Tired of buying gravy boats and duvets for their soon-to-be-married friends, Webster University grad Christopher Easter and his partners, brothers James and Robert Horner, set out last year to give future grooms an option for creating a wedding registry with a little more testosterone. This spring, they launched The Man Registry (themanregistry.com), full of barbecue grills, tents and shop vacs. Their timing couldn’t have been more perfect: Easter, who talked to us about the site, is getting married this month—to the Horner brothers’ sister.
Have guys been underserved by wedding registries up to this point, or is it possible that they just don’t care? You know, we just think they have been underserved. The consensus on everything wedding is that it’s all oriented to the bride, and the guy has to just stand there and smile and get his picture taken at the altar.
I see lots of manly-man gifts on your site—wrenches and drills and knife sets. What about today’s modern, sensitive guy? No foot massagers or comfort gel sleep masks? A lot of what we’ve got on the site has been tools and things for the home, but as far as the gentler side of the guy … I guess the only stuff we have that fits that category is geared toward wine drinkers, who aren’t the manliest of men.
Your friends must be looking at this, thinking, “Dude, could you have thought about this before I got married?” Luckily, I still have a lot of engaged friends.
Are they required to register on your site? You know, if they care about me, they’ll at least get on there and register for one thing. I think we’re really doing a service to future grooms here.
You know, a lot of brides-to-be will look at this site and say, “Oh hell no.” Should guys register for this stuff on the sly? I don’t think so. We still expect a guy to have his normal registries, but then they can just come to The Man Registry for a dozen or less items that they wanted to register for but didn’t see anywhere else. We don’t condone a groom doing anything behind his bride’s back.
You’ve also put together several articles for soon-to-be grooms. Knowing what you know now, what do you wish you’d known back when you got engaged? Well, one of our articles is a financial responsibilities checklist for the groom. And that is something I wish I would have had from the beginning, because I’ve been going along, and every couple months, I’m like, “Well, here’s another new thing that we have to pay for.”
You’re getting married in May. What’s your least favorite gift that you’ve registered for so far? I’d have to say that my least favorite gift would have to be the five or six flower vases my fiancée picked out. How many flowers are we going to have around the house?
I think that all depends on how many flowers you buy her. Well, that depends on how much she lets me register for on The Man Registry.
It’s Your Wedding, Too
Easter encourages guys to take back their weddings. Here are a few more rallying cries from The Man Registry’s “Groom 101” section
- “To a certain extent, your involvement is likely more of an afterthought. Don’t let it be!”
- “We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to hear about all of the beautiful bath towels, linens and other gifts that our fiancées will bring home from wedding showers.”
- “Just remember: Bachelor parties don’t always have to include poles and tassels to be fun.”
