A month or so ago, SaraRules and I were at Borders and I found a book that amused me so much that I had to purchase it:
As the book’s synopsis states:
Product Description
For decades, bookstore childcare sections were dominated by books for women that is, until Quirk’s
Baby Owner’s Manual offered a fun and refreshing alternative for male readers. Now we’re crashing the wedding section with
The Groom’s Instruction Manual, an irreverent guide to everything guys need to know about:
- Getting Engaged (popping the question, finding a ring)
- Wedding Planning (choosing a location, drafting a guest list)
- The Big Day (rehearsal dinners, toasts, what to do if you start crying)
- Post-Wedding (honeymooning, thank-you notes, newlywedding)
And much more
Illustrated in the award-winning visual style that has made our Owner’s Manual series a smash success, The Groom’s Instruction Manual is the perfect shower gift for (engaged) men of all ages.
About the Author
Shandon Fowler had five hundred guests at his wedding–and if he can survive that, you’ve got nothing to worry about. He and his wife are happily married and live in Charleston, South Carolina.
This book is great, a rather tongue-in-cheek, but informative, look at things to consider as a groom-to-be.A lot of the book features common sense items, but there are a number of “Hey, don’t forget to consider this…” items in there, as well.
I started reading the book during our trip to Cedar City a few weeks ago. Many of the chapters made me laugh, but I think that my favorite (read: “the most amusing”) section of the book has been: “Distinguishing the Woman You Love from Your Fiancée”
Before you delve even further into planning a wedding, take the time to familiarize yourself with the psychological transformation a woman may undergo and how that transformation will impact the tasks at hand.
The Woman You Love is easily recognized by several key traits:
- She means everything to you.
- She is beauty incarnate.
- She makes you smile, comforts you, even makes Journey songs sound not quite so awful.
- She gets along with your friends and family (mostly).
- Should you choose to have children, she will be the perfect mother.
- Most important, she is so indescribably special that you have asked her to be your wife
Unfortunately, the Woman You Love often goes into hibernation for an indeterminate period between your proposal and the wedding, wherein your Fiancée takes over. You will recognize the coming of your Fiancée’s blossoming through several telltale signs:
- Increased agitation, bordering on or spilling over into aggression.
- Decreased and/or sardonic shift in humor. It is not uncommon for humor to be displaced entirely by agitation or aggression.
- The onset of a form of competitiveness that can be as fierce and inexplicable as the Cola Wars. Her singular drive is to outdo any wedding she’s ever attended, watched on television, or read about.
- Any mistake you make, regardless of severity, will be a black mark on your relationship-long record of ineptitude.
- Simple and seemingly joyful tasks, such as taste-testing wedding cakes, can bring her to tears or, possibly, blows.
What Has My Fiancée Done with the Woman I Love?
All this may appear to you as if the Woman You Love is speaking in tongues. But a reason does lie behind the transformation. Your Fiancée, with her unquenchable thirst for perfection and cutthroat tactics, will plan a much better wedding than the Woman You Love because, as the say, great art comes from great hardship. Just don’t forget that the Woman You Love is still in there somewhere, and that the more you help your Fiancée — by reassuring her when she needs reassurance and correcting her when she needs correction – the sooner you’ll get back the Woman You Love.
See? Good information to know.
This is technically engagement/wedding-related post #2 from me and SaraRules has written… *does the math* …none.
I win! (…at least until she reads this post.)
