go straight to the parents, but warn him that it may mean that someone he meant to invite may get left off! No input...no complaining!
I can relate. I know when it can time for him to collect addresses, I had to sit next to him and make sure he did it. Sometimes men just need someone to hold their hand through the process.
It is very overwhelming, but eventually, you will (hopefully) reach a point where you realize that no matter what you do, your day will not be perfect, you are marrying a wonderful man, and this is just one day in your life.
yeah, get his mom onboard so you can get a guestlist from her! As far as the rest of the planning goes, maybe you could assign him one thing, such as transportation or some other slightly "manly" aspect to be in charge of. Unfortunately, I don't think most guys look forward to planning a wedding the way some of us do so there might not be much you can do to get him excited.... But on the plus side, then you never have to worry about compromising on what you want and you can just plan it how you want it! My FI really hasn't been very involved in planning except to nix most of my "less-traditional" ideas...I put him in charge of the band and other than discussing colors and guest list size, most of the planning has been all me...and that's the way I like it! :)
I think Mr. Bee's blog entry from a few years ago hits the nail on the head.
I had a little meltdown about the wedding a month ago along the lines of "why aren't you into planning this wedding/do you not want to have this wedding." I had to HOUND him for addresses of a few friends. FI's response was "I want to get MARRIED" and "I am very excited about the wedding itself, but what part of chasing people down for addresses and RSVP's and looking at cake styles is really fun for me?"
I think that a small fraction of grooms are actually really interested in the details, and it just so happen that some of the blogging bees FIs are into it. Mine? Not so much. But that's ok with me. He's made his overall preferences clear, was into picking the venue, the band and the food. He does like to be presented with a few options on the bigger decisions and weighs in (ie, invitations, music). He could care less about the favors, but of course will be impressed once it is all done.
Are you engaged to my fiance? My fiance has helped with the menu thus far, and nothing else. I sat him down last week, and asked if he still wanted to get married. He said yes ofcourse, then I told him when you do not help or don't act at all interested in the wedding- your actions say you do not want to get married. Actions speak louder than words!
I have pretty much completed the entire wedding by myself with the help of my destination wedding planner. All the decisions from colors, photographer, venue, has all been mine. This is my wedding in every sense of the word. You are not alone! I have now conducted a small list of things from FI with one month deadlines for each. I have threatened him with a Kelly Clarkson play list if he does not help me with music.
With the guestlist, I would ask his family/mom for help with the family members. Your "save the dates" can go out soon, so then I would show him the list of your people and his family- and then ask him to add his friends. Or add some of his friends, and then watch he will be like oh wait I need to invite so and so.
You are so not alone. Just men have not been thinking about their wedding since they were little like we were. Recruit your friends, bridesmaids, and family to help you sort out your decisions. Ofcourse you have the bees too! It has helped me so much to talk to other brides and people who feel as excited as I do
Wow, I am glad my fiance is not this high-maintenence! You know, men like to joke about women being high-maintenence, but I don't think you can get any harder to maintain when you have to have your fiance interview you in order to get a guestlist out of you!! Holy Carp!
Be that as it may, I think you are just gonna have to chalk it up to him not being a detail-oriented person, and find someone else to bounce your ideas off of. Is your mom or you MOH on the same page as you about the wedding you want? The more you try to get him to do things he is obviously not interested in the more frustrated you'll get, and that just won't work for anyone!
OMG! This board is absolutely wonderful. You have all been so helpful. Its so nice to not feel alone and as though your finacee is so different from everyone else's. I think I will take everyone's advice of pulling back a little and assigning him tasks more conducive to his strenghts and also enlisting his mom in creating the guest list. Thanks again ladies!
Can you ask his mother for his list? For some reason, a lot of men just aren't that interested in their weddings, but his mom probably will be. Maybe you can give him discrete tasks to help with (mine just planned our honeymoon and told me that he is really looking forward to making the seating chart, of all things, but he has been completely uninterested in anything else for the last... 11 months we've been engaged. ;) and he might be better about it. Your wedding is still pretty far away (although I know it doesn't feel like it to you!) and he probably just doesn't see the urgency yet. And it's always possible that getting him to care about colors or paper is just never going to happen... maybe you should bounce those ideas off of your MOH or someone like that.
I too suggest getting his family involved! Mr. Peng's parents were very helpful at helping him put together his list. As a major procrastinator myself, I know that sometimes I just put off boring tasks until I'm absolutely under the gun. Collecting addresses is not fun, although totally necessary. Getting all the family members on board may send a message to him that this all needs to be done ASAP!
Ivory, I'm glad you found this board. I'm sure you'll also find that it IS ADDICTING! The women here (and Mr. Bee of course hehe) are the most wonderful and helpful ever I think. No one is negative or judgemental.
That being said, I think we've all gone through what you're going through. I've found it helpful (granted this is toward the end of planning) to politely ask my FI to do VERY SPECIFIC small things. I use "please" and "thank you" and once one little one is done I give him a new one. They all add up to one BIG long-overdue help, FINALLY! Turns out, all I really had to do was ask :)
One of my friends is getting married and she kept hounding him about his guest list. One day he comes home and says "I have it! I have my guest list!" and hands her two index cards. 4 x 6. With all the names of the people he wants to invite.
Including addresses. 15 people total.
She called his mom and she gave her a list of 75! Check with his mom to see who she feels like is important enough to invite, because sometimes those boys... oh, those boys...
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| rachgirl82 | 36 |
| kate02121 | 12 |
| ndreighton | 11 |
| pengoala | 10 |
| louiseW | 10 |
| Lyndzo | 9 |
| Indecisivebride2012 | 9 |
| msdragon | 9 |
| ozpeony | 8 |
| Miss Mochaccino | 7 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| NotAnotherAnonBee | 3 |
| Sunfire | 2 |
| flamingred | 1 |
| pinkshoes | 1 |
| QuietOne | 1 |
| rachgirl82 | 1 |
| pengoala | 1 |
| ticatica | 1 |
| beargoose | 1 |
| violet25 | 1 |
Hello All,
I am new to the board and this is my first post (so be gentle). I have been engaged to a wonderful man since June 14, 2008 ( we were together 4 years prior to our engagement). We get along in every way, except when it comes to planning this wedding. After a lot of internet searching and feeling overwhelmed and no help from him, I picked a couple of locations compiled a budget comparison, picked one, made an appointment to visit, rented a car and planned our visit. I told him where we were going, how much of a deposit we would need if we liked the place and he drove us there, negotiated on the price and put down the deposit. That was the most and last he has ever been involved. Thus far, I have picked a caterer, DJ, baker, and photographer on my own. Granted after complaining he gave me the check for the photographer but if I ask him about colors or flowers or foods his eyes literally glaze over.
My biggest issue now has been that we have no guest list. I have been hounding him for weeks to put together a list of guests and get addresses but he just dosent take it seriously and has yet to do it. My brother got married last month and so I could pretty much just take his list as far as my side of the family is concerned. My fiancee says, this is why its so easy for me b/c I have my list done already... whatever!!! Anyway, last night I asked him for this list again and he said I was nagging him, this sent me over the edge and I stormed out crying. His solution to arguments is to give me a kiss, and tell me he loves me...again whatever!!! I dont know how to handle this situation and am really thinking about sending out save the dates to my family members and giving him a stack to complete 'whenver he is ready', my only problem with this idea is that i dont want his Mom and Dad to think I did not send any to his family or am not including his family or am doing a poor job planning the wedding. Any thoughts? Sorry about the long post.