Re-Thinking the Groom's Entrance

Perhaps it's my natural flair for the theatrical, but I feel like grooms need a more exciting entrance into the wedding ceremony.  

Drama and spectacle mark the bride's entrance into the wedding ceremony. Bridesmaids proceed her, as does a ring bearer...and flower girl. All this happens to a dreamy rendition of Pachelbel's "Canon in D" performed by music majors thrilled to have a paying gig.

When the bridesmaids reach the front, the string quartet of music majors step aside and the church organist takes over, the guests all stand, and everyone looks down the aisle expectantly as the bride makes her entrance. The music swells as the doors open and the bride steps into the church, accompanied by her proud father as they begin their regal walk to the front. 

Guests simultaneously fawn over the bride's choice of gown, bouquet, hair and makeup, while a small part of them also critique her choice of gown, bouquet, hair and makeup. It all comes to a tear-inspiring crescendo when she meets the full wedding party as her father hands her off to the groom. 

The groom, by contrast, is quietly slinked to the front of the church a few minutes earlier without anyone noticing. 

Normally, the groom's entrance goes largely unnoticed during the ceremony. The groom's entrance is to the wedding ceremony what a house salad is to a steakhouse: nice that it's there but not the reason why anyone showed up.

Outside of a wedding, no one loves dramatic entrances more than men. In professional wrestling, for example, 300-pound good guys approach the ring with raucous fanfare as their theme songs fill the auditorium and thousands of people cheer. In sports, entire teams enter in a massive explosion of muscle and brawn as they punch through a paper wall with their team name as a marching band works the fans into a lather. Even in movies, guys love it when the superhero drops into a scene in that cool crouch pose with one knee barely touching the floor and a hand providing support while the music revs up the sense of action.  

Dudes love all that kind of stuff! So why leave it out of the wedding?

Not to say that men need to enter the ceremony with their own rowdy theme song, a marching band or a group of superheroes...though many men would love that. But perhaps it's time to reconsider some aspects of the ceremony in order to not only engage both the bride and the groom but to give equal weight to their expectations within the marriage.

What I mean by this is that I've often seen men go into the wedding without much enthusiasm as the groom realizes that he, as the groom, is the house salad. 

Dishearteningly, it feels like this lack of engagement in the ceremony carries over into other aspects such as the marriage itself. For example, the groom's enthusiasm for celebrating anniversaries later may mirror his lack of enthusiasm for the wedding. 

Obviously, an enthused groom at the ceremony isn't by itself a predictor of future excitement in anniversaries. It just seems that the more special a groom feels during the wedding, the more he may cherish memories surrounding the ceremony later.

Giving the groom more control of his own entrance into wedding may lead to a surge of string quartets playing Eminem's "Lose Yourself" or "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. It may even lead to an insistence that guests do the wave or cheer wildly as the groom enters. It may mean that the guys run to the front of the church after bursting through a giant roll of paper as a marching band plays and a fuzzy mascot dances in the corner. But that's okay if it means the guy feels more involved the ceremony. 

The ceremony belongs to the bride AND groom and never has there been a more open time to bending traditions than today. Right here and now is the perfect chance for you and your groom to tweak parts of the ceremony so that you both have fun memories to last a lifetime. 

The premier fall bridal show in the northern Indiana and southwest Michigan area, WeddingDay Bridal Tour, is coming up on Sunday, October 22, at the Century Center in South Bend. A fun draw to this event will be the inclusion of dogs...lots of dogs.

Dogs at a wedding are a great way for a groom to "get his 'guy' on." What's more epic than a boy and his dog? Dogs at weddings have become very fashionable, making this the perfect wedge for grooms to insert their presence even more into the ceremony.

Grooms need to be more than just a check-the-box item present at the ceremony on par with ribbons on the seats. Perhaps the first step to string quartets playing Outkast's "Hey Ya" at the ceremony begins with dudes walking in with their dachshunds. 

If you have any ideas for how to increase a groom's participation in the ceremony, please leave your ideas in the comment section below. Better yet, stop by the WeddingDay Bridal Tour on Sunday at the Century Center and tell us in person what you think.

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This article is brought to you by WeddingDay Bridal Tour 2017, a premier bridal show held at the Century Center in South Bend, Indiana on Sunday, October 22nd from noon until 3 p.m. Besides featuring talented local vendors, we will be hosting a must-see Paris House of Bridal fashion show, showcasing a breathtaking, hand-selected lineup of glamour, couture and feminine chic bridal gowns. There’s something to be said about seeing these stunning designs in person, and we can’t wait to see you there! To find out more or to register for your discounted ticket, click here.

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