Here is something you might not have realized: men have a part in a wedding too. I know, it’s shocking. After months of doing whatever the bride wants, as well as whatever the bride’s family, brides friends, brides acquaintances and brides work friends want, the idea that the groom has anything to do with the actual wedding might seem a bit shocking. My friend told me once that he felt like all he was supposed to do is show up at the wedding, stand there, say I do, and get out of the way of the bride. He said that it took the bride years before she didn’t refer to it as her wedding and not their wedding.

The thing about a wedding, though, is that as much as we want to diminish the grooms place in the planning of the whole ceremony and reception, he is still in charge of picking out the most important part of the ceremony: the rings. And not just the women’s ring either, but also the men’s ring too. That’s right, mens wedding bands: the other wedding ring. While the women’s ring gets all the oooooo’s, most of the awww’s and a good amount of the attention, a men’s wedding ring is still a huge part of the ceremony. And while the women’s ring may have more bling to it, there are things to consider when getting a men’s wedding band too.

When it comes to a wedding band, most men like to take the less is more approach. This means that flashy diamonds and other precious stones are out, unless, you know, that’s your type of thing. What we’ve seen in recent years is an explosion in the use of different types of metals in the wedding ring business, especially for men. Men’s rings used to only be available in gold, silver, platinum and bronze. Now, you can find a wedding band in such metals as palladium, tungsten, and titanium. What many men like about these newer metals is that they look both classy and industrial giving off a personality all their own. You can even get gold, silver and even diamonds on the bands, which means that you don’t have to completely rule out tradition for a new look.

While wedding bands may play a small part in the overall scope of the wedding, when the reception is done and the presents have all been open, the rings are the most lasting symbol of your eternal bond together. It’s not just for the bride, or just for the groom, it’s for both of you.

Author Kim likes to make sure men get the same attention to their mens wedding bands.

Every women loves jewelry. If she says she doesn’t she is lying to you. Oh sure, there are different degrees to loving jewelry and some love big expensive diamond rings while for other it’s really the thought that counts, but every girl out there has at least one piece of jewelry she adores. Furthermore, they love it when their significant other gets them a piece of personalized jewelry. I had this friend who once told her man that she didn’t want a piece of jewelry for Valentine’s Day. The man, skeptical, asked her again a few days later. She replied: “No, that’s fine you don’t have to get me jewelry for Valentine’s Day, get me something else”. Then, when Valentine’s Day came along, she complained to me that she didn’t get jewelry. That, guys, is what you are up again.

I don’t know why as women we just can’t come out and say that we want jewelry. I do it too, I’m not proud of it, but I’ll admit it. It’s just something in us that we can’t admit that we want it. Maybe, at least for me, I just feel too greedy asking for it. Like I’ve become that girl that I’ve always hated. Then, when it comes time for the gifts, I still get disappointed that I didn’t get at least a small little necklace or something. Oh yeah, I know that I told my husband not to get me jewelry, and I really don’t need it, but still: here I am, disappointed.

Maybe it’s the whole personalized aspect to it. I don’t expect, nor, frankly, would I really want a huge, blinged out diamond necklace. To me, that is just an utter waste of money and if he ever spent that on me I would be quiet angry. But to me, there is something great about a small piece of jewelry that really means something. Like something with a small heart on it, or something that is engraved with a saying or our names. Jewelry to me is something very personal. Everything that I have I wear at least a few times a year. I’m not a big collector nor am I someone who enjoys showing of. What I do love, though, is wearing something that if someone asks me about I can tell them a story behind it.

For my last birthday, my husband finally caught on and bought me this heart ring he found at Tiffany’s. Sure, it’s not the most expensive ring in the store (at Tiffany’s it’s not even in the top 99% of expensive rings), nor is it really showy, but he remembered it from a magazine I showed him almost a year before. To me, that is the best kind of gift of all.

Author Kim Green feels that no gift is as neat as personalized jewelry.

The baby shower. What comes to mind when you think of one. Is it about fun? Presents? Friends? Family? Chinese catering? How about games and prizes? Yes, to those who have experienced it, a baby shower is many things. To a mother to be it is an important day, a day where your friends and family celebrate your soon to be little miracle. It’s about togetherness, maybe seeing some friends you haven’t seen for a while and some family who flew in from the opposite coast for the occasion. For someone who is planning the event, though, some different words come to mind: stress, drama, late nights and, depending on how far it spun out of control, nightmare.

There is an old saying that says the more something looks like it came together seamlessly, the harder it was to put together. If you went to a baby shower that seemed to work perfectly with not a hint of drama, there are probably a few friends who are not talking to each other for a little bit thanks to three weeks of trying to put it together. If you think about it, planning a baby shower is like planning a small wedding: there are guests to book, food to track down, favors and decorations to find, flowers to ready and of course a cake that doesn’t look like it’s going to be there on time. And all of it has to come off perfectly, or you get the wrath of a soon to be mother that has a few extra hormones racing around.

There are steps to take to make sure that your baby shower planning is less stressful, though. The first thing you need to do is get a list going. Might sound basic, but it’s easier to tackle 25 things one-by-one then 25 things at one time. Next, try and get the big things out of the way first. The guest list is typically the biggest stress item, so make sure you get RSVP’s right away. If you need to, hound them to get an answer. You don’t want 30 maybes the day before the party. If you can get the catering, cake and drinks done fairly early in the process too, that means less scuring around the week before.

When it comes to stuff such as favors and decorations, the internet is always a great place to get these items. There are entire websites dedicated to getting themed favors and decorations, so look for multipacks that can take care of both in one purchase. Remember the more stuff you get done right away the less you have to deal with in the days leading up to the party.

Author Kimberly Green has seen the difference planning makes in the success of a baby shower.

Unless you are someone who works in the aircraft industry, or enjoy’s reading up on how things work, chances are you don’t really think that much about aircraft parts & supplies. While we fly on an airplane for hours on end we typically have very little idea how the aircraft actually works. Oh sure, we know it has something to do with that jet engine and the air speed which keeps it up. And yeah, those wings are probably pretty helpful, but we don’t really know how parts work with each other to keep us airborne.

Actually, in a way, we are probably much happier not knowing how things like aircrafts work because, you know, it’s kinda scary to realize how fine of a line we are walking from a nice, clean flight and a fiery wreck. Every part on an airplane needs to work together in complete and utter compliance to make sure that you’re able to get from point A to point B. In truth, we probably know more about the in flight movie then we know about the plane we are flying in.

The thing is, though, you could say the same thing about just about anything that we use, from our computer to our cars. How do they work? We don’t know, we just use them and then complain if they don’t work. Take for example this thing I’m typing on right now: my computer. Now, how does the letters that I am typing end up on the screen? Heck if I know. Frankly, I’m getting a bit of a headache right now thinking about it. The thing is, because there are people who are experts in the field, I don’t need to know about how it works. Oh sure, it would be nice, but the way things are right now I could go my entire life without knowing what a microchip does and I would be fine.

It would actually be a beneficial for people to learn more about the things that they use and how they work. Take a car for example. There is an entire business built around the idea that people don’t know how a car works and how to fix said problems: mechanics. If we all knew how a car works we would be able to fix most of the problems ourselves. The sad thing is when we learn how easy it is to fix certain parts of our car we realize how much money we wasted on our ignorance.

Kimberly Green likes to learn how aircraft parts & supplies help humans fly.

Wedding favors. Chances are if you’re in the midst of planning a wedding you’ve heard those two words quite often, yet really have no idea what they are. All you know is that you’re supposed to get little wedding gifts for those who have attended your wedding. Something like a keepsake that they will either cherish or throw away next time they do spring cleaning, you assume. At this point, though, you have so much to plan for your wedding that wedding favors are just something on the list that you’ll deal with when they time comes. They are somewhere between deciding what type of salad to serve at the reception and what type of flowers should be on the table where they hand out seating assignments.

You should put some thought into wedding favors, though, because even as they are a small part of your wedding they are still a part. While many companies offer pretty cool little wedding favor keepsakes for friends, there are some people who really enjoy going the route of making their own keepsakes. Not only does making your own give guests a more personalized feel, but it is also cheaper than buying wedding favors from shops or online sellers.

Everyone loves chocolate. Even people who claim they hate chocolate usually like either white or dark chocolate. This is why chocolate is the best DIY wedding favors you could ever make. And it’s more than just about the taste: whenever you give someone a gift that they can eat they tend to actually do so. One of the problems with trying to figure out what type of wedding favor to get purchase is that you have to deal with the fact that most people are probably never going to use them. Yes, they might think the small photobook of you and your husband is cute, but there is almost zero chance that it will end up anywhere but the trash or that drawer in your desk where you throw all the junk. With chocolate, or other types of candy, you know that it will at least be eaten.

You don’t even have to buy the chocolate favors, you can make your own with some simple melting chocolate and a couple of cheap molds you can get to a specialty shop. Find a mold you want, freeze the chocolate in it, put it in a bag tied with a ribbon and wallah: you have the best, and tastiest, wedding favors you could ever imagine.

Kim Green loves the effect of wedding favors on a reception’s success.