Weddingbee Blog

So, as much as I love Mr. Giraffe (which I do!), we’re very different people. I think one of the biggest differences between us is that I’m definitely a detail person and Mr. G is a big-picture guy. Every time (almost) that we’ve talked about the wedding he just says, “Whatever you want, Miss Giraffe” or “We can do that, Miss Giraffe” or, more likely, “I’ve told you a hundred times, the wedding and stuff isn’t what matters to me; I’m just happy about the afterwards, about being married to you.”

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OK, OK, so, yeah, I’m aware that it sounds sweet, but when I really need an opinion and legitimately want Mr. G to care whether or not I consider using rounded corners on our invitations, it can be a little frustrating. He just doesn’t visualize things well, and being the big-picture guy he is, he’s already not worried about small details (i.e., rounded corners). I figured his big picture was that we’re getting married, we’re having a wedding and a reception, and that’s it. I found myself getting frustrated and annoyed that I felt like I couldn’t get him more interested in the wedding planning. He said, “It’s not that I’m not interested—I just see the big picture.” Well, big picture or not, G, this wedding isn’t going to happen unless we get off our butts, make decisions, and plan it.

I’d been struggling with how to get Mr. Giraffe involved and more excited. I mean, he is excited, yes, but at the time when I was so frustrated, the day was still over 300 days away. How could he be excited then? Well, when we were garage sale-ing a couple of weeks after that, I found the Knot’s Guide for the Groom. It was listed as $.50, but since I got that and another wedding book (also $.50), they gave them to me for $.25 each! Score!

Anyway, when Mr. Giraffe was on the bus on the way up to visit me shortly after that weekend, he read the book! I was actually surprised he read it. I mean, sure, I made him promise me that he would, but I didn’t really know if he would. I thought it’d be like pulling teeth to have him sit down to do it. As he spends all day and night working, I couldn’t picture him sitting down to read after a 14-hour day…so good thing he had a bus ride with nothing to do!

The weekend we were together after that, Mr. G was all about the wedding. I mean, we talked about it/planned it constantly, but he had some seriously thought-out input that time and read me passages out of the book about our planning timeline and getting our guest list completed. I was shocked! Well…shocked and totally excited, of course! For the first time, Mr. Giraffe was getting into the details without me having to push him and ask him tons of questions. He started putting thought into everything, and I got really excited because, after all, this wedding is about both of us, not just me (no matter how much I love being the center of attention).

Mr. Giraffe said that the book was actually funny and he was surprised at how well written it was. I’m sure other grooms might enjoy its wedding-to-sports metaphors, too. I’m not going to lie—I saw the same book at Borders, where it is $14. You might not be able to get it for $.25, but I recommend it for your groom. It’s an easy way to get him excited and hopefully get him into planning as well.

How did you get your groom involved?