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"For the first time a few weeks ago, Paul was a groomsman--which made me a groomsman&amp;amp;#8217;s date for the first time. If you&amp;amp;#8217;ll be finding yourself in this position this wedding season, check out these things to know. Your groomsman may be away from you for more than just taking wedding pictures. Since I knew Paul would leave for the wedding before I left to go take pictures, I was prepared to ride on the shuttle from the hotel to the wedding site. What I wasn&amp;amp;#8217;t prepared for: that Paul wouldn&amp;amp;#8217;t be around to have breakfast with me near the hotel that morning because the couple needed his help bringing things to the wedding venue. The solution: If you&amp;amp;#8217;re going to be away from home for the wedding, make friends with the other groomsmen&amp;amp;#8217;s girlfriends/fiancees/wives and hang out together when your guys are busy. It&amp;amp;#8217;s totally OK to ask the groom to introduce you before the wedding so you&amp;amp;#8217;re comfy with each other come the rehearsal dinner. Your groomsman may be called away from the reception to take more wedding pictures. Some photo sessions are an hour and done. Others are broken into pieces. Refer to the above solution for entertaining yourself when your man gets whisked away again. You may be called on to help out, too. Toward the end of the wedding reception when just a few guests were left (and the wedding photographer was gone), the bride wanted a photo of her dancing with her dad. She approached the groomsmen&amp;amp;#8217;s wives/girlfriends first for this favor, and I was happy to oblige, of course. The solution: Put on your bridesmaid hat (and maybe some slightly more comfortable shoes) in the event that your services are needed. You may not get the glory of wedding party people, but your groomsman will appreciate your pitching in. He may dance with one of the bridesmaids. So Paul actually didn&amp;amp;#8217;t do this, but the groomsmen at our wedding did (they offered to accompany the bridesmaids with whom they walked down the aisle halfway through my and Paul&amp;amp;#8217;s first dance). I haven&amp;amp;#8217;t seen this at too many other weddings, but it&amp;amp;#8217;s a good heads-up to have. The solution: There&amp;amp;#8217;s no reason to stand in the way of this (except maybe in the rare event that a bridesmaid is your groomsman&amp;amp;#8217;s ex-girlfriend who&amp;amp;#8217;s known for inappropriately touching her dance partners), but just remember that you may walk back from the bar just in time to see your groomsman slow-dancing with another lady to an overly romantic song. He may not share wedding surprises he&amp;#x27;s in on. Paul helped out with the best men&amp;amp;#8217;s speech, so he knew the funny things that were going to happen during their toast. I was dying to know, too, but Paul just couldn&amp;amp;#8217;t spill because he promised to stay mum. The solution: Chill. If your groomsman promises that you&amp;amp;#8217;ll find out what&amp;amp;#8217;s going down soon enough (and if it has absolutely nothing to do with you), just let it be (even if you have a hard time being in the dark on things--like I do!). You probably won&amp;#x27;t get a pro photo of the two of you. Even though your man will be in tons of wedding pictures, you can&amp;#x27;t count on the wedding photographer snapping one of you with him. The solution: Duh, ask a friend to take one. (I&amp;#x27;m glad we got one of us with Paul looking that spiffy!) Have you been a groomsman&amp;amp;#8217;s wedding date before? What advice would you give? Who has it harder: groomsmen&amp;amp;#8217;s dates or bridesmaids&amp;amp;#8217; dates (I&amp;amp;#8217;m going with bridesmaids&amp;amp;#8217; dates!)? More Tips for Being a Wonderful Wedding Guest How to Be the Bride&amp;amp;#8217;s Favorite Wedding Guest 6 Things to Keep in Mind When You Stay at a Hotel for a Wedding 15 Wedding Guest Dos and Don&amp;amp;#8217;ts More Ways to Get Glamour Visit ShopGlamour.com for cute stuff starting at just $10! Download Glamour Magazine for your iPad! Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! Follow us on Twitter! Add us to your iGoogle homepage."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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