10 Clever Ways to Pop the Question via Social Media – mashable

The Hottest Places to Honeymoon in 2012 – huffington post

When You Say Save & She Says Splurge – onewed

Dad Misses Wedding, Gets Photoshopped In – imgur

Two Swell New Wedding Books to Pick Up – bridal guide

7 Interests a Man Shouldn’t Lose After Marriage – guyism

How to Determine Your Blazer Size – ask men

Are you a Gym-Going Groom? – a groom’s diary

Grooms & the Wedding Industrial Complex – offbeat bride

Creative Groom Cufflinks on Pinterest – pinterest

]]> http://groomsadvice.com/2012/02/02/the-best-of-the-web-for-grooms-february-2-2012/feed/ 0 http://groomsadvice.com/2012/02/01/splitting-bachelor-party-costs/ http://groomsadvice.com/2012/02/01/splitting-bachelor-party-costs/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:54:58 +0000 admin http://groomsadvice.com/?p=12928

Decisions, decisions. The moment you decide to get married is just the first step in the series of decisions you’ll have to make. Brace yourself. Where and when to have the wedding, who to invite, what food to serve, the registry, the honeymoon, and the list goes on and on… But, there’s one thing you probably won’t mind planning – your bachelor party. For one night, you and your best buds can get together and party like the good old days.

Your best man is well, the best. But wouldn’t you like to make it easier to get the guys together? You definitely don’t want him to have to front the cost for the whole thing. Depending on what he’s planning, there may be a hotel suite, day on the golf range, nightclub table, camping, limo, dinner, or flights involved.  No one wants to chase their friends for money — it’s time consuming and frankly, it sucks. So do your best dude a favor and tell him about Splitable.

Splitable makes getting together and paying together easy by letting you split the total cost with your friends up front. You can invite, talk, and pay in one place. Splitable sends comments, payments and reminders to the whole team which keeps everyone is in the loop. It’s like Evite and Paypal got together and had a miniature giraffe. So, if you wants zee preemeum pekege, and likes savings zee muney, jumps in it.

The best thing about Splitable is that no one gets charged until the entire team comes together and reaches their payment goal. It’s all or nothing. If your group doesn’t end up making it, no one is out money. When your team does reach its goal, Splitable closes out your group and sends the money to the organizer (you can get paid out with Paypal, Dwolla or check). Once the money is settled, you can focus on what really matters — good times!

Quick recap: once the party is planned, your best dude can jump on Splitable, create a team, invite the guys and everyone can split the total cost of your last single night out. You can leave messages to rally each other and invite more people if you have space. It’s a simple solution that covers all of your bases.

Splitable also comes in handy to get stuff from your Man Registry. Fine china and doilies aside, your friends would probably rather get you a Weber Performer Grill, a Kegerator, or a Poker Table — stuff for the good times to come. You can use Splitable to split the cost of any of these pricier items making it easier for a few people to come together and get you something you really want… all it takes is a hint from you. Splitable makes the rest hassle free. So stop fronting and collecting and split the cost.

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Give a shout out to this cool startup – they’re aiming to make your life easier after all. Follow them on Twitter @splitableapp, like them on Facebook, and get your splits going at Splitable.com.

The Most Embarrassing Marriage Proposal Rejections – info barrel

These Groomsmen Have Got the Blues – well-groomed

Sweet Home Alabama Marriage Proposal – love, the yes girls

Pinterest & Your Wedding- gigmasters

The 6 Worst Gym Mistakes You Can Make – made man

6 Forgotten Drugstore Colognes & Aftershaves – art of manliness

A Cerebral Analysis of Hiring a DJ – a groom’s diary

R2-D2 Wedding Cake Toppers – wedinator

[Sex Tips] Your Complete Guide to Her G-Spot – men’s health

The Dirt on Destination Wedding Guests – sacramento bee

]]> http://groomsadvice.com/2012/01/27/the-best-of-the-web-for-grooms-january-27-2012/feed/ 0 http://groomsadvice.com/2012/01/23/expert-forum-2012-groom-wedding-trends/ http://groomsadvice.com/2012/01/23/expert-forum-2012-groom-wedding-trends/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:47:01 +0000 admin http://groomsadvice.com/?p=12829 As we approach the spring wedding season, this year’s trends are starting to come into focus. Our personal favorites are food truck catering and video save-the-dates…but those just scratch the surface. We’ve gathered up four of our favorite people in the wedding industry to share their thoughts on this year’s groom trends.

2012 wedding season is upon us. What’s your favorite groom-oriented trend for this year? If you don’t have a one, suggest one for us.

IAN (Founder, A Groom’s Diary)

My favorite trend is that I’m finally seeing grooms get their balls back.  We’re in an era of mixed bachelor/bachelorette parties, ornate first dances and guys going for mani/pedis with their groomsmen the day of the wedding.  This year testosterone seems to be bouncing back.  I got invited to a bachelor party where the description was “I’m renting a house on the lake and buying a ****load of booze.  Let me know if you can make it.”  It was incredibly refreshing.  More basic black tuxes instead of over-thinking color-coordinated suits.  More scotch, less mojitos. More steak, less salmon.  I may sound like I just walked out of my cave, but it is good to see guys acting like guys again!

HANA ABAZA (Founder, Wedding Republic)

In general, grooms have been getting more involved in the wedding planning process and 2012 will be no exception. We’re going to see grooms injecting some of their own personality into the big day. Weddings are beginning to shift from being solely bride–centric to more couple–centric. Some great examples of this include the rise of groom cakes, a little more personality incorporated into grooms’ attire, and as we’ve seen at Wedding Republic, more grooms are actively participating in the planning process such as setting up a couples wedding registry. But fair warning… an increase in groom involvement will likely go hand in hand with a rise in Groomzillas!

KARA HORNER (Blogger & Media Director, The Man Registry)

Extreme bachelor parties. Whether it’s the residual Hangover effect or the need for some macho male bonding time, more and more grooms are going big when it comes to their bachelor parties, and they’re taking their entire wolfpack (AKA, groomsmen) with them. Why hit the local bar or strip joint when you can make a manly weekend of it by traveling to a cool destination within driving distance or a quick nonstop away? Beyond the tried and true, such as boozing it up in Vegas, think golfing at Pebble Beach, rock climbing in Utah, fly fishing in Montana, skiing in Colorado or white water rafting in Tennessee. Word to the wise: If you hear banjos playing in the distance, it’s time to head back–fast.

AZURE NELSON (Editorial Director, OneWed)

We all know what “zilla” implies—irrational, stressed to the brink, micromanaging the hell outta things…you get the idea. And thanks to one jilted groom filing suit  against his wedding photographer 6 years (and one divorce) after his I Do’s, and a piece on Good Morning America about the trend of grooms taking a greater interest in the wedding planning process, the term “groomzilla” was born. But the rise of the groomzilla is not our favorite groom-oriented 2012 trend. In fact, we think calling interested, engaged, involved grooms THIS, crazy zillas, is totally unfair! The relationship between a bride and groom, husband and wife, should be equal, so the 2012 trend of grooms taking an equal interest in the wedding planning is one we celebrate and embrace! Just don’t expect to see the word groomzilla on OneWed anytime soon…

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Now it’s your turn to chime in. Leave a comment with your favorite groom trend for the upcoming wedding season. Don’t have one? Suggest one. Leave your comment below!

It is normally the best man’s job to throw the bachelor party for the groom. And it is his job to ensure the night is both memorable and original – something that can feel like a tall order. However, why not consider throwing a poker party! At first glance it may seem that a guy’s night out playing poker is not necessarily original, despite being huge fun. However, there are a lot of great ways to turn a night of poker playing into a bachelor party that the groom and your friends will never forget. With the growing popularity of online poker, parties like this are happening a lot more. Pokersites United States has lots of access to the best sites to hone your game at.

When to Throw a Poker Themed Bachelor Party

We’ve all heard the stories of the bachelor parties thrown the night before the “big day” and a hung over groom. It’s much smarter for everyone concerned to hold a bachelor party of any kind a week or so before the big event. That lets the groom have plenty of time to recover and be at his very best for the wedding day.

Choosing a Location

The first thing you have to consider when throwing a poker party is where you are going to have it. For smaller parties, a large basement will work, but if you are going to have more than ten people, you’ll probably want to find a hall.

If the bride and groom are getting married in a church, you might find out if you can rent out their basement for a small fee. Some may frown on gambling so you would have to limit the poker fun to non-money prizes, but those are the most fun anyway.

Your local hotel or motel may have an available conference room where you could have a great poker bachelor party for a low cost. Or, you could go all out and hire a limo, limo-bus or van and go to a local casino to play for real. The biggest drawback of going to a casino for the bachelor party is that it isn’t a private party. However, there is the added advantage of all types of casino games being available, and casinos often offer drinks on the house while you are playing.

Dressing for the Event

Casual attire is okay, but for a real “event,” you should consider a theme. You could make it a black-tie affair like something out of “Casino Royale”, or a roaring 1920’s theme with spats and zoot-suits. For a slightly simpler “costume” you could throw an “Oceans 11” poker party and dress up in 1960s suits. The best thing about the theme parties is that they really create atmosphere and bring a party to life.

What you Need

If you choose to hold your bachelor party at a real live casino you won’t need much but the participants. However, if you are throwing a themed party in a basement, room or hall you’ll need to supply all the typical poker accompaniments

You can throw your poker party with regular card tables if you need to, or find a party supply store, or gaming store and rent real poker tables for an official feel. The number of people you can have at each table will depend on the size and style of the table. Figure on anywhere from 4 to 8 per table.

You’ll also need several new, crisp decks of poker cards and enough chips for the number of tables you plan to have.

What Games to Play

The easiest game for new players who might be at your poker bachelor party is 5-card stud. You can have different games at different tables to let more experienced players choose for themselves, or make it 5-card all around. Texas Hold’em is also hugely popular and most people know the rules of that game from watching it on TV. Any poker games that you find at land-based or online poker sites are a great choice for your bachelor poker party.

Should You Play for Money?

Whether or not you should play for money depends a lot on your personal outlook and, perhaps more importantly, on the outlook of the groom. The bottom line is it is his party, and you should always respect his wishes. Taking money out of the equation can make a big difference in how much fun people have, and a game is less stressful when you are not playing for money.

Foods to Serve for a Bachelor Poker Party

Whatever you do, don’t forget the food. Keep it simple and easy. Finger foods are best and let people eat while they play. Fix or buy deli sandwiches and have plenty of chips and a variety of  drinks available to keep the party on its toes.
Most of all have fun and enjoy the event. Don’t forget to take a lot of pictures so the groom to be can have plenty of memories of the great poker night you made for him.