Men’s grooming – getting wedding ready

Getting ready for a wedding can be nerve-wracking. As a groom, it’s normally one of the only times on the day of your wedding you’ll be by yourself. A best man could be running over their speech, or a father might be feeling a bit emotional. This can be where nerves set in and in the process of trying to stay calm you might forget something important.

Whether you’re a nervous groom, father of the bride or best man, in order to make sure you look your best for the big day, we’ve put together a checklist of points to make sure you’re covered before you walk down the aisle.

Shower

The first thing to do when you’re getting ready is to shower. If you’re nervous about the day, just treat getting ready like any other day – follow a routine.

Having a shower first not only means you’re clean, it also makes it easier if you need to have a shave as the hair on your face will be softer.

Hair care

Before the day, it’s a good idea to get a haircut (even if this is just a trim) to tidy everything up. It will just mean you look smarter in the wedding photos.

If you’ve got a beard it can be worth heading to the barbers to get this trimmed and tidied up too. You might even want to treat yourself to a professional shave before the wedding, just to make sure you haven’t missed a bit and you look your absolute best.

Otherwise, if you’re going to shave, wait until after you’ve showered. The water and steam will soften the hair and make life much easier.

On the day, think about how your hair is going to look. If you’re getting ready at home or travelling to the venue beforehand, make sure you’ve packed everything you need in a toiletry bag. This will help you stay organised.

Make sure you’ve also got whatever hair products you need, from gel or wax through to beard oil. Taking time to sort out your hair can be a nice way to pamper yourself and unwind before the ceremony.

Following your usual grooming routine can also be a great way to distract yourself from any nerves you might have.

Body care

Your next job is deodorant and aftershave. It sounds overly simplistic, but the last thing you want during the day is to be feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable because you forgot to put any on. Especially if you’re going to spend a lot of the day interacting with people.

The same goes for cleaning your teeth. Remember, you should be looking and feeling your absolute best. Just make sure you clean your teeth before you put your suit on to avoid accidentally getting toothpaste on it.

Much like organising your haircare, make sure everything you need for getting ready is packed in your toiletry bag and you’ve double checked it prior to the wedding. This way you don’t accidentally leave something you’ll need behind.

Suiting up

The last part of getting ready for your wedding is putting your suit on.

Before you start getting ready, either the night before or on the morning of the wedding, hang your suit up to give any creases the chance to fall and keep everything looking its best.

If you hired your suit, keep all the bags and packaging that it came in to one side. When you take the suit off at the end of the big day, this makes it easier to organise and pack away before you return it.

Again, putting your suit on in a specific order, and making sure it looks good, is a great way to distract yourself from nerves. Once you’re ready, you just need to do a quick check in the mirror. Check your hair looks right and hasn’t got messed up too much when getting ready. You also need to make sure your tie is straight, and your suit looks neat.