Windy City Grooms: on October 20th, take a break from complaining about the Bears’ offensive line and join us at John Allan’s for the first ever Groom Service Show. This show, designed with the male in mind, will feature some of Chicago’s top groom-friendly wedding vendors. The guest speaker will be none other than our own co-founder Chris Easter. He’ll be there to provide some sage groom advice direct from his upcoming groom book: “Be the Man.”

Vendors in attendance will be: Cage + Aquarium, Carasco Photography, Erickson Design, Haberdash Men’s Shop, Nicholas Joseph Custom Suits & Tuxedos, Rodan & Fields, ShutterBooth, Smoque BBQ, SQN Events, theBrideScoop, TipsyCake, Topiarius, Truffle Truffle & W Hotels. Additionally, Dan Bernstein of WSCR-AM, 670 “The Score” will be on hand for a special appearance.

To get a special ticket price of $10, use the code TMR when buying tickets. We hope to see you there!

As the writing process for our upcoming book hits the home stretch, finding motivation to sit down and pound out chapters is becoming increasingly difficult. I think this clip from the Seinfeld episode ‘The Virgin‘ really nails what the process is like. (Unfortunately, embedding is disabled for this clip, so you’ll have to click here to view.)

"So the judge decrees that he becomes my butler."

If only I had the help of George Costanza on this project!

After several strenuous months of bribery, blackmail and back-room payoffs,  it’s now official that we’ve been voted ‘Best Groom Blog’ by OneWed.com and their readers in the 2011 Best Wedding Blogs contest. We’re pumped about this honor and would like to offer a huge thank you to our fans and friends who cast their votes. Even though only 2% of the total votes were cast for groom blogs, it’s still a huge step up from the .03% from last year! Also, congratulations to the other winners and runner-ups!

If you’ve got a few moments, check out this awesome infographic that recaps the winners and breaks down the votes:

We gave these fine folks an advance copy of our book. While they're not quite our target audience... it still looks like they're enjoying it!

We’re now two months into the writing process and we’ve just received word that the title of our book has been finalized. In true Man Registry fashion, the book will be called:

BE THE MAN: THE MAN REGISTRY GROOM GUIDE

That’s right kiddos, our book is all about being the man and stepping up to take an active involvement in wedding planning. We’re looking forward to sharing more info in the upcoming months. The book is scheduled for release in stores and e-readers this December.

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Love it? Hate it? Let us know your thoughts on the title in the comments section below.

If you haven’t heard, we’re in the process of writing a wedding book for men. Unlike a lot of the books and magazines that currently exist for grooms, ours is being written and designed by actual MEN. This means that instead of reinforcing the idea that you’re just an accessory to your bride’s “big day,” this book will promote your involvement in the planning process and demonstrate ways to leave your manly mark on the festivities.

I recently completed the first chapter of the book which focuses on the pre-wedding parties (bachelor parties, showers and groom roasts.) Next up, I’ll be tackling a chapter that’s all about setting up your (wedding planning) plan of attack. One segment of this chapter will focus on surviving wedding shows. I’d love to hear some feedback from former grooms that attended a wedding show and made it out alive. If you’d like to share your experience, please post in the comments section below. I’ll be including several real groom success stories in the book, so you may just end up being immortalized in print.

More updates to come soon…

Cheers,
Chris