Responsibilities of the Groom

For anyone getting married for the first time, at least in a traditional sense, there’s a laundry list of things to take care of. Many of those items tend to be taken care of by the families involved, but the bride and groom do have specific tasks they need to address personally. Not everyone follows these requirements, but if a wedding is going to be a full affair, it makes sense to try as much as possible, especially for those being involved to make the event a special day.

The Duties of the Groom

For the husband-to-be in particular, the duties range and cross over with that of the bride, and many should be mutual decisions, such as choosing the venue, the budget, the food and entertainment, and even the décor. However, the most important part for the groom is being the point person for everyone on the groom’s family side in terms of messaging and coordination, as well as taking care of the many of the planning details, including the placement, wear, coordination with and gift for the groomsmen in the party.

There is, of course, what the groom will actually wear and do during the event. It's usually the groom's job to take care of dressing up the groomsmen party and making sure their tuxedos are taken care of. There shouldn't be an expectation for the groomsmen to handle their own; for example, if the wedding is in Tampa FL, the groom should make the arrangements for an appropriate tuxedo rental in Tampa for each of the groomsmen. 

Obviously, some of the activities are scripted, such as where to stand, what to say, and what to do during a ceremony. That said, there’s also a lot of room managing the after party and all the logistics for everyone involved in the core group too. More often than not, the groom ends up being the event manager, planning all the decision-points and making the hard decisions on the budget and what gets left out to make the event feasible. It can be a rough few weeks, especially when the dream side of the event doesn’t match up with the financial side to make it happen.

Groomsman Gift Planning

Gifts for the groomsmen, a classic role for the groom, should be thoughtful as well as useful. For example, a classic among groomsman gift ideas would be providing each of the groomsmen a set of cufflinks with their initials on them. This not only provides a useful, personal gift, but it’s also something they will remember where it came from and that their participation had significant value. While managing gifts the same way as a package is usually the first thing people think of, groomsmen gifts can vary too. For example, the best man’s gift could be significantly different from the rest of the groomsmen as part of the significant role the title has with being the closest to the groom.

Finally, Manage the Family and the Returns

Nothing will spoil a wedding faster than a family running amok and out of control. The groom’s job is to, literally, take care of his family to make sure they play their part and don’t create a disturbance for the event. That includes making last minute arrangements if needed to get everybody to the ceremony on time and provide adjustments for slip-ups, and last minute goofs will happen. So, a groom who does a lot of a pre-planning for possible snafus will be well-situated for switching to Plan B when they happen on the day of the event. Remember, as a groom, it is your special day, so use that trump card if you have to for getting folks to behave.

When it’s all over and back from the honeymoon, the groom has one final duty: make sure everything rented gets returned. This job can be delegated to a groomsman, but the groom is accountable. It’s amazing how often this last detail gets overlooked, but keep it on the to-do list, and things will run a lot smoother.