Weddings and Office Politics Tips for the Groom

Most guys would prefer not to invite the boss and random co-workers to his wedding. While a few guys from the salt mine might actually have become close friends, the majority of the cubicles and hallways are populated with people you’d rather not see when the whistle finally blows. Sure, Dave from the Graphic Design department is really cool, but Howard from Accounting is as far from hip and happening as one could get. So, what’s a guy to do?

You could try not inviting co-workers and just sneaking off to a destination wedding in order to avoid the awkward inter-office politics. However, this plan has the potential to backfire, and usually does. Remember the episode of The Office where Pam Beasley and Jim Halpert announced to co-workers they were just having a small destination wedding? But of course, the completely inept and oblivious-to-dropped-hints branch manager, Michael Scott, solved the dilemma. Without permission from the bride and groom, the boss simply gave the entire staff two full days off and had everyone drive up to Niagara Falls for the big day.

So, how do you handle inviting or not inviting the office to your wedding? Feel free to tell us your ideas in the comments below. One option is to invite those in your department, or if the department is large, just your circle of colleagues that you work with on a day-to-day basis. This also includes your immediate boss. You can’t invite the department and not the boss. Another option is to just invite that small handful of employees that you’ve really connected with; the guys that you hang out with after hours. However, in order to prevent hurt feelings, make sure that wedding invitations are not distributed at the office, but sent directly to home addresses.

If you are planning to have men from the office serve as your groomsmen, more power to you. Either you work in a family-owned business where your boss is a brother or you’ve really bonded with these guys over the trials and tribulations inherent to your workplace. Don’t forget to give these men groomsmen gifts as a gesture of your thanks and appreciation. Groomstand.com has a wide selection of groomsmen gifts that will appeal to co-workers such as business card cases that can be personalized with their initials. Other great gifts for groomsmen that hail from the office include engraved flasks (for impromptu 5 o’clock happy hours) or fine leather goods such as leather portfolio for taking notes (or doodling) at all those Monday-morning marathon meetings.

If the guys are sporty, there are plenty of other groomsmen gift options that will score big! Our personalized putter will be a hit with your best man, he can close the door to his office and brush up on his skills in order to finally beat you the next time you hit the links. Don’t forget your new father-in-law; he would love to have one of these personalized golf gifts that can be personalized with all sorts of text, such as a name and date, favorite verse or other special sentiment.

Now, taking another point of view, if you are a wedding guest from the workplace, you’ll need to bring a thoughtful gift for the groom. You can’t show up empty-handed and expect to chow down on the buffet and drain the open bar. You’ll need to arrive with an appropriate gift that represents your level of familiarity with the groom. If you are buddy-buddy, you’ll probably know exactly what wedding gift to bring. But, if the groom is more of a friendly acquaintance (and you just got invited by default), a useful executive gift he could use in the office is a great choice.

So, how are YOU going to handle either inviting or not inviting offices acquaintances to your wedding?