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As some of you know, I love me some tattoos! I always say I have 4 tattoos, one on each arm, one on my chest and one on my leg, truth be told, the ones on my arms are full sleeves. I started getting inked when I was 18 and let me tell you, later in life that can really come back to bite you on the ass. I always tell people, NEVER pick the art off the wall and NEVER EVER get a girlfriends name on you.
It was time to rethink my ink, and I found the greatest guy, Vince Wishart of www.wish-art.net. First and foremost this guy is an amazing artist, not to mention a helluva guy in general. He drew up a perfect piece in 24 hours and I headed into the shop to get started the next day, no long wait times like other shops, and guys…the price is right! I had a cartoon devil and an ex girlfriend’s name I needed covered up. This picture is after one sitting, we still need to add some more color over the name.
I told Vince my vision and he nailed it perfectly! If you’re looking to fix some old ink or start a whole new piece, “Velvet Vini” is your man. I know my ink, and I highly recommend Vince to anyone who is looking for amazing ink.
Vince specializes in custom ink with an Asian theme, cover up work and tattoos you will be proud to show off.
Click here to contact Velvet Vini
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Tommy Lee once said, “A man should shave everything but his legs, ‘cause shaving your legs is just weird dude.” Now you don’t necessarily have to go this far, but some manscaping may be in order for your wedding and honeymoon. If you have some unsightly hair you may need to get rid of or if you’re worried about your pasty white skin scaring other folks on the beach, manscaping can really make a difference.
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
As I mentioned, I have full sleeve tattoos, so I shave my arms. I have been doing do for close to 5 years now…I also moisturize daily to keep my smooth arms nice and soft. I do it so the tattoos look better, but I used to work with a guy who shaved his arms because he had an arm hair forest! I mean this hair was really thick, it was kind of distracting. If you’re heading to the tropics for your honeymoon, may I suggest waxing your chest and if need be, your back. Back hair is just no good, even Homer Simpson shaves his off. (While singing about it) A nice smooth torso is great for your new wife to lay on and kiss, no hair tickling her ears, or worse…getting in her mouth on the wedding night.
Private Bits And Arm Pits
I will be honest with you, I shave my arm pits, I never liked walking around in a tank top looking like I had 2 midgets in a head lock. But then I found another great plus…neither my sweat nor my deodorant was sticking to the hair I no longer had. It cuts the smell down on a sunny day and the deodorant went right onto the skin instead of the hair. It was win, win. So now we come to the elephant in the room, no pun intended. Your man bits. One has many choices here, the full shave, a trim or maybe you get creative with your styling. It is up to you. But keep this in mind…when you shave your face, you get stubble, this is true for all hairy areas, so if you go the full shave, keep on top of that, you don’t want to give your new wife razor burn do you? No you don’t. And guys… always use a sharp razor and take your time.
Color Me Tanned
We have a lot of couples getting married in the fall or winter, then they head off to the tropics with their wonderful Calgary tans, by which I mean white so bright it hurts your eyes. I know I am in this boat during the winter. Well, I have the answer! Forget the tanning beds or those creepy booths you stand in. Head to the spa and have one of the staff air brush, by hand a tan onto you. You can choose the darkness content and where the tan lines go. So if you’re feeling feisty, bring your speedo and that will be the tan line marker, or you can go tan line free if that’s ok with you and the staff member. This doesn’t protect you from the sun, so bring your sunscreen, but it will add some color so you won’t be so white when you hit the islands. I got one done last week for my trip to Maui and I am very happy with it, they can even define your abs if you like. Just don’t go overboard, because you DO NOT want to look like “that guy”, we all know who “that guy” is.
Simon’s Gutsy Groom Advice
Manscaping is nothing to be embarrassed about. Women shave, wax, pluck and so on. Many Hollywood actor type folks are quite smooth in the skin department and I’m sure they have their daily lotion ritual to keep their skin soft and protected. I know I do.
How much manscaping you want to do is certainly up to you and you alone, I will say that waxing is kind of painful but lasts longer than shaving, I won’t be held responsible if you decide to wax your man bits though. And hey, we’re men, pain ain’t that bad and it is only temporary.
I would suggest talking with your significant other about the hair removal before you go ahead and get started. They may really like your hairy chest, but then again, they may not.
Greetings from beautiful Maui, Hawaii. I’m here with my amazing wife for our Mastermind group with Ali Brown. I love getting away from the office and re charging my batteries. We have a snorkeling trip planned and we’re gonna head up a mountain and watch the sun rise one morning, I’m told it is breath taking. We’re heading into a busy season, and we’re really stepping up our décor, I can’t wait to share with you over the coming months what we have come up with…let’s just say, I’m getting really friendly with a Hollywood film prop shop, I knew my geeky knowledge of film would come in handy one day.
So everyone is boo-hooing over the current economy. I say SCREW THE ECONOMY, choose not to participate in the “recession” and go have that dream stag. Gutsy Groom has a few condos down Las Vegas way and you have access to them. You know what that means? No crazy Casino room rates, and thanks to the economy…flights are cheap! This is a great time to take advantage of being a loyal reader of the Gutsy Groom ezine and book that condo. We offer a full program that not only includes the condo, but dude, we’ll stock your bar, set you up with food for a BBQ night and yes, we are located on the strip, 5 minutes from the airport and the shuttle to the casino’s are FREE! We also offer custom programs for you and your guys depending on what you need.
Oh, and I still have a few tickets to the Playboy Mansion Party on June 6th, but they be going FAST!!!
Just got back from 2 meetings in Hermosa Beach, Cali. What amazing weather we had, and the energy down there is great. It was a bit of a shock to get back home and have to face the snow. Seems a little better now though, at least I can see blue skies and the sun. Before we were out in Cali, we had the pleasure of spending the weekend as the guests of The Chateau Lake Louise. We got a full tour of the hotel and all the ballrooms, we even got to head into the kitchen and chat with the chefs. I have to say, the experience was amazing. If you’re looking for a Rocky Mountain Wedding and Banff just doesn’t do it for you, take a look at Lake Louise. You’ll be glad you did. We’re jetting off to Maui next week for a meeting, but we’re going to be touring the Four Seasons to take some notes, so if you’re looking to get married in Maui, I’ll have some notes for you when I get back.
There is so much to try to remember on your wedding day. Most of this stuff should be handled by your wedding planner, but I want to talk about the stuff you, as the groom need to do. It seems pretty straight forward and common sense, but you have no idea how many guys just don’t think of this stuff…we’re not really known for being the greatest thinkers, so I’m gonna help you out.
Wake Me Up, Before She’s Gone, Gone!
Everyone gets out of bed in the morning. If you’re like me you hit the snooze button a few times. I have even missed a few wake up calls that have made my trips to the airport quite stressful. So here be my advice. When you’ve called down to get that wake up call, call down again and get another. After you’ve done that, set the alarm clock in the room, and set it LOUD. After that, grab your cell phone and set the alarm on that. The last thing you want to do is sleep in and be rushed or late to your own wedding, or even worse…miss the whole thing. I always include a “groom wake up service” that I carry out personally; I will come to your room and bang on that door till you get up. Any good planner should be doing this.
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If You’re Not Hungry…Eat Anyway!
This starts with breakfast of course. After your 4 alarms go off and I have banged on your door, head down and eat a good breakfast. Wedding days are hectic and you don’t know when you’ll get another chance to eat a meal before dinner. Have some sort of food on hand throughout the day as well. This probably won’t be a meal, but get some protein bars or shakes to get you through the day. Always try to eat whenever possible. Have the photographer bring some sandwiches so you and your bride can grab a quick bite while other people are having their pictures taken. Or maybe have shots taken of you and the groomsmen all eating hotdogs (this will work for the entire wedding party as well). Plus, this way you’ll have some food in you when you hit the cocktail hour.
Hydration Not Libation
Don’t get all boozed up before the ceremony. And don’t let your guys get hammered up either. Some officiant’s will call the whole thing off if they even get a whiff of alcohol on any of the wedding party’s breath. So don’t take the chance. Do drink other stuff though, Gatorade and the like are good, they at least put some of the nutrients back into your body. If you’re outside in July in a tux, dude, you’re gonna sweat. So keep yourself hydrated. Stay away from Red Bull, Rockstar and that crap, if you need an energy drink to get through the day (I use them for weddings) go for the little 5 hour energy shot. Sure they don’t taste all that great, but they don’t have that crash at the end. When the ceremony and speeches are done, now you can head to the bar.
Simon’s Gutsy Groom Advice
Make sure you take care of yourself on your wedding day. You want to be able to enjoy it to the fullest and God knows you’ve put a lot of thought into it. People will be bombarding you all day, shaking hands, taking pictures…you’re gonna be “on” for at least 10 hours that day. So keep hydrated, fed and leave enough time so you’re not stressed and rushed.
2 more quick things if I may. While you’re getting ready and enjoying your tasty sports beverage, send some flowers or a gift over to your bride. Have your best man, or a hotel employee walk it over. This will put a smile on her face and that’s always good for you. And lastly…write down your thank you’s for your speech. Even if you don’t write out the whole speech, make sure you know who you need to say thank you to and don’t forget anyone. And above all, take time to point out how great the bride and her bridesmaids look. Guess that was 3.
And of course if you have any questions or want to book a consultation for our planning services, drop me a line at simon@gutsygroom.com
I’m heading out to The Chateau Lake Louise this weekend, they are kindly putting my wife and I up and giving us a tour of the facilities. I love Lake Louise, it’s so beautiful, and makes for a great destination wedding venue that’s not even that far from us here in Calgary. Sunday we’re flying out to LA for our first in person Rockstar Wedding Planner Legends meeting, hosted by Firefly Occasions. My wife and I are coaching other planners on how to build their businesses. We’ll be meeting up with 10 other planners from across North America and chatting about building our businesses and the latest and greatest trends in the industry. I love these meetings, we get so many great ideas from them. We’ll also be meeting with some LA area vendors to discuss what they can offer to make your weddings out of this world. There is so much creativity out there and I love to bring it back to Calgary to give my grooms a one of kind wedding that no one out here has seen before.
Unique And Useful Groomsman Gifts
A lot of my grooms come to me and ask me “What the hell do I get my Groomsmen?” They want stuff that is cool but that the guys can use after the wedding. Sure a hip flask is cool but can you use it every day? Well actually you can…but you shouldn’t. I have a groom who is outfitting his party in matching RayBan Wayfarer sunglasses. This will look super cool for the photos and really, who doesn’t love sunglasses? Check out www.rayban.com for all their styles…you can also hit Ebay to try to get better pricing. I also found www.getchucked.com on this site you can design your own Converse shoes…how cool is that!!! You can even add a personal touch by adding your wedding date or Groomsman’s name to the shoe. Everyone loves getting gifts, but try to make sure that your gift won’t sit in a drawer or the back of a closet after your wedding day.
So we have had a very busy 2009 so far. We are working with some great couples and we’re doing the Bon Voyage party for the VIBE 98.5 winning couple. So the business is growing, we hired an in office assistant to help us take it to the next level. I’m really excited about the direction we are heading. Traffic to www.gutsygroom.com has increased over 200% in the last month. Can you see the smile on my face? We’ll be reworking the site to offer you guys some cool stuff so stay tuned. The best part in my opinion will be the trip to Grand Cayman Island in June to attend the “Engage-09” conference. The crème de la crème of planners will be there and you can be sure I’ll be taking copious notes to bring back to my guys.
Affordable Custom Made Tuxedos & Suits
I love getting dressed up for an event, any event! Be it a suit or a full tuxedo, I always like looking my best. I usually suggest to my Grooms that if possible, they get a suit or tux made for them. I know that can be a bit pricey but fear not. I have found a great online Suit maker that boasts a 2 week delivery time, free shipping, free alterations and a perfect fit guarantee. And guess what guys? The prices are good, the higher end suits top out at 350 bucks U.S. That’s like 2 – 3 rentals of a tux or suit. So if you have a bunch of weddings to go to after yours, I suggest buying a suit. Change up the shirt and switch the tie for a bow tie depending on the event and you’ll have a ton of different looks for your wedding. George Clooney wore the same tux to all the awards shows for 11 years!
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Sure, everyone has champagne at the cocktail hour…BORING! Add some of your personality by designing your own signature drink for your guests. This is not a scotch bar, or tequila tasting bar, this is drink that you have created (or borrowed) specifically for your wedding. Choosing the drink can be just as much fun as drinking it. If you are a Vodka lover, add some vodka into the mix, maybe you can have the drink match your wedding colours or the theme of the wedding.
Ice, Ice Baby
I like my drinks cold, but I dislike ice in my drink. Martini’s are cold and they have no ice in them, that’s because they are mixed with the ice, then poured out. Well that’s pretty standard fare huh. Let’s take that up a notch. Gentlemen, I present to you the Ice Luge. It’s cooler that a plain ice sculpture and booze comes out of it! Cold booze! Plus you can really get creative with the design, just remember to run it by your fiancé first…she may not appreciate an ice bust of her and the booze comes out of the nose. You can work the design of the luge into your theme, we did a wedding where the couple loved to swing dance and music was a big part of the wedding so we had a saxophone ice luge designed for them.
It’s A Shot, But Now It’s A Cocktail
This is a trick we used at our wedding, we had a shot that both my wife and I loved. But it isn’t too classy to be doing shots at the cocktail hour. So we simply increased the amounts and turned it into a cocktail. It was Jagermeister, peach schnapps and cranberry juice. We had it mixed in a martini shaker (so it’s cold without ice) and served either in a martini glass or a rock glass. It tasted great, was 1 of our signature drinks and we called it the “Groomsman Surprise”. So if there is a mixed shot you like, grab the ingredients and turn it into cocktail…and no, adding 3 ounces to your 1 ounce shot of tequila and putting it in a bigger glass does not make it a cocktail fellas.
His & Hers & Theirs
Now, there is no rule that says you can only have 1 signature drink. You can have as many as you like without it getting out of hand. I would max it out at 4. This way you can have a drink named for the groom, one for the bride and one for each bridal party. You could do 3 and have one for the couple and one for each of the bridal parties. Keep it fun, name them something silly (not vulgar though), maybe have a separate menu printed up to go on the bar stating the name and ingredients of your signature drinks.
Simon’s Gutsy Groom Advice
Signature drinks are great at a cocktail hour, they get people talking, they taste good and they will leave an impression on your guests. I find a lot of people talking about the signature drink and what the name was and did you have one??? Plus with posting your wedding photos on Facebook now, people can tag the drink if they want. It really just opens up a lot of possibilities for fun and adding that little bit of unique to your wedding day.
You could also incorporate this into your “man shower”, have your guys bring their favorite drink recipes with them and then mix the drinks, pick a winner or 2 and hand out the prizes. Just make sure that after you’re done tasting, you have places for the guys to crash, so they don’t drink & drive.
A Man Shower you say? Yeah!!! The bride gets to have a shower, sometimes more than 1 actually. So why has the groom been left out of this? Sure we need a better name for it, but we can work on that. The bride gets her friends together, they have little sandwiches, drink tea and she gets gifts. (In my mind anyway) So pick a day, get your boys together and let’s get this Man Shower started.
A Great Space And Keep The Appies Coming
So you need a cool venue space, I suggest a great basement at your house or a friends place. If you can get a space with a rec room that is great, fooseball, a pool table and some sort of big ass TV with a gaming system would be perfect! Now we have that sorted lets talk food. We love stuff we can eat with our fingers, or as Homer Simpson once commented…”Anything you can stick a tooth pick into”. Wings, mini pizzas, mini tacos, meatballs and the like work great, I like to make my own wing sauce, so maybe have a few of your friends make their own sauces, you get plain wings, breaded and not. You’ll need a deep fryer. Fry up the wings and toss them in the different sauces, you could even offer a prize for the sauce your guys like the most. This gives the guys an incentive to really pull out the stops. You can even have them write out their sauce recipes and hand them out at the party.
She Got Gifts, I Want Some Too
My wife came back from her shower with gifts. Stuff for the kitchen, serving platters and what not. I got SQUAT! For the Man Shower you should get man gifts. Gadgets, power tools, stuff you don’t need but is really cool. You can register for these things or you can have the guy organizing the Man Shower provide guests with a list of cool websites or tools you may need. So remember to coordinate with him on how best to get you some kick ass man gifts. I found a great site www.thinkgeek.com and they have some amazing gadgets.
Liquor??? I Hardly Know Her!
Yeah, I know…bad joke. But seriously, you can’t get your boys together and not offer a few drinks. Beers from around the world is a good theme. Each guy brings a 6 or 12 and you just toss ‘em all into the ice tub and grab what ya like. Oh yeah, if possible get a big old steel tub to hold your beers, it’s manly. You could also get a world map, each guy gets a set of colored pins, after you consume a beer, you find the country on the map and claim it with your pin. There is no single winner in this game, because EVERYBODY wins!!! You can also do a Scotch tasting bar, a Tequila bar, a Wine bar or Martinis from your favorite Bond movie. I know, he drinks only 2 versions but hey, get creative.
Simon’s Gutsy Groom Advice
Make sure all your guests have a way home or you have enough space for everyone to sleep where they fall. Do not let your guests drink and drive, not cool and certainly not worth it. So the ideas given above were for a specific Man Shower, you can class it up if you like. There are no real rules other than these. The Man Shower takes place on a different day and is not in any way associated with your stag. This is a stand alone event to get you more stuff and hang out with your guys. Brides get additional showers and even a lot of the stuff you register for will be used by her and her alone. Grooms tend to get left out of a lot of stuff, and I say it’s time to step up and take back the party.
If anyone has suggestions for a new name for this event, drop me a line at simon@gutsygroom.com, I’ll list the choices on my blog www.sheandheplanweddings.com and we can have a vote or something.
As brides are opting for unique weddings that highlight their personalities grooms are doing the same. Gone are the days of the polished black shoes for the groom and his groomsmen. You’ll see now that they are going for comfort. Converse shoes are becoming a big hit with wedding parties.
I was searching the web and found that there are some really cool pictures posted on flicker of groomsmen wearing converse shoes and other sneakers. You can even design your own pair of custom made chucks for the wedding day so all the groomsmen are matching and this could be a great gift idea as well! Just imagine the photos on your wedding day – what great memories!
For more cool groom ideas check out my husband’s ezine at www.gutsygroom.com
