Listen, we aren’t naive here. We know that there is always one person who takes the lead in wedding planning and one that rides the coattails, all the way through to the finish line. The wedding is one big surprise to them and it leaves you annoyed and bitter that they didn’t help more along the way.
After planning hundreds of weddings at our venue, we have really important information for you: 99% of the time, your significant other doesn’t help because they don’t know HOW to help or WHAT to do. They genuinely don’t care about colors, flowers, etc. BUT if you give them tasks that interest them a bit, we promise, you’ll get way more voluntary involvement from them! Here are a few easy ways to get them planning and take a little bit off of your plate.
Buy The Alcohol: Task them with picking out (and taste-testing, if necessary) all of the alcohol for your wedding. Each time they go to the store, pick up a case. Any time you grab a bottle of wine for dinner, grab two. It’s an easy task for them and it splits the alcohol cost up over months rather than all at one time. Plus, it will be fun to see what all they collected leading up to wedding day.
Have Them Choose The Playlist: The last thing you want to be figuring out is the playlist for your wedding. You have more important things to handle! Delegate this to your better half and let them have some fun with it. Any time they hear a song during their commute that they like, add it to the playlist. Whenever they’re at a brewery with their friends and a good one comes on, add it. Plus, give them the responsibility of coordinating with the DJ. This is an easy vendor to offload on them without too much going terribly wrong.
Plan, Book and Coordinate The Rehearsal Dinner: It is their own mini wedding, of sorts. Their chance to shine. Let them pick the venue, caterer, decor, drinks, send the invites! Who cares? As long as it’s done and everyone shows up that needs to be there—don’t overthink it! Plus, they’ll gain a new respect for all that you’re doing for the real wedding and hopefully will lean into helping a bit more with their newfound respect.
Get Their Own Tux/Suit and Coordinate With Their Groomsmen: Everybody cares what they look like on Wedding Day, but a lot of times we rob the other of the surprise of what they’re wearing. Brides get to surprise their groom on wedding day—why shouldn’t he get to? Let him be completely in charge of what he and the guys wear, ordering it, the whole sha-bang. If he looks ridiculous on wedding day, that’s on him! With great power comes great responsibility.