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Although bachelor parties are still popular and increasingly elaborate--Pignatelli and 14 of his friends spent $30,000 on a four-day celebration at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay--more grooms are opting to spend prenuptial time at spas with their buddies. Exclusively Male in Cincinnati, Ohio, offers a groom-groomsmen special, including hairstyling, manicure and pedicure, for $90 a person. "If you're wearing a tux and have nice shoes on ... bad hands stand out," says owner Marie Stokes. "More men are looking at other men's hands." Particularly image-conscious grooms are even hiring makeup artists to spruce them up for the wedding-day photo shoot.
Some brides applaud the metrosexualization of the matrimonial experience. "Pasquale has an amazing eye, and I'm thrilled that he's so involved," says Nancy Manzolillo, Pignatelli's new wife. But many marriage experts fret that the rise of the groomzilla will add to the commercialization of weddings. Others recoil at the impersonal nature of services like engagement consultants. "This is something you throw love at, not money," says Trish McDermott, chief matchmaker at Engage.com "Hiring a pro to arrange those beach rocks to spell out her name? That's a romance killer." --With reporting by Leron Kornreich/Los Angeles and Christopher Maag/Ohio