A Groom's Point of View

When it comes to wedding planning, some men just don’t have a clue where to begin. Brides-to-be spend hours upon hours reading articles in bridal magazines, chatting it up with their girlfriends and co-workers, and asking questions on message boards. But where do all of the future husbands go for advice? Finally, there’s an answer! Author Shandon Fowler unfolds the answers to all of your FH’s wedding planning questions—from popping the question to booking the DJ—in The Groom’s Instruction Manual: How to Survive and Possibly Even Enjoy the Most Bewildering Ceremony Known to Man (Quirkbooks, $15.95).

Get the inside scoop about this publication from Bridal Guide’s Q & A with Shandon Fowler!

A Better Groom Guide
Q: Tell me the story behind your publication. Why did you decide to write this book?

A: The engagement seems to last forever, and it builds to the crescendo of the wedding that, even in the most extreme cases, lasts a week at most and more frequently about 36 hours. Then you have all of this time after the wedding to either relax, or think about what just happened. I’m more of the kind to think about what happened—what worked and what didn’t work. What we would have changed. What we loved. And, for me, what the hell just happened?

I began thinking about the book while we were still engaged. My wife had given me another groom book as a gift. I thumbed through it a little but mostly found it patronizing—the writers were more concerned about cracking jokes than providing real advice. About two months after our first wedding anniversary, a friend contacted me and said his publisher was looking for somebody to write a guide to getting married from a groom’s perspective. It was so serendipitous that it had to happen! I spent about four months writing it and another month revising it with much help from my fantastic editor, Jason Rekulak.