Last week, we gifted the girls. Today, let’s gift the guys! Here are some affordable gifts for your groomsmen.
Uncommon Goods Record Clock $48 // Izola “Salut” Flask $22 // Swiss Army Knife $16 // Typewriter Key Cuff Links $49 // Forage Bow Tie $68 // Portland General Store Tobacco Cologne $68 // The Balvenie 14 Year-Old Scotch $60 // Barney’s New York Argyle Socks $19 // Set of 6 Mustache Shot Glasses $18
In 2007 our homey Chris Easter co-founded a little site called TheManRegistry.com. In just 3 years it has become the web’s leading source for groomsmen gifts, content and wedding vendor listings geared to the groom’s perspective. His site is so bad-ass that Chris was recently named one of the top 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by Inc. Magazine. Chris is a good friend of ours and we are very psyched to have him share some of his planning wisdom with your man. After you read some of his tips here, you can check out more of his blogging flava’ at GroomsAdvice.com.
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If the last few years in the wedding industry have taught me anything, it’s that grooms are flat-out trying to shed the “innocent bystander” tag that they’ve been unfairly assigned over the years. Let’s get one thing straight. Grooms have always cared about their weddings. However, not until recent years, has the wedding industry and blogosphere picked up on it. With the influx of real groom bloggers, more companies directly marketing to grooms and more and more guys customizing various aspects of their wedding – the secret is out.
I’m often asked by brides about the best areas of wedding planning for their guy to take charge of. In no particular order, here are a few favorites:
Transportation
Simply put: guys dig cars. And whether it’s a vintage Rolls Royce, a stretch Escalade or dual crotch rockets, there are literally countless options for being creative with the choice of car that will carry you away after the wedding.
Planning the Rehearsal Dinner
This is, of course, a very broad topic. The rehearsal dinner is traditionally a responsibility of the groom and his family. It’s also a perfect opportunity for his inner-event planner to shine. When I got married, I dove headfirst into the rehearsal dinner because I really wanted to leave a personal mark on the wedding festivities. We held the event at The Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City (my favorite beer) and had the event catered by Jack Stack BBQ (my favorite BBQ). The event was a hit because everyone in attendance appreciated the effort that was put into personalizing it… and it was a hell of a lot of fun! I challenge all grooms to aim for the same.
Paperwork and legalities
Guys are the responsible ones, right? OK OK. I’m a guy and I can even say that this statement is almost never true. However, we do like thinking we’re being responsible and important. That’s why handling the organization, filing and paying of all pertinent legal documents and fees is a great job for the groom. The business of getting married can require quite a paper trail – so be aware of your local/state rules on marriage licenses. Other topics to research include the changing of name(s), adding your spouse’s name to necessary accounts, agreements and whether or not your church requires pre-marital counseling.
Wedding website/blog
Managing the wedding website or wedding blog is another unique way for today’s tech-savvy grooms to get involved in planning. Even if he’s not a programming wiz, there are countless websites that offer free wedding website templates where couples can post their wedding info. Some grooms have even taken it a step further by starting blogs that detail their foray into the wedding planning world.
Entertainment
Not to stress you out, but wedding entertainment will make or break the reception. This is why it’s key to hire the right DJ or band. Grooms will often step up to the plate and take on the responsibility of interviewing/auditioning potential vendors. Why? Because it’s fun. In most cases, you can actually go and /listen to the DJ/band perform. Grooms are natural partiers, so it’s often easy for them to look at a performer once and envision how they will handle the crowd at your wedding. My advice to brides: just let him go with it. Us men know what we’re doing.
Of course I always recommend the bride and groom sharing responsibilities and discussing all of those fun little details – but the above list is a great starting point for doling out responsibilities. I hope it comes in handy. Cheers!
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What are your thoughts on these or other tasks that can be delegated to the groom? Let us know in the comments section below.
Wedzu is the new etsy. Handmade and indie vendors sell their wares directly to you. Except Wedzu is even better for brides, because it is all weddings, all the time. And supporting indie artists is an excellent choice, grasshopper. Plus, handmade indie gear is often among the freshest in wedding style, and is usually bad-ass in its uniqueness. Just like your wedding should be.
They just launched last week, and I went to quickly glance at the site and next thing I knew an hour had gone by and there was drool all over my keyboard. Best of all? It’s pretty darn broke-ass friendly! Whether you’re just window-shopping for wedding inspiration or have a trigger-happy buying finger… the goodies to be found at Wedzu are hypnotically hype!
This personalized honeymoon bag tag is ridick adorbs. An offbeat wedding gift idea that I love! $37.50 by C’est Superbe!
I am dying…. I am dead now. But I’m coming back from the undead to tell you how lovesessed I am with fritts rosenow bespoke boutonnieres! Starting at $35 each, I think I know a certain Fresh Hubby who will likely be the lucky recipient of one of these badboys. Irresistably hip. Effortlessly rad.
The apparel section is a special kind of heaven. Full of froth and fluff and sass and frass. Clockwise, from upper left: Eve by r e d d o l l by Tatyana Merenyuk $950, Strapless Satin & Lace by Lovey Bridal $325, Ivory Roccoco Bridal Wrap by Bonzie $69, Ruffled Chameleon by Isadora $375
The jewelry section is pretty phenomenal. Totally solid. Totally special. Totally gorgeous. Totally affordable. Clockwise, from upper left: Weave Ring by Moa Jewelry $100, NY Skyline Ring by Moa Jewelry $150, Champagne Diamond Ring by Andrea Bonelli Jewelry $320, Clean Water Ring for Charity Water by Christine Mighion Jewelry $400
Ohhhhhh…. man. I likey. I likey loooooong time. What do you think? Are you wild about wedzu?
WARNING: PG-13 Rating (at least)! This is a real life Bachelor Party Experience. Do not continue to read if you are easily offended by testosterone driven stupidity or crude immaturity.
When a man is smart enough to commit his entire life to an amazing woman, she (hopefully) forgives him for being unbelievably dumb for one last night… This is the story of that night.
A momentary sliver of morning light slaps my pupils in the face (What? It’s possible!) and I see a glimpse of a room. A room I don’t recall ever entering. My eyes open again, and as I my pupils begin to dilate,e the only thought that goes through my mind is, “Where the heck am I?”
All of a sudden an image flashes through my mind:
And it hits me like a wad of dollar bills: I’M IN CHICAGO. LUCKY’S BACHELOR PARTY WAS LAST NIGHT! The bachelor party that I have been planning all summer because I proudly hold the title of Best Man at my Brother-In-law’s Wedding (that’s Dana’s bro yo!) I must be at Lucky’s BFFs Michelle & Todd’s house… but how? I think we began here but I don’t remember coming back?
As I stumble down the stairs to the first floor living room I am met by an expression of shock and horror…
Is it a travesty or could it be the after math of one of the funnest bachelor parties to hit Chicago? If only I could remember…
“Oh my gosh!” I think.”I better let my wife know I survived”. But as reach for my phone to dial BAB’s number, I suddenly remember my pledge to take lots of pictures. The phone. The phone is the answer. As I click to the camera app I know in my heart of hearts that the only way to truly know how I got here, is to start at the beginning.
Hot Doug’s, of course! I went down with Dana’s fam to eat at our favorite place on earth… Hot Doug’s. To begin to speak of this magical place of hot dog wonderment is to begin a whole other post. Let’s leave it at that. There we met up with fellow groomsman/Bro-in-law Hooter*. After hot dog merriment Dana, Hooter and I went to Todd & Michelle’s house, where we began to create the magical land of Porno-copia.
A land where animals fly…
And people of all backgrounds get together for a laugh.
Once we finished decorating, Dana taking off with her sister, and Hooter and I headed over to pick up the Bachelor himself. After sharing a cocktail with him and my future sister-in-law, we headed back to Pornocopia, and were greeted by the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Matt, Steve, John, Tim, Todd & Michelle had gotten the party started. Yeah I said Michelle, we’re a 21st Century Bachelor party! And Michelle brings the party stronger than any fella I know… except maybe Hooter, but lucky us… we were harnessing both of their party powers tonight.
I know we wanted to start the party with something classy so what did we do? Oh yeah…
A game of Flippy Cup anyone?Don’t mind if we do!
I think next we played pin the tail on the donkey. Wait No, it was…
Now this may not make sense but, (ahem) I feel like someone came over to give dance lessons (y’know, dance lessons)… but strangely, the next photo I have is us at the show Bye Bye Liver: The Drinking Play. Man oh man was that a mistake. I should have listened to James at Firefly Events. He and wife Nadine know everything there is when it comes to planning a bachelor party, and he told me to go to Point Break Live, but nooooo…. I had to go rogue. While there was no stopping The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from having a good time, the box office manager of Bye Bye Liver certainly tried. I’ll save the details of what happened for a post entitled, “What Not To Do When Representing a Business” but let’s just say the most entertaining part of Bye Bye Liver is when the Box Office Manager starts threatening you when you go to the bathroom. But enough about the ego of an idiot, let’s get back to party. After the show I think we went to a ranch…
Wait that’s not a ranch! It’s Lucky riding the mechanical bull at Hogs and Honeys. It was a party fo’ sho’. Bachelor’s and Bachelorettes were riding bulls, shots we’re being poured down peoples throats by waitresses on tables, and Hooter and Michelle were dancing on the bar making it rain!
Then Todd lead the charge to another bar in Bucktown… but before I knew it, we must have passed out back at Todd & Michelle’s.
It was an exhausting night for our bachelor
Based off this pic and where I found my toothbrush I’m guessing this brings us back to where we are the next morning. I honestly can’t believe I don’t hurt more all over but based off of the half eaten burrito on the breakfast table I’m guessing we stopped for food on the way home. I just hope Lucky had as good a time at the party as I think he did. Oh wait there’s one more pic on this camera from the end of the night…
Oh yeah, BACHELOR PARTY SUCCESS!
*Nickname inspired by Hooter the elephant in the radical badical Michael Jackson short, Captain EO. Hooter!
The Big Day when I become a Hubby has arrived. If you missed all the fun things I did to gently morph the speeding bullet of wedding planning into the Wedding Soul Train click here. But Yowsers! The wedding countdown clock is ticking, and we need to get back to Groomsmen HQ to change, and FAST!
Fresh Hubby Tip Numero Seis: Through out the day, find a few moments here and there to look at your vows. Whether you wrote them yourself or you are going the traditional route, take some time to connect with what you are going to say later on. After all, that’s the whole point of the day right? You have gathered your dearly beloved to witness your declaration of love of and commitment. These are more than words, they have meaning. When the time comes you don’t want to just repeat them, you’ll want to be comfortable enough that you feel them. I wrote mine out on business cards and during every activity took just a few moments to check in with my vows.
VOWS, now in a convenient travel size...
...study on the bus...
...Study where ever you get a moment
Fresh Hubby Tip Numero Siete: Keep all your destinations close and flexible: We were going to lounge by the pool at the hotel but, “Whoa where did the time go? We’ve got to get ready!” To The Magic Castle! We all crammed into my Brother the Best Man’s hotel room to change. I’m flinging clothes on, throwing some water on the fro, and pulling off a little Flashdance hair shake.
Hmm, how many was the room reservation for?
It's raining Grooms, Hallelujiah!
The SHUTTLE HAS ARRIVED TO TAKE US TO THE CEREMONY!!! Oh dear! My suitcase of clothes for our newlywed sleepover is with me. Unless we want to get dropped off at The Magic Castle and then stumble two blocks dragging a suitcase, in the middle of the night after our wedding, I better get it over to our hotel fast! “DAVE! Can you run this over to the Renaissance Hotel and then RUN back?” “Wha? Uuuh… On it!” Knock Knock. “It’s your mom. We haven’t rehearsed our mother son dance.” “Yikes! I haven’t even heard the song in ten years!” Cue Mom and half dressed son Dancing around the hotel while mom says “one, two, one two three” and son mutters, “Shall we dance? bum bum bum”.
My mom never takes off her dancing shoes
OK, we can pull this off! I just have to fling my jacket on. Ask mom to pin on my Boutonniere.
The last moment alone with my mom as just... her boy
Run downstairs to the doubledecker bus which…is… getting a parking citation from the Los Angeles Parking Violations folks.
NOW IT’S AN L.A. WEDDING Y’ALL!
"Oh it's the Fresh Hubby's Wedding?!... You're still getting a ticket!"
Awkward...
Every one on board! We need to get out of here before we get another ticket, but “Where’s Dave?!”. Fortunately its a doubledecker so we are at a vantage point to see off in the distance a slender fellow in a suit running towards us with all his might. Dave hops in and we are off! … TO GET MARRIED!… HOLY CRAP!
Full speed ahead! To My Wedding!!!
P.S. Fresh Hubby Tip Numero Ocho: If you are riding a topless double decker bus and a huge tree branch comes straight at you…
...DUCK!!!
Fresh Hubby Tip Numero Uno for the DAY of your wedding: You need to mentally and physically stop and relax. The planning has ended and now it’s time to be fully present in the day.- Hellooooo Massage. If you live in L.A. you may know the joy of Pho Siam. A beautiful calming location where a nice Thai lady will stretch you like a rubber-band and walk all over you for only 40 bucks an hour. I told my brother and Best Man that was how we were going to start the big day, and surprisingly *wink* he had no objections. For the first time in a week the cell phone was being turned off. I was now on the Wedding Soul Train and nothing was gonna mess up my groove.
As I’m sure it is no surprise, the week leading up to the wedding was in a word: Insanity. Exactly seven days prior to the big day my amazing in-laws-to-be landed and we went into wedding preparation hyperdrive. We were behind in a major way, and practically an entire months work had to be crammed into a week. Throw into the mix that everyday a new loved one is arriving and you have a recipe for one frazzled bride and groom. Everyone had something important to tell me but I could only respond, “Please forgive me if I forget, because my brain is currently a wedge of wedding swiss cheese.” I was co-ordinating so many things that the following month I discovered I went over my cell minutes by 500 dollars! I could write another post about why I hate T-mobile, but this here blog is about Broke-Ass romance.
The entire week I was never alone for a minute and I always had a list of things to do. So when Dana dropped me off at our house after our rehearsal dinner and I was left alone, I think it was the quietest moment of my life. Not a noise, not even the normal tip tapping of my best buddy Paco (For new readers: that’s our dog, not a random tap dancer who lives with us) Just silence to marinate in the anticipation that surely surpassed a five year old on steroids during Christmas Eve at the North Pole. Then it happened. Out of the deafening silence came a piercing alarm. I immediately thought it must be a smoke detector but both had been undisturbed. It sounded like nothing I could recognize and I feared there may be some type of emergency. I walked around the house following the noise, with out a clue as to what it could be… until it was staring me in the face. My future mom in-law had given us “The Wedding Countdown Clock”. It was 12am. As the hairs raised on the back of my neck I realized, “Holy Crap… I’m getting married today.”
Oh JCrew,
What’s up with you? How is it possible that with such a gorgeous, playful and rich color line of bridesmaids dresses, you don’t offer ties to match for the groomsmen? Srsly. How hard could it be…. just take a bit of that leftover girly fabric, fold it over and sew it…. right? With such a beautifully unique line of bridal options, can we just get practical for a minute and say WTF?
I mean, I love love love my bridesmaid dresses. But now I’m stuck trying to find ties to match. And since I don’t own any of the dresses, and my bridesmaids all live in other states, I have nothing to carry around as a color swatch to compare against.
Let’s get with the program JCrew. You’re thisclose to being full-service wedding clothiers. Help a sister out. Let’s take the last step together and put my tie dilemma to bed for good.
Wistfully,
The Broke-Ass Bride
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