Bachelor Party Planning Tips
Many weddings these days are huge, almost overwhelming events. True, some prospective brides and grooms have the good sense to put a ceiling on the amount of money they’ll spend and the number of guests they’ll invite, but let’s face it before we jump into bachelor party planning - a wedding is a bride’s day to see her fairy-tale come true, it’s her Cinderella moment, and along with fulfilling her ‘perfect-day’ fantasies, emotions are high and the typical wedding tends to overflow all restraints like a river in floodtide.
And this is all right. After all, all the bride’s friends are all nearly as excited as she is about the wedding and are right by her side, there to help pick up the pieces, manage the overrun, make the phone calls, arrange the catering, and to send the men driving for last minute cake icing. And they will for sure see to it that she has an absolutely fabulous fun time at her Bridal Shower. This is because they understand one thing clearly: the whole happening, from the decorations to endless photos to the giving of the ring, is all about the bride. Even in the midst of their wild, giddy laughter during her Bridal Shower, they’re laughing with her—not at her.
But let’s not forget about the guy that’s getting married. Let’s not forget about the Bachelor Party for the groom. Women have one thing over men when it comes to planning pre-wedding parties: they want to make the bride happy. They know that this is her day. Most bachelors’ buddies, if we’re being honest here, actually think the Bachelor party is all about them! So they either (a) bring in an exotic dancer to wiggle in their friend’s lap, and order in plenty of alcohol so they can enjoy themselves while he makes a fool of himself, or (b) engage in some form of hazing like tar-and-feathering him or holding him down and dyeing his hair green. Well, why not? After all, this is the boys’ night, right?
Wrong. The first thing to do is realize that this Bachelor Party is for the groom. Sure, you can have a wild send-off, sure you can pull some surprises that he totally wasn’t expecting, but make sure you’re doing it for him—not yourselves. And this means the Best Man (hopefully he’s actually is the best man for this job) sitting down with the groom and asking him what he wants. Maybe he wants a night of paintball battles. Maybe he wants a good time in a pinball arcade. Maybe he really does want to be held down and have his friends freak the bride out by dying his hair green one day before the wedding. You’ll never know unless you ask him. So ask him. (This is also a good time to get the names and phone numbers from him, of all the guys he wants to invite.)
You may not give him exactly what he wants. You may give him what he wants—and then some. You may not be able to give him what he asks for at all. Maybe you want to surprise him with something else he’d really want. But whatever you do, remember: this is his party. You just happen to be the buddies who get to send him off.
