Weddings are a woman’s domain. The bride, mother of the bride, sister of the bride, girlfriends of the bride, cousin-sisters of the bride, aunts of the bride, grandmothers of the bride, and, yes, even random women off the street who offer compliments to the beautiful bride. So what’s a man to do while women are busy taking care of business in preparation for D-day? Just sign cheques and show up? "Showing up is a big thing, isn’t it?” said Abhishek, a friend and groom-to-be.

But even my tongue-in-cheek friend and groom-to-be will admit that he is handling more than just that. Having taken up responsibilities that include helping design the invitations, booking tickets for family members, helping with the guest list, he’s being more involved than most men are able to.

On the other hand, my anonymous, married friend let me in on a little secret, which also happens to be the reason for his anonymity. "It was hard, I think, to get my wife to trust me,” he said. He was restricted to important, but not ceremony-related tasks like arranging for the court marriage and the honeymoon destination, budgets, etc.

This disparity can also be attributed to the parents of the respective brides and grooms, some of whose inner-Scrooges surface when asked to share responsibilities. They tend to hold on to responsibilities so tightly, prying one out of them usually requires a figurative crowbar—and, in extreme cases, a literal one.

When parents turn into stress-fed psychopaths, squabbling over silly things, grooms come in handy, warding off bickering mothers and fathers so the bride doesn’t have to handle them alone. My once-a-bride friend told me, "We were both so frustrated with my parents, and his, acting funny. After a point, he convinced me to just let them take care of themselves.”

And while you can still find men who prefer to not get their hands dirty and instead concentrate on the aforementioned task of being present, a growing number of men prefer to be more involved.

In my research, I figured out the key to instantly receiving the trust and responsibilities that any man would want from his bride and her parents: be amazing. However, in lieu of that, as is the case with us mere-mortal men, perhaps it might just be enough if we appear ready, willing and able—or at least two out of three.

And considering the copious amounts of trust that go into making this commitment, working together on the wedding itself is probably a great place to start building a marriage. After all, once the stress of the wedding day has passed, and you’ve pulled off the impossible, at least there’s the honeymoon to look forward to—provided he did remember to book the tickets.