“The thought that my life was irrevocably changing at this particular moment kept running through my head,” says Jim, 28. “I was nervous as hell, that's for sure.” The day of the wedding, while brides are off giggling with bridesmaids, getting tipsy on mimosas and rushing around to get hair done and nails painted, these nervous grooms are alone with their thoughts and that can be a dangerous thing. I ought to know. I got married this summer and I must confess that I, your humble author, was a mess in the hours before the wedding. I was thinking way too much about life, about how everything was going to be different and, in the end, I had to go off walking by myself for a couple hours to calm down. (For the record, I must point out that I never had any doubts about the woman I was about to marry. She is, quite simply, awesome.)

I’m not saying all guys are nervous wrecks, flipping out like Bill Murray in “Caddyshack” (minus the dynamite and the gopher). Some guys are cool as cucumbers. They’re like Fonzie tapping on the jukebox. They’re confident and calm. “I was excited and I knew that I was doing the right thing,” says Dima, 31, who definitely belongs in the Fonzie category. Sure, he had a few butterflies, but he felt that the stars were aligned, that he was Romeo to his wife’s Juliet. “I felt like it was fated,” he says.