This week’s groom-approved link roundup kicks off with perhaps the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Wrestling fans, if this doesn’t make you want to get married, I don’t know what the hell will!

[Video] Marriage Doesn’t Have to Mean Less Sex – ask men

A Man’s Guide to Honeymoon Planning – staggered usa

[Wedding Dessert?] Manly Cupcakes for Manly Men – the bachelor guy

The Top 5 Gifts for Your Best Man & Groomsmen – smart bride

Why Do Groom’s Get the Coolest Cakes? – offbeat bride

Prenup 101: Who Should Have One and What to Include – aisledash

Nintendo Power Glove Save-the-Date – wedinator

20 Wedding Traditions You Can Skip – the knot

Building Your iPod Wedding Playlist – broke ass bride

Man Arrested For Bringing Gun to Wedding, Dancing with it – huffington post

Fellas, are you planning on proposing this holiday season? Our good friends at Robbins Brothers have just released their 2010 ‘Top 12 Ways to Pop the Question During the Holidays‘ list. It’s full of great ideas — like hiding the engagement ring in an ornament box and hang it from the tree on Christmas Eve, with a note instructing her to open it. Another favorite is getting the girl scouts or high school marching band to unroll a banner with your marriage proposal as they walk down the street during your local holiday-themed parade. To see the full list, check out the Robbins Brothers Proposal Idea List now.

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GROOM’S TIP OF THE WEEK: Never purchase a mail-order bride unless you know the return policy forward and backwards. You’ve been warned.

By Susan Alexander Shapiro from BravoBride.com

Need a little help on what to think about when choosing what to wear for you and your best friends on your big day? Keep these tid-bits in mind when picking out groomsmen attire.

Formal or Unique?
Tuxedos and a uniformed color scheme is the traditional view of a wedding, but times are changing. Converse shoes can replace dress shoes and a pair of khakis and a white shirt can substitute for a suit and tie all depending on your personal style. What is your style? Do you want a traditional wedding where all your groomsmen wear tuxedos or do you want them in super hero costumes? Knowing what type of wedding you want will help in choosing the attire of the entire wedding party. Realizing your theme or style will be the base of your entire event.

Budget Concerns
As much as you don’t want to mention it, how much things cost is an issue in every wedding, and not just for the bride and groom. In the case of groomsmen attire, some couples choose to rent tuxes for their groomsmen while others let their friend’s foot the bill. It is important to consider everyone’s financial input to your wedding. You don’t want your best friends not to be in your wedding because they can’t afford it nor do you want to take on more expenses than what is in your budget. Some inexpensive wedding ideas include:

1.) Let groomsmen wear their own suits instead of renting tuxes.
2.) Go for a more casual look by having them only wear the same color shirts or ties.
3.) Go online. You can find almost anything online, and usually for less.
4.) Rent tuxes as a group. A lot of places have group discounts.
5.) Let the guys wear their own shoes instead of renting them.

Simple changes such as these can save you and your bridal party a bundle.

Wearing a different color tie is a great way for the groom to stand out from the groomsmen.

Time to Shine
In a room full of suits and ties, how does a groom not blend in with the rest? After deciding what your what your style will be and what your budget is, making sure you stand out from your groomsmen is the next step. Besides the bride, you are the most important person of the day and it is your time to shine.

1.) If in tuxedos, changing vest colors or designs will help designate you as the groom. Try going with a completely different color instead of just changing hues.
2.) Going outside the norm, some men are choosing to wear a completely different color suit or tux than their groomsmen. This bold statement really makes the groom stand out amongst his friends.
3.) Groomsmen in the wedding party will usually be wearing boutonnières. Although they all will be beautiful, the grooms could be a different flower and color than anyone else’s.

Remember these simple tips when it’s time to start thinking about what the men will be wearing in your wedding party. We all know your bride is going to stand out on the big day, make sure you are standing out with her.

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Susan Alexander Shapiro is the founder of BravoBride.com — the web’s leading destination for brides wanting to buy and sell new and pre-owned wedding items. BravoBride focuses on designer used wedding dresses, jewelry, accessories, ceremony and reception items, unique wedding favors— and everything else you need for the perfect inexpensive wedding.

Sure, you’ll be hitting the town on your bachelor party night — but what the hell are you going to do after you and your boys get back from the bars and you’re not ready to end the party? Sure you could call strippers, but your Best Man is poor and those girls aren’t cheap (or at least the ones you want aren’t). You could play around with inflatable farm animals… but isn’t that sort of creepy? My suggestion: grab some beer and a PONG DECK!

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you’ve played beer pong before. Pong Deck takes this great game and adds a new twist.  The cards in the Pong Deck game give instructions on what to do after a shot is made. There are “action” cards and “drink” cards. This means you may end up having to do a four second chug OR having to make a bank hook shot with your eyes closed. Either way, it sounds like some good ‘ol fashion drunken fun to me. It’s also worth nothing that the cards are water/beer-proof. This means your deck won’t be destroyed after one round of game-play.

Pong Deck is fun, portable and affordable at $9.99. Pick up a deck over at The Man Registry and then watch this how-to video from the Pong Deck team. If you still have questions afterwards, you probably aren’t ready for Pong Deck.

A few cards from Pong Deck

Struggling to perfect that elegant look for the wedding day? If you answered yes, today is your lucky day. Our friends over at Marriage.com along with formalwear expert Rik Ducar have put together a video that should help simplify the process.

At Marriage.com, we like to bring on guest experts to offer advice on a wide range of wedding topics. And now, we are fortunate enough to include Rik Ducar as a men’s formalwear expert.  Rik is on the preferred vendor list at prestigious hotels like The Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, The St. Regis Hotel, Palomar Hotels, Montage Beverly Hills, Peninsula Hotel and W Hotels nationwide. He has also dressed some serious celebrity clientele, such as rapper T.I. and football player Matt Hasselbeck.  And now, he is nice enough to offer some dress tips for all grooms-to-be. Recently, we visited Rik’s Beverly Hills store to interview him about some tux tips and trends. Check out the following video to learn about cuff links, pocket squares, and other tuxedo to-dos.

Credits:
Videography: Michael Masarof
Music: “Cosmo,” by Alexander Blu

For additional upcoming interview segments with Rik, check out the Marriage.com blog.

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Marriage.com is the newest innovator in wedding planning, connecting engaged couples with local wedding professionals, expert advice, deals and events. The Marriage.com micro-site will give the bridal community control of the wedding planning process in a personalized, Web 2.0 community and experience, set to launch on Valentine’s Day 2011.

By Hunter Stiebel from The Broke Ass Bride

Gentlemen, congratulations on deciding to make the commitment of your life to your one true love! That is some manly s*#t you are pulling off. Since the moment you got down on bended knee, I bet you’ve had a bunch of  Conversations with your girlfriend, ahem pardon me, Fiancée, about the wedding. While your wife may be
transfixed as to how every detail must be perfectly beautiful, your top priority is more likely “How can we make this the funnest damn party I ever did throw?”

If that’s not the case, WAKE UP BROTHA!!! If this is going to be the most cash you’ve ever thrown down on a party, don’t you think it should be the most fun party humanly possible? Right. So, how do you make sure your wedding is a blast? Two simple words my friends: Food and Booze. A well-fed and buzzed wedding guest is an ecstatic, loving guest. As I write this I’m stuffed but sober, so lets focus on booze.

This groom knows that booze is important even before the wedding - photo Shannon Lee Images

“But Hunter” you say, “I’m trying to have a budget wedding.” Fear not my friend, the wedding that only serves pizza, wine and beer will beat out the tea tolling wedding where diamonds are hung from every corner any day of the week. But As the old saying goes, “Ya want booze? Cash you’re gonna loose.” Hmmm I’m not sure that’s a saying, but the one thing I do know is that when it comes to a wedding, couples are taken off guard by how much the holy spirits of the party end up costing them.  So here are some tips so you don’t get caught in the money pit behind the boozy curtain.

1) Location Location Location. Its sad how many times I’ve heard a couple think they’ve found the perfect location at the perfect price with no knowledge of the numbers they are soon to see. The rental was a steal, they even put down the deposit but then they found out that no outside liquor was allowed and the bar cost up to tens of thousands of dollars.  One of the first questions you want to ask a location is what is your catering/liquor policy. Some are flexible others are not.

2) The best way to pull off a cheap wedding bar will always be to bring in your own booze. Some locations will charge you to do this rather than use their services. Pop out the calculator and see if it’s worth it. Most likely it is. Sometimes it’s an insurance issue. See if your caterer or your planner has insurance that will cover you doing your own bar.

3) If the facility has no lee way on their bar policies, an easy way to save is by closing the bar after cocktail hour and serving only wine and beer with dinner.

4) Another route is to nix the full bar and go with a few signature cocktails plus wine and beer. We did a pear martini and called it… wait for it… “The Perfect Pear”.  Have a cocktail with the taste preferences of the bride and one of the grooms. Folks will love this bit of wedding inspiration and by drink two they’ll be everyone’s favorite.

5) Still trying to save a few more dollars? Doing just wine and beer is just fine and don’t let nobody tell ya different. No matter what your guests are into, they should be cool with one or the other. Consider tapping a keg to keep costs down, and don’t be afraid to cleverly re-label your cheap neighborhood wine and suddenly two buck chuck is a unique wedding vino.

Going one of these routes should make everyone happy. If someone isn’t happy with those choices, then that’s their problem and they were going to find something to complain about no matter what. Why did you invite that person anyway…? Oh right, they’re your third cousin. Yeah, third cousins are the worst… unless they are the person you happen to be marrying. If that’s the case may you live happily ever, and may I be the first to make a toast to your future children with lovely large chins.

Cheers!

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Hunter Stiebel A.K.A The Fresh Hubby is president of Broke-Ass Media and regular contributor and editor of the award winning The Broke-Ass Bride. The Broke-Ass Bride website inspires and empowers readers to make the most of what they have by using creative, outside-the-box ideas rooted in practical advice to have a bad-ass wedding on any budget. Also, The Broke-Ass Bride has non-stop weekly giveaways and deals… it’s kind of nuts.