The father of the bride is the poorest-equipped member of the wedding. All women, including your wife and daughter, know more about weddings than you do. The groom just needs to make an appearance at the rehearsal and wedding day reasonably sober and shaved. The best man gets to plan a party ” how hard is that?

The father of the bride is expected to spend most of his life savings on the wedding. Unless you just want to give it away, there are a few things that you must know and do.

1. Get involved in the planning. If youre not involved you might as well be wearing a sign that says, Free Money. Avoid trying to take charge of the planning, but do offer your help and suggestions in the areas that do know how to do. A wedding reception is nothing more than a large, expensive party with a lot of rules.

2. Resolve yourself to dealing with crazy women. There is something about weddings that causes all women to go crazy. I am positive that at least five times before the wedding occurs you will be accused of trying to ruin everything. This is one of those times in life that it is generally better (but there are exceptions) to just suck it up. For the most part your wife and daughter will just want to vent about their frustrations. For this you need to learn only two responses, That bitch, and Those bastards. Repeat frequently.

3. Figure out where your money is going. Generally most weddings spend about half the budget on the reception. So far in 2009, weddings have been averaging $16,000 to $19,000 according to the weddingreport.com. That means that receptions are running about $8,000 to $9,500. Theres a lot of room in there to save some money.

4. Be prepared for your wedding toast. If you dont talk a lot in front of crowds, you need to read up on how to make a toast and practice it. Write out the toast well before you give it and practice it standing up (youll be delivering your toast standing). The actual words are only part of the speech. Keep it personal and make eye contact.

5. Dance, dance, dance. You and your daughter will be doing one of the first dances while everyone watches. Find out what song she wants played and take lessons to learn how to dance it. Many dance studios offer wedding dance packages. Surprise everyone with your patented moves.

I also strongly suggest that you plan a post-wedding vacation for just your wife and yourself. It will be needed.