Groomzillas, who knew?

Having spent the last 6 months of wedding planning desperately trying to avoid being labelled a Bridezilla, I have recently discovered that there is such a thing as a Groomzilla.

The Age blog "Sam and the City" posted this yesterday, here's an excerpt:

Introducing the groomzilla: more feisty, mean and multi-tasking than his diamante-encrusted bride-to-be ...

While the groom's only task once revolved around arriving on time, fixing his tie, making his best effort not to kiss the bride's sister or gulp down too many shots of tequila before taking to the aisle, modern groomzillas seem to want more than their fare share of wedding-planning control.

According to male wedding portal groomsonline.com creator Mark Walerstein, 10 per cent of grooms involved in the wedding planning become bona fide groomzillas.

Let's start with the vanity side of things. Apparently, when you're a groomzilla, it's not only the bride that needs an entire army of technicians to get her into tip-top shape for the big day. Oh no. Groomzillas go all out too - plucking, preening, spray-tanning, manicuring, pedicuring and pretending to his mates that their stress-rash is as a result of too much time on the golf course. Could have fooled us.

As the wedding preps go on, groomzillas become so pedantic over seating arrangements, music selections, food-arrival timings, invitation wording, invitation sending, invitation RSVPing, who wears what (whatever happened to black suits?), what the videographer will be shooting, where the photography will take place and how they'll get from the nuptials to the cocktails, without getting stuck in the twilight-hour traffic and whether or not his hair needs another dye-job before the day, that it makes our bridezillas look like beauty queens.

Well all I can say is that so far Bryan has exhibited no symptoms of becoming a Groomzilla. None at all. Not that he's disinterested, but he's more than happy to leave most of the wedding planning up to me. I assume that mean he also has no fears that I will turn into a Bridezilla.

Did you notice the link to Grooms Online while you were reading that? Ok, there are infinity-squared wedding planning websites/forums/directories out there aimed at the female bridal party demographic, but who knew there was a role for Grooms Online? I checked it out, it features such helpful articles as:

Shape Up, Or You May Be Shipping Out. So you’ve finally landed yourself a bride and now you think you can let yourself go? Think again.

How To Plan A Wedding Like A Man. As the man, do you want to sit back and have her signature all over the entire affair? If the day is a success, the guests will have her to thank, or her mother. You cannot take pride in having helped to plan your own wedding. Even worse, if something goes wrong, your bride will have herself to blame. You may not be held accountable but without having participated, you will look like a loser who let his woman do everything. What kind of message does that send to her and her family?

The Skinny On Hiring A Stripper. When thinking about hiring adult entertainment for the bachelor party, be prepared have all your information ready.
This article also offers the helpful hints, Don't fall in love with the entertainers - The odds are you weren't the first guy to do it; Your money will only go so far, so find out how far; Be casual and not a horn dog.

Is this realistic? Do grooms-to-be find these articles helpful? Do they really refer to their bride-to-be as 'his woman'? The mind boggles. But here's my favourite bit of advice, this time aimed at the best man.

The Art of being the Best Man. Here are a few things that you might want to remember to take a long with you: Ceremony location, Date, Time.

Let me just say that if the Best Man needs to read this article, then he's under-qualified. And I don't need to be a Bridezilla to say that.