The beginning of the “Guide”

Its been brought to my attention that this blog hasn’t been so much of a “guide” but more so a collection of tips and ideas. This is all fine and good but I figure I should try to make some sort of attempt at illustrating the steps we (men) need to put together a wedding. Obviously I’m no expert on the matter but I do have a 6 month head start on you blokes, so at least to you guys, I am the expert.

OK so first off, do the guestlist. Why? It’s because when you and your fiancé discuss this, you’re gonna know what kinda of wedding you guys want. A small intimate one, a large extravaganza, or something in between. Think about who you want to invite then think about who you’ll have to invite. The cost, location, food, style of the wedding will all be dependent on the guest count. And if you’re like us and will be paying for the majority (or all) of the wedding yourselves, this is one (if not the) of biggest factor. A good rule we were using in determining who we wanted to invite was if whether or not we would feel insulted or sadden if we didn’t get invited to their wedding. Of course however, never feel like you are being pressured to invite people. This is your (and your fiancé’s) wedding…do what you want. Honestly the only one you have to worry about making happy…is her.

Second, do the budget. For the obvious reasons this is quite important. Well unless you are rolling in it. If that’s the case, I have another wedding you may be interested in funding. But if you’re like the rest of us, keep a running tab of how much you have, how much you can save, and how much your families are gonna help with. Do not go into debt to pay for your wedding. Your lives will be more important than this one day. Also, this will be good practice for budgeting in the future.

Next (and I’m assuming from here on out that you will be having a “traditional” wedding), the venue. I suggest you pick a place where you can have both the ceremony and reception. Most venue that you’re going to be looking at are going to allow this. Do it. It will be a lot easier. I’ve gone to a few weddings that required you to move from place to place and it was total a buzzkill. I know sometimes it can’t be help (church wedding, etc.), but if it can, do it at the same place.

Nearly as important for us as the venue was the food, and specifically, drinks. And when I say important, I mean it had better be cheap and good. The big trend now are food trucks and if you’re lucky enough to get a venue that allows it, do it. Most venues however have their own list of vendors and you’ll have to go through them but if you have the freedom, check out the food trucks around your area. Yelp is a good resource and you’ll see that there are plenty of food options out there. And once you do get the truck, you’ll free up so much money for drinks. Which I guarantee you is a must. Open bar. Please. Don’t make your guests suffer. Seriously.

Filed under guestlist guest wedding budget venue food drinks caterer guide note

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August 5, 2010

Styling + Fashion

Honestly, I don’t know much about fashion but I do know what I like and don’t like. So when my fiance asked me what I wanted to wear for the engagement session, I had to do some research. So far, these look kinda good:

—don’t you love the fact that when black people wear the exact (close to exact) same shit as white people do it becomes automatically more hip—

Maybe if I were to put something together.

Plaid, Clean tee, Boat shoes.

I use to rock the shorts and sweater look all the time until my GF at the time (now fiance) told me it was too “bummy” looking. I secretly want to wear this outfit for the session.

*NOTE* I don’t know 90% of the brands below. I just go to various sites to look at styles/clothes. Seriously go shop at like a Ross or Nordstrom Rack or something for clothes. Save yourself some money. You probably have plenty of other things to worry about. *NOTE*

Credits:

Joel Bedford
J Crew
Bespoken
Fremont
Loden Dager
Banana Republic
Mighty Healthy
Leanne Mueller
Gant
Oliver Spencer
United Bamboo
Generic Man
MossTies
Goorin Bros
Levis
LL Bean
John Varvatos
Moccsocks
Gap
Converse
Threadless

Filed under engagement fashion inspiration note style wedding mens fashion

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August 5, 2010

First post + Engagement pictures

I’ve been wanting to write this thing now for about 6 months. Since I got engaged and we started planning for the wedding, I felt like I’ve been lost the whole time. Just this past week my fiancé mentioned to me that we were having an engagement party (we’ll save the details for next time), and I was completely confused at what it was. Am I stupid? Maybe. But either way, this is the kind of stuff that makes me feel dumbfounded continuingly.

Anyways, I wanted a place were a guy can go to to help him with his wedding. The web and the world is already saturated with stuff for women to look at (and some of them are pretty cool places), but there’s nothing out there for a modern-day, urban-minded, trend-loving soon-to-be groom. So hopefully I can help some of you guys out there that are similar to me.

So lets start with what I just found out today: we are scheduled to take our engagement pictures on Oct. 31, 2011…that’s right, Halloween! This was the only day our (well my fiancé’s) make-up artist and photographer were free.

*NOTE* Wedding people are always busy during the weekends. This includes but not limited to; photographers, make-up people, caterers, etc. So when planning your wedding, make sure to do everything well in advance.*NOTE*

We’re not sure where we’re taking the pictures and how we want it to look like but I thought these were cool: