A while ago, we gave you our version of things a bride should and shouldn’t do before her wedding. But today, we’re concentrating on tips for grooms. Yes, boys, it’s your turn to have a checklist. Every newlywed woman wishes she had the time to hand a checklist like this to her new husband. But we get so caught up in the wedding preps that no one even gives a thought to what the groom should be doing to prepare himself for marriage.

Here is a handy guide for all Indian grooms who want a happy beginning to their marriage.

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1. If you’re living with your parents, make room for your wife

This is something that should be a top priority but tends to get ignored in most Indian households. It is absolutely vital for you to make space for your new wife well before she starts living with you. This is even more important if you’re living with your parents and expect your wife to share a single room with you. You need to make space in your cupboard for her clothes and space in your bathroom for her toiletries. You will also need to move some of your stuff out to make room for hers. Your new wife will come with a certain aesthetic in mind and she should be able to decorate her new home or her new room in a manner she likes. After all, if she will be expected to call this new space her home, she should feel like it’s her home too.

2. Help the bride move her stuff into your house

Moving all her stuff at once right after the wedding is a huge hassle. To keep the transition as smooth as possible, help your new wife in moving her things into your home in the weeks leading up to the wedding. This way, she can set it up slowly and you can help her with it. By the time she finally moves in, it’ll feel at least a little bit like home.

3. Make your own shaadi shopping checklist

The bride has a million things to plan and buy before the wedding. She doesn’t need the added stress of your wedding shopping on her head too. So do your own wedding shopping, take her inputs if she has time for it, and manage it on your own. Take help from a sibling, cousin or friend if you need it. Apart from your clothes, offer to help with other wedding shopping too, like gift packing material, mithai boxes, etc.

4. Take active interest in the wedding

Grooms, this is your wedding too. You should be taking an active interest in it, as much as the bride. Come up with ideas on how you want the wedding to look, what sort of food you’d like to serve, where you would like the rituals to happen, what you imagine your look to be as a couple together, and a lot more. Don’t burden your bride with all of it.

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5. Learn how to cook at least three dishes

Whether you have domestic help or not, you need to be able to cook at least three dishes before you get married. Feeding the two of you cannot be your wife’s responsibility only. If you’ve lived alone, this will be a breeze. But if you’ve always lived with your parents, you need to start being independent now. And it all starts with being able to make three decent meals. Your wife will appreciate you even more if you show an active interest in the kitchen and don’t assume that it’s her department.

6. Pick up after yourself

A man is supposed to be messy. That’s the stereotype we’ve all grown up with. But it doesn’t have to be that way. When you’re living alone, it doesn’t matter whether your living space is clean for someone else or not. But now that you’ll be sharing that space with someone you care about, you should start picking up after yourself. So grooms, start putting your wet towel outside, pick up your socks, and make the bed every morning. Make it a team effort to keep a clean home, rather than making it your wife’s responsibility.

7. Spend time with your future wife and talk

We cannot the stress the importance of this enough. It’s very easy to lose yourself, and your relationship, in the chaos of wedding planning. In all the madness, take time out for yourself and for your soon-to-be wife. The two of you need to talk to each other about any problems cropping up or any expectations that seem to be too much. If you don’t talk, you’ll scream at each other and it will become a nasty fight.

8. Escape for a few hours

Like the bride, the groom also needs some pampering and self-care before the wedding. So, in the week leading up to the wedding, head to a spa and tune out for a few hours. Relax, rejuvenate yourself, and come back a happier person. You can also take your bride with you and relax together. The only rule for that, however, should be to avoid all wedding talk completely.

Grooms, we hope these tips help you have a happy wedding and a happier marriage.