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We often bemoan the lack of green groom input on this blog (hint hint guys!) but newly-wed, John (happy husband of our blogger bride, Henriette) has agreed to help us out with his review of ‘Groomology: What every (smart) groom needs to know before the wedding‘ by Michael Essany.

Take it away John…

Judging the book by its cover I wasn’t sure what to expect.  However, taking the traditional proverb into consideration, “never judge a book by its cover” I engaged my brain and began to leaf through the pages.

Real wedding stories

I soon came to realise that, whether by design or not, the book read better by identifying the particular area I was interested in from the contents page and going straight to it.

The book is split into chapters that guide you through the planning of a wedding and describe how a groom can aid the process by supporting his bride without taking over.

It is populated with lots of little hints and tips from the author’s own experience and tales he has been told and although the chapters follow on from one another, they can still be read as individual stories.

Spend, spend, spend?

During the planning of our wedding, my wife and I received numerous nuggets of advice.  Most of these seemed to revolve around how people wished they had celebrated, or would celebrate, their wedding.  More often than not the advice involved lavish spending on things that simply weren’t important to us.

Sadly, this book is the same.  At one point the author pays a lot of attention to how everyone should be dressed; Tuxedo being the appropriate attire for the male members of the wedding party (this seems to be a US tradition).

So the book is let down in parts by the spend, spend, spend mentality that seems to have gripped the world of wedding hosting and planning.  The focus on how people should look and the details of the accessories was off-putting.

On a brighter note, the author does suggest something that I have never read before or since in a wedding planning guide.  He suggested using a laptop playlist for your music at the reception.  We decided to do this and it worked much better than we could have hoped.

A handy wedding planning guide

Michael Essany has populated his guide with plenty of hints and tips that I found refreshing, to such an extent that I would happily recommend it to any of my friends embarking on the journey.

There were parts that I found frustrating but as the book is only meant as a guide and not a strict course that everyone should follow step by step I could live with these.  The guiding stories and handy quotes that are found throughout the book illustrate how planning a wedding can be enjoyable at the same time as being emotionally draining!

Thanks for that great review, John.  If you’re interested in reviewing a wedding book or product on the Ethical Weddings blog, do get in touch – you’ll be in demand!

Book giveaway

The people behind ‘Groomology’ have also very kindly given us 2 copies of ‘Do you know your bride’ and 2 copies of ‘Do you know your groom’ to give away – great little quiz books to make sure you’re marrying the right person!

The first 2 people to email us at info@ethicalweddings.com with the subject ‘I want to know my bride/groom’ will get them.

Happy planning!

Katie